Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00408:front:0:p253
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00408
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Character Range: 787003–789842

his wife Marion, after settling his American affairs, and set up offices in both Melbourne and Sydney.

With the establishment of Canberra as the site for the nation's capital, arboriculture became a means of implementing planning and design concepts in a tangible way.

Charles Weston was appointed as Officer-in-Charge, Afforestation Branch, Federal Capital Territory and began service on 1 May 1913.  His previous appointments were as Gardener-in-Charge at Admiralty House, Sydney, Head Gardener at the Federal Government House, Sydney, and the Superintendent of the Campbelltown State Nursery under the control of the Sydney Botanic Gardens.  Whilst at the Federal Government House, he made several visits to the Federal Capital site in 1911 and 1912 to assist in the establishment of a nursery at Acton.

Unlike the Griffins, Weston lived in Canberra, adjacent to the Acton Nursery, for most of his appointment, and he promoted the possibility of using a mixture of Australian trees and exotic trees that were frost tolerant.  His preference was for more coniferous species and particularly Cedrus species to, 'form the chief arboreal feature of Canberra'.  His former employer, the Director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens, Joseph Henry Maiden, expressed the desire for the predominance of Australian trees, particularly eucalypts and the use of native grasses for the Federal Capital.  But Maiden could also see the attraction of using the Canberra climate to advantage by utilising autumn foliage plants as well as those plants which display distinctively coloured fruit.

The Griffins were also favouring the use of Australian plants, particularly eucalypts, and a mix of exotic trees and shrubs.  Maiden disapproved of the Griffins selected plant species except for a small number, and advised them to consult with Weston as, 'the land in question is largely treeless with unknown sylvicultural conditions'.

The area now known as Anzac Parade was designated, in the Griffins' competition entry, as the northern component of the Land Axis and as a parkway linking the foreshores of the intended central lake with an up-slope site for an intended casino building which would command views towards and over the Parliamentary Triangle on the opposite and southern shore of the central lake.  The parkway was a linear stretch of land lying along the axis and was identified as Prospect Parkway.

The Griffins' vision for the parkway was,

    'a formal plaisance 600 feet wide, all the way to the Casino, a park feature, at the foot of Mt Ainslie.'  (Gray 1999, p. 183)

The perspective drawings prepared by Marion Mahony Griffin suggest a wide grassed area defined by rows of trees either side.  No detailed design drawings appear to have been developed by the Griffins for the Parkway but their intention was interpreted by Weston at