Geelong is in Victoria, The Garden State, about an hour's drive from the state capital city Melbourne. There are many good articles about Australia's plants in Australian magazines such as Australian Plants, Landscape Australia, and Australian Garden History Journal. Here are two recent articles that may be located easily. Pacific Horticulture , volume 59 number 2, Spring 1998, pages 34-40. Discusses gems from an area of great topographical and floral diversity in the states of New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria that includes mountains, spectacular beaches and desert within 150 miles of the coast and major cities of Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Climate ranges from Mediterranean to cool temperate.
Pacific Horticulture , volume 59 number 2, Spring 1998, pages 41-46. Describes the collection and a sampling of Banksia, Dryandra and Isopogon many of which are good candidates for garden use. Superb photographs of these intricate and fascinating flowers. The ten books mentioned below will give you a good understanding of Australian gardens and a basic foundation for the diverse climates, types of gardens, where they are located, influences over time, and why gardens are such an important part of Australian culture. These are books covering the whole of Australia and exclude those devoted to a particular region or specialty.