Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00620:body:0:p24
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00620
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 64737–67655

was the work of Weston, with input from Murdoch, who had instructed the use of poplars to define the Land Axis, key entrances to the Parliamentary Triangle and intersections within it.[43]  Murdoch's preference was for the balance of the trees to be lower than the poplars and widely-spaced, '… the idea being that the comparatively flat buildings will not be unduly dwarfed or views of them too much obscured by trees'.[44]
The poplars were introduced between June and August 1925, with the balance of planting assumed to have been completed by November 1926, when Weston retired.  Planted in pairs or fours to address major axial pathways and intersections, each poplar was situated in a square or roughly squared enclosure, edged with low privet hedges.[45]
The selection of poplars as a primary species effectively denied any potential for the gardens to develop a distinctly Australian character, as had been contemplated by the FCAC and others.  Native trees and shrubs were, however, selected for new plantings in the vicinity of Camp Hill and Mount Kurrajong (see discussion below), and were employed by Weston in tertiary roles within the Parliamentary Triangle's tree plantings.
While Weston's selection of specimen conifers for many of the structural plantings within the Parliamentary Triangle landscape, including Deodar cedar (Cedrus deodara) and Atlantic cedar (Cedrus atlantica), was at odds with Murdoch's preference for low-growing specimens, it was consistent with his own vision for the city.  As noted at Section 2.4.4, Weston had anticipated that cedars would form the chief arboreal feature of the city in 1917.[46]  Another variation to Murdoch's preferred outcome was the density of plantings, with rows of closely-planted trees sometimes four deep.  John Gray suggests that, '[Weston's deliberate over-planting] had in mind a quick effect and possible species performance difficulties.  He may have assumed a thinning in about 20 years'.[47]
The landscape treatments around East and West blocks were critical to the overall composition of the Parliamentary Gardens landscape.  As described by Eric Martin et al, '[They form] symmetrical anchors behind and either side of the 1927 Provisional Parliament House … the longitudinal axis of each block is extrapolated further with each northern pavilion [A Block at West Block] addressing an extended axial vista' (Figure 14).[48]  Each block was situated to relate to the Provisional Parliament House and to its corresponding formal axis, while being largely invisible from each other as a consequence of the topography of the Camp Hill situated between them.
At West Block, fast-growing Lombardy poplars (Populus nigra 'Italica', described in the 1928 Plan of Permanent Planting as Populus pyramidalis) were planted in accordance with Murdoch's instruction, in small square planting beds, serving to mark and extend the axial vista, and to frame