The H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens, originally the Sunshine Gardens, are a public space located in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

suburb of

Sunshine, Victoria Sunshine is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Brimbank local government area. Sunshine recorded a population of 9,445 at the . Sunshine, initially a town just ...

, Australia. Established in 1909, the Gardens are Australia's oldest remaining

industrial garden Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

and one of only two remaining in Australia, the heritage-listed gardens on Anderson Road were established by H.V. McKay as Sunshine Gardens later taken over by Brimbank City Council and renamed the H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens. The development of the gardens was not only an expression of H.V. McKay's own social philosophy but also represented a changing attitude to Urban Planning that is known as the "Garden Suburb" movement. A Friends Group was established in 2007 to rescue the Gardens from serious decline and in April 2012, local residents were campaigning to preserve the original state of the public space.

History

In 1909 the Sunshine Gardens were developed to provide an amenity for the employees of the

Sunshine Harvester Works The Sunshine Harvester works, was an Australian factory making agricultural equipment founded by industrialist H. V. McKay, and with engineering development headed by H.B. Garde. History Early years Having established an agricultural imple ...

. Designed by the assistant city engineer at

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

, F. A. Horsfallm and laid out by head gardener S. G. Thompson, the eight-acre Gardens were sited alongside the factory and incorporated recreation facilities and popular horticultural displays. According to Bill Bampton, the Gardens included tennis courts and pavilion, a bandstand, a bowling green, a substantial house for the head gardener, a conservatory and associated works areas. Under inaugural curator Thompson (1909–27), and curators James Willan (1930–39) and Harold Gray (1939-50), the Gardens developed a reputation for its

chrysanthemum Chrysanthemums (), sometimes called mums or chrysanths, are flowering plants of the genus ''Chrysanthemum'' in the family Asteraceae. They are native to East Asia and northeastern Europe. Most species originate from East Asia and the center ...

s and

dahlia Dahlia (, ) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. A member of the Asteraceae (former name: Compositae) family of dicotyledonous plants, its garden relatives thus include the sunflower, ...

s, attracting workers and their families, as well as other local residents.

Transfer to City of Sunshine and eventually the National Trust of Australia

In 1953, the management of Sunshine Gardens was handed to the newly established

City of Sunshine The City of Sunshine was a local government area about west of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1860 until 1994. History The local area was first incorporated as the Braybro ...

. At this time, it was renamed the H.V. McKay Memorial Gardens. In the 1990s, the garden was listed by the National Trust of Australia and in the Register of the National Estate. In 2007 the Friends of McKay Gardens was formed to help maintain the gardens.

Threatened destruction for rail construction

Regional Rail Link The Regional Rail Link (RRL) was a project to build a 47.5 kilometre length of railway through the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, the main aim of which was to separate regional V/Line Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong services from the el ...

proposals entailed the destruction of the gardens as part of a grade separation along Anderson Road in Sunshine, despite the fact that this impact appeared nowhere in its planning documents. The proposal entailed the removal of more than 130 square metres of land, destruction of path systems, and the relocation of the last remaining heritage fabric. After having condemned the RRL while in opposition, the new Liberal Minister for Public Transport,

Terry Mulder Terence Wynn Mulder (born 16 August 1952) is a former Australian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1999 to 2015, representing the Colac-based electorate of Polwarth. He served as Minister for Publ ...

, responded to the community controversy by saying: "you can’t keep everyone happy". After considerable community resistance and strong lobbying by Brimbank City Council, the RRL Authority reduced its acquisition of land to approximately five square metres.

References

External links

Friends of McKay Gardens website
{{coord, -37.7838, 144.8282, type:landmark_region:AU, display=title Parks in Melbourne Sunshine, Victoria City of Brimbank 1909 establishments in Australia