Since our 2018 project documenting environmental stewardship practices in the gardeners of Haberfield, we have volunteered as judges of the Haberfield Association’s Garden Competition. This year we were looking at the category ‘Whole Gardens’. Presentation night was 22nd Monday, 2024 at the local library. Judges showcased the stunning entries to share the resilience, generosity and […]

Recently I’ve been reading Merry Hall by Beverley Nichols written in 1951 about a 5 acre rundown Georgian estate he bought after WWII.  An avid gardener he wrote: I noticed something else.  At each end of this lovely little wall there were two brick pillars. They stood there, perfectly poised, exactly the right height, exactly […]

In 2018 we completed an oral history project in Haberfield, NSW. The aim was to map, document and showcase the neighbourhood’s cultural diversity through interviews with gardeners and photographs of gardens. The gardeners were recruited through the Haberfield Association, among participants of the annual Haberfield Garden Competition, and other social networks. We approached oral history […]

Mapping Edges was invited to judge this year’s Haberfield Garden Competition. We walked with Inner West Greens Councillor Marghanita da Cruz looking at gardens in the ‘Kitchen’ and ‘Autumn’ categories.

Rina: I grew up in Blacktown, where my parents settled after coming from Holland. My father was a very keen vegetable grower because he wanted to grow enough for the family, and we had a big family. So my gardening skills came from him. It was mainly vegetables, he wasn’t that interested in flowers, only […]

Aine: We are not really avid gardeners. It’s happenstance. We try things. If a plant doesn’t work, we move it somewhere else. Then we try something else. I enjoy it and it’s never felt like a chore because it’s just happened. I move things around and there’s a space, and I think, ‘I’ll put in […]

I wanted it to be a pretty garden, with roses. I wanted pinks and mauves. So many of the plants are for the colour. I’m not a native plant person. I like exotics. Scent is really important to me too. I love the flowers themselves, but I love the smell of them. That’s definitely a […]