Murdoch University has honoured the contribution of Western Australia landscape architect Dr Marion Blackwell AM, whose visionary designs of 50 years ago helped create the University’s renowned “bush campus in the city”.
At a ceremony last week, the University formally renamed the courtyard garden Bower Court – one of her original designs – the Marion Blackwell Garden.
Over her long and distinguished career, Dr Blackwell, 96, has had a significant impact on Western Australian landscape architecture and environmental science.
She conducted pioneering surveys that supported the establishment of Australian national parks – including the World Heritage Listed Purnululu - home of the Bungle Bungles. She was also instrumental in the landscape planning and design of new towns in the arid north-west and inland of Western Australia and involved in diverse WA projects including botanic gardens, a naval establishment, city squares, urban parks and roof gardens.
Dr Blackwell was appointed Murdoch University’s Landscape Consultant in 1973. She reflected the University’s early sustainability ethos, designing the South St campus with extensive use of Australian native plants to complement the campus architecture by Ronald Jack (Gus) Ferguson.
In 1975 she suggested the Banksia grandis as the floral emblem for the University’s well-known crest. She also designed a series of courtyards using non-native species, stones, waterfalls and pools to create tranquil spaces for students, staff and visitors. The Marion Blackwell Garden is one such space.
Vice Chancellor and President Andrew Deeks was delighted to celebrate and honour one of the most influential figures in Murdoch’s history, with the University preparing to celebrate its 50th anniversary since inauguration on 17 September 2024.
“The garden is a fitting tribute to an individual whose vision over 50 years ago shaped the University and made it the beautiful bush campus that we see today,” he said.
We all feel it is a privilege to work in such a stunning environment that would not have been possible without Marion’s creativity and innovative vision back in the early 1970s. It’s this vision - aligned with our foundational commitment to conservation and the environment – that will ensure the campus continues to delight all the generations to come."
Murdoch University Distinguished Alumnus and Gardening Australia TV presenter Professor Josh Byrne, who MCed at the naming ceremony, said Dr Blackwell was a long-time hero of his.
"Her pioneering work designing landscapes that reflect ‘place’ and local ecology is legendary in Western Australia and beyond,” he said.
“Her work celebrated WA flora well before it became fashionable and has inspired generations of landscape architects and horticulturalists,” said Josh.
During her lifetime, Dr Blackwell has received multiple accolades, including the Western Australian Civic Design Award in 1987; an Order of Australia in 2011, and an Honorary Doctorate from Murdoch University in 2018.
The garden naming is one of the first in a series of events Murdoch is hosting to celebrate its 50th anniversary since inauguration on 17 September, 2024.
Good afternoon everyone,
I’d like to thank Professor Andrew Deeks, the Vice Chancellor and President of Murdoch University for this very great honour, and his team, especially Sharon Solymar and Kellie Rees, for the organization of this event. I’d also like to thank all of you here, treasured friends, fellow academics, colleagues and family, for making time to come and celebrate this joyful occasion with us.
As we celebrate Murdoch’s 50th Anniversary, I’d like to congratulate all those, both past and present, who have contributed to making this University into the success it is today. May it continue to enrich and not just equip students academically, but be a positive influence in shaping the society and environment around us.
My initial visit in the quest for the ideal site for the proposed new university was in the company of Gus Ferguson, renowned West Australian Architect, and Gordon Stephenson, well known British Town Planner. Approaching the site through an adjacent former pine plantation, we then walked along the ridge of a low hill, part of the coastal sand dune system, which at its far end descended quite suddenly to the coastal plain. Immediately to our north was a cleared, sloping rectangular area; which is now named the Bush Court.
This area, the “spiritual heart” of the campus – was incorporated into the university layout, and early buildings were sited along its eastern, southern and western sides."
Gordon Stevenson’s initial vision was to flatten the ridge to produce a level site. Thankfully, I think mainly for economic reasons, the original natural elevations and undulations were retained. We felt it should be developed on its natural landform, which would add depth to the design and identity of the University campus.
