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Weathering the storm: How landscape and heritage professionals are managing Australia's public historic gardens in a changing climate. Anna Beesley

Come and join us for a 3 course winter meal for the annual Josine McEwan fund-raising lunch with Anna Beesley, PhD Candidate Landscape Architecture, Melbourne University.

The late Josine McEwan was a volunteer in the garden at Buda Historic Home & Garden in Castlemaine.  Knowing how important Buda is to the region and wanting it to remain open for future generations to enjoy, Josine left a generous bequest to Buda when she passed away in 2006. Since 2007 an annual lecture and fundraising dinner has been conducted in Josine’s memory.

Anna is a passionate garden designer and plant person with over 10 years experience caring for and designing gardens, both in Melbourne and now in the Ballarat area, including seven years as head gardener and caretaker of an heritage listed Edna Walling Garden in Bickleigh Vale, Mooroolbark, which opened to the public in 2012 and 2014 as part of the Open Gardens Scheme.

She is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. She is the recipient of the David Yencken PhD Scholarship in Landscape Architecture. She is also a former lawyer with over 20 years’ experience in legislation development and law reform. Anna's interest in historic gardens and climate change adaptation was spurred by her own experiences as the custodian of a heritage listed private garden. Anna holds a Master of Urban Horticulture, a Graduate Certificate in Garden Design, a Master of Health Science (Public Health Law), a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons).

This year's lecture presented by Anna looks at due to their living components, historic gardens are among the cultural heritage must vulnerable to increasing temperatures, reducing rainfall and increasing occurrence of extreme weather events the consequence of a changing climate. Although this vulnerability is well recognised there is little research on how landscape and heritage professionals are responding to these challenges.

To address this gap, this lecture presents the results of an online survey of 135 landscape and heritage professionals involved in managing Australia's public historic gardens to understand their practices and views on climate change and its impacts on heritage public landscapes. This study found most professionals believed climate change was already negatively impacting Australia’s public historic gardens and were changing management practices in response through plant selection and water management. However, professionals were concerned about the affordability of adaptation measures given budget constraints. This study highlights the heritage value of public historic gardens may decline without adequate investment. 

The dinner includes a glass of bubbly on arrival followed by a delicious and seasonal three course winter meal.

Please let us know by email if you have dietary requirements.

Date

Location

Buda Historic Home and Garden
42 Hunter St, Castlemaine Vic 3450

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