GARDENS IN 19th CENTURY AUSTRALIAN LITERATURE & DIARIES with Sue Martin

Gardens feature in 19th century Australian writing in various ways – as proof and celebration of settlement, as a way of resisting the environment or a way of coming to terms with and incorporating it. This talk will consider these representations and their literary and symbolic meanings in fiction, but also in 19th century diaries, where descriptions of gardens and gardening sometimes serve different ends.

SUE MARTIN has published articles in The Victorian Naturalist and the prestigious journal Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes.

She is an Associate Professor in English at La Trobe University. Recently she co-authored Reading The Garden which looked at individual gardens, both public and private. This book illuminates the meaning and uses of gardens and gardening in Australia from white settlement to the late 20th century.