Calls for Wendy Whiteley's 'secret garden' to be declared a permanent public park

Updated

For over 20 years Wendy Whiteley has been creating a unique public garden in front of her home on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour. She spoke with Australian Story.

For more than 20 years, Wendy Whiteley has been creating a unique public garden in front of her home at Lavender Bay, on the northern shore of Sydney Harbour.

With canyons of high-rise buildings nearby, it is a precious sanctuary that many in the local community consider of such significance that they now want the Government to step in and protect it for all time.

After Brett died, I just started clearing in front of the house. And it kind of grew like topsy from there. Wendy Whiteley

Covering almost a hectare, this harbourside land had been neglected for almost a century, becoming an unofficial dump, until Ms Whiteley began to clear it.

Where the garden is, used to be just a big green lump of lantana and morning glory. You had no idea of the depth of the place. The actual thing of it being a walled garden wasn't revealed until we started clearing out all the junk and the rubbish. Wendy Whiteley

Friend and writer Janet Hawley has recently documented the history and concept of the garden as part of the push for preservation.

I think people don't realise that it's actually a huge philanthropic gift from Wendy, this garden. For over twenty years she's paid for the entire thing herself. Her own labour, full-time gardeners, all the plants, the soil, everything. Janet Hawley, friend of Wendy's and arts writer

This is a "guerrilla garden" — it stands on public land owned by the NSW State railways and Ms Whiteley has never sought anyone's permission for her venture.

She worried that if she asked, she would be told "no".

Nor did she engage landscape designers or other professionals.

Instead, she approached the garden as if it were a giant painting, and applied the same artistic sensibility as seen in her late husband Brett Whiteley's famous Lavender Bay series of paintings.

Brett always knew he'd struck gold when he found Wendy. All those interiors that Brett painted in those much-loved Lavender Bay paintings, that's Wendy's aesthetic. The way she framed a view, looking through a window, and it's continued in the garden. Janet Hawley

To Hawley, whose book Wendy Whiteley and the Secret Garden will be released later this month, the garden has great cultural importance.

It's this wonderful sort of linkage of Brett and Wendy Whiteley. You've got Brett's Lavender Bay paintings that have this wonderful sensual summery Australian-ness about them and Wendy's Lavender Bay garden. It's as though it was meant to be. Janet Hawley

For three decades, Brett and Wendy Whiteley were icons of Australian art — he the internationally acclaimed "rockstar" artist, and she his wife and muse.

Adding to the allure was a talented daughter, the actress Arkie Whiteley.

But then tragedy struck. Brett died in 1992, followed by Arkie nine years later, leaving Wendy alone.

Determined not to let grief and heartbreak overwhelm her, Ms Whiteley has instead thrown all her energies and creativity into turning this huge wasteland into a beautiful sanctuary, and in the process has transformed her own life.

The garden's helped me enormously I think. When Arkie died it was a place I went where I could be quiet and think that, well, basically that life was worth living, you know, that there was something to do with life. Wendy Whiteley

Life is all we've got, really for me... life and our imaginations and our creativity and how we deal with it. And if you're lucky, it gets important to other people and you can share it. Wendy Whiteley

To me the garden is Wendy's Alchemy. She's turned a huge rubbish dump into a glorious blooming, flourishing garden. She's transformed the garden and along the way it's transformed her. Janet Hawley

Today, the work on the garden continues under a temporary beautification lease. But supporters of the garden are campaigning for Ms Whiteley's "living canvas" to be declared a permanent public garden.

The garden's really very vulnerable because it's on State Rail land, on a beautification lease which could be revoked tomorrow. Janet Hawley

Robert Emerson, North Sydney Council director in charge of Open Space and Environmental Services, is among those advocating for the garden to be preserved in perpetuity.

"One, it's a beautiful place," he said. "And two, it's an inspiration for all our community that this can occur — that a single resident has produced this as a result of her motivation, hard work, and love for what she's doing."

A spokesperson for NSW State Transport/Trains, told Australian Story that: "The land is leased to North Sydney Council until 2018 and we have no issue with the garden remaining unless the land is needed to help us deliver essential train services."

One, it's a beautiful place, and two, it's an inspiration for all our community that this can occur — that a single resident has produced this as a result of her motivation, hard work, and love for what she's doing. Robert Emerson of North Sydney Council

At 74, Ms Whiteley is increasingly anxious to see it protected.

It's very important to keep the garden as a kind of breathing space for people's spirits and for the city itself. And this is true of any public space or garden, if it's been made and people love it, then it's nice to feel that it would just go on. Wendy Whiteley

Watch Australian Story: Wendy's Way at 8pm on ABC.

Topics: lifestyle-and-leisure, gardening, arts-and-entertainment, sydney-2000

First posted