Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00620:body:0:p49
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00620
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 133083–136072

Revolution.
The City Beautiful movement, informed by Renaissance planning principles, was concerned with urban aesthetics and order.  It is characterised by axes and vistas lined with monumental civic buildings connecting gardens and public spaces.  A leading proponent of City Beautiful principles at the end of the nineteenth century was American architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham.  The influence of Burnham's plan for the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago on a young Walter Burley Griffin has been well documented.[93]  The Exposition plan was distinguished by a strong sense of geometry, tree-lined boulevards, axes lined with classical buildings and a central water court.  Burnham subsequently worked on the McMillan Commission (1901), which resulted in the completion of the National Mall in Washington DC and in 1909 he prepared a comprehensive city plan for Chicago, described by Professor Taylor as having, 'an emphasis on civic design, a system of highways and avenues, public transport and a great park system'.[94]
The emphasis of the Garden City movement, as promoted by English reformer Ebenezer Howard from the late 1890s, was on achieving a balance between contemporary urban forms and traditional patterns of rural settlement.  Hygiene and cleanliness were dominant precepts, and locations on the urban fringe were identified as ideal locations to demonstrate the benefits of Garden City principles.
The centre point of Howard's ideal garden city was a large circular public park.  Avenues radiating from the park were linked by concentric streets, lined with residential development.  The central ring (Grand Avenue) was a broad linear green space (Figure 43).  Throughout the city, public open spaces and private gardens contributed to the health and welfare of residents.  The underpinning principle was of urban planning as an instrument of social reform.  Further underpinning the urban planning philosophy was an ideal to introduce 'nature' into the new city.  With both the British Garden City and the City Beautiful (particularly as interpreted in Europe), a key component in the successful implementation of the planning model was landscape architecture.  In the case of Canberra, on the treeless Limestone Plains, the design and planting of the landscape was critical.

Charles Weston
Charles Weston was appointed Horticulturalist Superintendent of Parks, Gardens and Afforestation in Canberra (later Superintendent Parks and Gardens) at the national capital.  He was simultaneously Director of City Planning from 1921-1926.  As noted, his work in Canberra can be divided into two phases: testing and propagation in the distinct conditions of the Limestone Plains; and planting.
Tree trials were conducted at the Acton Nursery (now submerged by Lake Burley Griffin) over a period of several years.  Other trial sites which remain as a record of Weston's approach include Westbourne Woods and Yarralumla Nursery.  In the trial plantings, Weston