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Walling, Edna (1896 - 1973)

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Landscape designer, Writer and Photographer
Born: 4 Dec. 1896  Yorkshire, England.  Died: 8 Aug. 1973.

Edna Walling is best known for her garden designs. She is also remembered for her photographs, gardening and landscape books, magazine articles, and the creation of Bickleigh Vale, a village of English-style cottages.
Her garden designs vary greatly and include city and country cottage gardens, in which stone paths and low walls, carefully cut and well placed, are key elements.


Career Highlights
Alternative Names: | | Keating (maiden name)
Born on the 4th December 1895 at Yorshire, England. Died on the 8th August 1973 at Buderim, Queensland.
Before migrating to first New Zealand and then Australia in 1914, the Walling family lived in the village of Bickleigh, Devon. It was while living in this environment that Walling's father William taught her woodwork and skills in perspective and scale. Father and daughter also enjoyed walking together through the English country side. Walling's future garden designs were to reflect elements of the English gardens and countryside which they visited.
After completing her Horticulture course at Burnley College, Walling commenced work as a jobbing gardener. In 1921 she purchased three acres of land at Mooroolbark and built her first home from local and second hand materials. This home was named Sonning, after Gertrude Jekyll's Deanery Garden, Sonning, an English garden she had visited.
In 1922 Walling purchased a further 18 acres of land adjacent to Sonning, where the houses she built became the village of Bickleigh Vale.
Between the 1920s and 1960s her commissions included designing the lily pond for Coombe Cottage, Dame Nellie Melba's residence in Coldstream, Vic.; Durrol for Mrs Stanley Allen Mount Macedon, Vic.; Cruden Farm garden for Mrs Keith Murdoch (now Dame Elizabeth), Langwarrin, Vic. Also she undertook commissions in Hobart, Tas. and designed villages at Port Pirie, SA (never completed) and Mount Kembla NSW for Broken Hill Associated Smelters Pty Ltd.
During this period she also wrote four books Gardens in Australia 1943, Cottage and Garden in Australia 1947, A Gardener's Log 1948 and The Australian Roadside 1952, as well as writing articles for The Australian Women's Mirror, The Australian Home Builder and The Australian Home Beautiful.
In a letter held in the Edna Walling Collection, La Trobe Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library of Victoria, she declines an invitation to join the Australian Society of Authors by saying:
"Actually, you know, I am not a writer. I merely made a record of the work I had done, which the Oxford University Press published. I also wrote The Australian Roadside as my contribution to conservation work of this country. ... The books were only achieved through the great help of my teacher friend, Miss Lorna Fielden, without whose assistance I doubt if they would ever have seen the light of day. And so, much as I appreciate the honour you have bestowed on me I don't really think I have any right to be counted amongst the illustrious names appearing in your Society…..."
Her radio talks on the ABC include On Making a Garden 1941, Improving the Farm and Curing Erosion and The Farmers' Friends 1951.
In 1967, Walling moved to a cottage, Bendles, at Buderim, Qld.

Sources: www.abc.net.au/walling ; The Edna Walling book of Australian garden design / edited by Margaret Barrett

Chronology
1916 - 1917

Attended Burnley Horticultural College

 
Related Entries for Walling, Edna

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Published Resources

Books

  • Walling, Edna, Gardens in Australia: their design and care, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1943, 148 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Walling, Edna, The Australian roadside, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1952, 112 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Walling, Edna, Country roads : the Australian roadside, Pioneer Design Studio, Lilydale, Vic., 1985, 119 pp. [ Details... ]

Book Sections

  • Watts, Peter, 'Walling, Edna Margaret (1895-1973)', in Ritchie, John and Langmore, Diane (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 16, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, 2002, pp. 474-475. [ Details... ]

Plays

  • Spunner, Suzanne, Edna for the garden, 1989, 37 pp. [ Details... ]

Online Resources

See also

  • Edna Walling's year, Anne O'Donovan, South Yarra, Vic., 1990, 127 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Australian Broadcasting Commission, Cinemedia, State Library of Victoria, The Edna Walling Website, Tantamount Productions, 2001, http://www.abc.net.au/walling. [ Details... ]
  • Barrett, Margaret (edited by), The Edna Walling book of Australian garden design, Anne O'Donovan, Richmond, Vic., 1980, 144 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Barrett, Margaret (edited by), A gardener's log, New ed. edn, Anne O'Donovan, Hawthorn, Vic., 1985, 149 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Barrett, Margaret (edited by), The garden magic of Edna Walling, Anne O'Donovan, South Yarra, Vic., 1988, 125 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Boulton, Martin, 'Mooroolbark village given heritage protection', The Age, News, 14 April, 2004, p. 7. [ Details... ]
  • Dixon, Trisha and Churchill, Jennie, Gardens in Time : In the Footsteps of Edna Walling, Angus & Robertson, North Ryde NSW, 1988, 134 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Dixon, Trisha and Churchill, Jennie, The vision of Edna Walling : garden plans 1920-1951, Bloomings Books, Hawthorn, Vic., 1998, 150 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Gardening Australia, Edna Walling, Landscape Designer, Australian Broadcasting Commission, 16/06/00, http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s147137.htm. [ Details... ]
  • Walling, Edna, Letters to garden lovers, New Holland, Frenchs Forest, NSW, 2000, 343 pp. [ Details... ]
  • Walling, Edna, On the trail of Australian wildflowers, Mulini Press, Canberra, c1984, 83 pp. [ Details... ]

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Structure based on ISAAR(CPF) - click here for an explanation of the fields.Prepared by: Anne Heywood
Created: 19 September 2001
Modified: 12 December 2005

Published by National Foundation for Australian Women on Australian Women's Archives Project Web Site
Comments, questions, corrections and additions: awap@womenaustralia.info
Prepared by: Acknowledgements
Updated: 16 June 2006
http://www.womenaustralia.info/biogs/AWE0119b.htm

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