When I next visited the site some days later, I approached it from the eastern end. Almost at the top of the hill, at the base of a large Eucalyptus tree, was an old and dilapidated hermit’s shack. Nearby was a dog’s kennel; an old hollow log with a metal end tacked on, to which an exuberant black and white kelpie was chained. Beside her was a battered tin dish for her food, and an ancient cast-iron Kendrick pot for water. Seeing this habitation has always stood out in my mind as something quite significant about my early days onsite, because of the personal connection. A Kendrick Pot was part of the well-used cooking equipment back home on Middleton, the Station on which I grew up in the northern ranges of NSW.
I think Perth, more than any other city in which I’ve lived, revered their first University, UWA, which has always been a vital part of the community. It was decided that this new University, if it were to develop an identity of its own, would have to be different, not with a traditional European character but with an Australian individuality.
This new university sought to attract students from all over the continent. What I tried to achieve through the landscape was to develop an Australian theme, which gave me the opportunity to focus on and feature Australian plants. Many of the students would be from the country and would be familiar with the bush from where they grew up. For those not familiar with these native species, it was a wonderful opportunity to introduce them, so they could see and appreciate how beautiful and amazing these plants were.
I grew up on the land, living in the bush, and have spent considerable time out on surveys, therefore I have a background, a sort of composite feeling about this land, with lots of details in my head and ideas to recreate these ecosystems.
The intent was to produce an Australian idiom for the campus through the landscape.
Australia is the only continent in the world dominated by one genus of trees - Eucalyptus, which range from ground covers, through to the tallest angiosperms in the world. I therefore chose Eucalypts to be the dominant trees for this site. (Eucaplytus regnans is only surpassed in tree height by the gymnosperm Sequoia sempervirens, the Redwood of northern California.)
A variety of other trees from all over the nation were also selected, especially some of the very tall ones from Victoria and Tasmania. The aim was to create an Australian University campus, where students would feel at home wherever they came from, because of the ambience imparted by the trees. In addition, predominantly native species were used for the smaller trees, bushes, shrubs and ground covers, not only because they were easy maintenance, but there are so many beautiful and unique plants which needed to be exhibited. Banksias, Hakeas, Hibbertias, Grevilleas – splendid and spectacular in their unusual and remarkable details.
Using a palette composed of native species attracted native birds, which also provided a soundscape, bringing the garden areas to life and providing mental respite for students who are studying, learning and thinking all day.
Many of these plants had not previously been used for commercial landscape purposes. They incorporated plants that grew from the fringes of beaches to the tops of our mountains. Some of these species were grown from specimens brought back from environmental surveys I had carried out in previous years, and had been cultivated by Lulfitz Nurseries (George Lulfitz being one of the rare nurserymen at that time willing to experiment and undertake cultivation of new species).
We have an absolutely amazing flora in this country. It's diversity has intrigued me from when I was a small child – gumtrees in particular, and I felt this was an opportunity to display it’s beauty.
For the courtyards however, I focused on different themes, and used exotic plants that suited that shadier environment, as well as natives. Deciduous trees that would allow the sun to filter through in winter and provide shade in the hot summers.
For example, we had a mining courtyard where mining companies that I’d worked with up in the Pilbara and the Kimberley, donated large stones which we used for seating and sculptural highlights. Other courtyards had water features to create a cool niche that was inviting for students to escape to for respite during short breaks.
The garden edges along paths at Murdoch University were based on a “Lazy-S” design concept. My “Lazy-S concept” consists of a succession of height modifications in the planting, that starts with low shrubs beside the path, quickly curving down to ground covers behind, then arching up in height further back to create a form, which depending on space can even exceed the height of the buildings, and then curve down again to loop toward the roof-edge of these structures. This sculptural and versatile design utilizes height and shape, with trunk structure, bark and leaf colours and textures contributing to the overall effect.
This concept also ensured safety near pathways. For instance, one doesn’t want any tall bushes right next to a path, where someone could be hiding and suddenly confront a person walking alone at dusk, so the taller bushes need to be placed back further, but with a pleasing gradation which the “Lazy-S” imparts.
The design of Murdoch University definitely had a theme – based on Australian identity, which was created by means of setting and landscape. I set out to achieve that by using Australian plants, and in particular Australian trees.
I’m told that the campus has now become known colloquially as “the Australian bush campus”. I hope it will continue to maintain this identity and individuality.