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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 tested both exotic and native species   At Westbourne Woods one section was, 'an exclusive area for the cultivation of our Australian trees etc, and to demonstrate the tractability of such to cultivation and not leave such object lessons to South Africa and California'.[95]  The second was for, 'trees that create the glorious Spring and Autumn effects for which the cool temperate countries of the world are justly noted'.[96]  The third was, 'to bring together a magnificent collection of trees and sub-trees which are included under the name of conifers or cone bearers'.[97]
Weston sought to define the new city through plantings, rather than through buildings.  It was recognised that planting could define the ground plane of the city much more quickly that the building program could, particularly given the financial constraints of the period.  Expenditure on capital works in Canberra was cut from £101,533 in 1916-17 to £8,000 over the next three years,[98] and in the years to 1924, Australia invested only £3.4million in the development of Canberra.[99] '
In general, Weston favoured conifers as a key structure planting.  In 1917 he stated that three cedars, Deodar, Atlas and Lebanon (Cedrus deodara, C. atlantica and C. libani) would be useful as the chief arboreal feature of the city.[100]  He also pioneered the use of several eucalypts such as Brittle Gum (Eucalyptus mannifera) and Argyle Apple (Eucalyptus cinerea); 36 species of eucalypts were trialled at Yarralumla in 1917.
The landscape treatment delivered by Weston at the Parliamentary precinct established the template for Canberra's interpretation of 'Garden City' principles.  The treatment was formal and used plantings to frame vistas, define boundaries and create 'outdoor rooms'.  The treatments around East and West blocks operated on two levels: as self-contained landscape settings for the buildings in their own right, including triangular car parks as landscaped buffers from the main axes; and as components of the larger landscape setting, to which they are connected in terms of symmetry and by means of the tree-lined vistas extending from their northern-most blocks.
Figure 43 Detail of Howard's vision for a 'Garden City'
Source: Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of Tomorrow (1902)

3.3                    Assessment of social value
The 'Understanding and assessing cultural significance' Practice Note to the Burra Charter 2013 provides the following definition of scientific value:
Social value refers to the associations that a place has for a particular community or cultural group and the social or cultural meanings that it holds for them.[101]
The social value of