St Arnaud - Queen Mary Gardens
Queen Mary Gardens are beautiful landscaped gardens in the centre of the St Arnaud township with .
Built in the late 19th century, the gardens have a pond with fountain and lots of birds, walking paths, plenty of shady trees, garden beds, grassy lawn area, impressive Angwin Memorial gates (1913), statue, shelters, tables, seats, small playground and toilets. There are no BBQs here.
These gardens are an important landmark, central to one of Victoria's most significant precincts of historic buildings. Initially, the area was subdivided into allotments, but was later set aside as a botanic reserve. An 1889 landscape design featured exotic trees, an ornamental lake, a sweeping array of pathways and garden beds, a picket fence boundary with inside hedges and lockable gates. Considerable support was received from the Royal Gardens in Melbourne. James Lewis, the first gardener, did the hard work of establishment. In 1901 a visitor remarked on how, "a saunter through the St Arnaud Public Gardens is a treat. It seems incredible, but I have been in gardens of towns 10 times the size but with half the number of plants." In 1994, a plan was made to restore the gardens to their original state.
There is a statue of Jacques Leroy De St Arnaud in the gardens. The inscription reads:
Jacques Leroy De St Arnaud
(b 1796 - d 1854)
Marshal of France.
Marshal St Arnaud, although ill, commanded the French Army, combined with the British forces and a Turkish contingent against Russia during the Crimea War. In 1854, seven days after leading the victorious Battle of Alma, he was stricken with fever and died 3 days later in a vessel taking him home to France.
This was around the time of the New Bendigo gold rush when national spirit was running high. Records show that the Lands Department surveyed a site for a proposed village along the St Arnaud Creek in 1856, but it was ignored. It was clear that the residents of the goldfield had already decide on both the site and name of the future town. Thus St Arnaud came to be.
Unveiled by Mr. Peter Walsh M.L.A., 30.9.2005
Sculptor - Maurice McGrath
Bronze Casting - Coates & Wood.
There is also a statue of William John Wills in the gardens. The inscription reads:
William John Wills
1834 - 1961
In 1958 William John Wills assisted in the surveying of the original streets of the town of St Arnaud before embarking on the ill fated Burke & Wills expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Funded by a bequest to the Queen Mary Gardens from the estate of the late
Ellis Goldsbury
Original concept. - Maurice McGrath (decd)
Sculpted by grandson Christy Murphy
November 2014
History of the Queen Mary Gardens
The Queen Mary Botanic Gardens have been a green and pleasant place for local residents and passing travellers since its creation in 1884. Throughout the dry summers of the region, the shady trees, green lawns and flower beds and in winter the sunshine through leafless trees, have provided generations with the pleasures of a continuing garden.
The site had been a reserve, from the very beginning of the town with the St Arnaud Creek running through it and a large waterhole, known as Jones dam in the middle. Teamsters camped and watered their horses here and it was described as swampy, muddy and rutted by stock.
St Arnaud was a mining town, growing from a collection of tents on the goldfield discovered in 1854. The raw town was taking shape, by the early 1860s when the first reference to the reserve occurs, its streets surveyed and tents giving way to modest houses, mostly of timber mud brick and bark.
The early town planners showed a high degree of foresight, and as early as 1867, when the town was little more than a decade old, there was work and planning in the development of areas set aside for parkland and public use. In 1877, reference is made to the pleasing growth of elm, oak, thorn and pines that had been planted around Jones Dam where teams were still watered.
The Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne was recognized early by councillors as a reliable source of expert advice which was given in the layout and planning for the gardens and some of the surrounding areas. Paths were laid out, garden beds created and Jones dam was fenced to become a small pond on which water birds were to be introduced.
A picket fence with hedges behind enclosed the garden, and it was locked up at sunset. The pond harboured, as well as ducks and swans, exotics such as seagulls and pelicans.
In the dry and arid summers St Arnaud well knows, the watering of such a garden must have been a problem however there is no record of how the gardeners, in the vital years of the establishment of the trees, flowers and shrubs, met this problem. Perhaps Jones dam served the purpose in some degree, but whatever the situation it must have taken a lot of faith to establish such a garden in the dry hinterland of St Arnaud in the last century. A few of the original species remain including the soaring palm in the centre of the garden.
Only a handful of true Botanic gardens survive in Victoria today and most are now under restoration. Fortunately for St Arnaud, in 1988, St Arnaud Town Council resolved to restore the Gardens to Botanical status and retained John Hawker from the Melbourne Botanic Gardens to prepare a report on what remained and to recommend future directions.
Council amalgamation happened in January 1995 but the new Northern Grampians Shire honoured the previous council's decision to continue with restoration. Cr Ella Ebery had also in late 1994 organised the formation of a "Friends of the Queen Mary Botanic Gardens" which the new Shire at the time recognized as a contributor to the future management of the Gardens and their restoration.
The impressive Angwin Memorial Gates, in memory of a much loved Doctor, grace the main entrance with a statue of Surveyor, William Wills, who visited St Arnaud in 1858 and surveyed most of the early streets of St Arnaud. French Commander in Chief, Marshall Jacques Leroy St Arnaud. Admiral in the Crimean war and namesake of the town of St Arnaud is also there.
Although successive gardeners have changed the original concept over the years, Queen Mary Botanical Gardens is still a breathing space of considerable charm in our town.
Compiled by Beverley Reid | St Arnaud Historical Society
1 lei
Location
1 Napier Street, St Arnaud 3478 Map
Web Links
→ Queen Mary Gardens (including Angwin Memorial Gates) (Victorian Heritage Database)
