Cart 
Discovering the work of Bruce Mackenzie at university was a formative experience for landscape architect Johnny Ellice-Flint, now the director of Studio JEF, and part of the design team behind the National Sculpture Garden Revitalisation project at the National Gallery of Australia.
A crucial player in the establishment of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, Mackenzie’s work was developed in harmony with its setting, championing Indigenous planting to reclaim the qualities of the landscape before colonisation.
‘It was the first time I think I encountered the notion of designing in tune to the “spirit of the land”,’ says Johnny.
Mackenzie’s ethos is perhaps best exemplified in Yurulbin Park — one of Johnny’s all-time favourite gardens — located in Birchgrove, in Sydney’s inner west.
A functioning shipyard from the 1920s, the park was transformed by Bruce Mackenzie and Associates in the 1970s to restore and celebrate its inherent beauty.
‘The park was radical for its time, setting aside the conventions of traditional (European) parkland for something that reflected Sydney Harbour’s natural character, respected the form of the site as it was, and considerate of the people who will use them,’ says Johnny.
‘As with much of Bruce’s work, much of the expression in the landscape doesn’t come from an attempt to put his stamp on the place, but rather to reflect what was once or is already there. The spaces function effectively for their local community rather than attempting to match the drama of the setting.’
In landscaping Yurulbin Park, Mackenzie chose to work with the prominent underlying bedrock, which protrudes in dramatic, altered and unaltered outcrops.
Walls and paving were made from readily available recycled stone, with salvaged timber wharf piles and electricity poles used for elements such as stairs (since decommissioned for not meeting contemporary standards). ‘The result is something conspicuously true to its setting,’ says Johnny.
The unpretentious bushland theme planting of this waterside park could be mistaken for emergent native plants. Casuarina trees whistle in the wind, angophora trees weave their way between rocks, and huge fig trees form a protective canopy over the carpark and walkway down to the ferry wharf.
Johnny says it’s easy to take a landscape like Yurulbin Park for granted. ‘Sometimes we as Australians spend so much time looking overseas for answers. We get seduced by flamboyant Dutch garden designs and think that it’s the future of design here in Australia.
‘Yurulbin Park reminds me that even in its current state — in need of a bit of love — a landscape that is true to its setting is so much more meaningful and restorative than something that has been taken out of its context and plonked in a place where it needs all this effort for it to persist.’
The design speaks to the power of restraint — doing as much as necessary and as little as possible.
Mackenzie was involved in the very early concept work of the National Sculpture Garden — a legacy Johnny is now upholding as part of a multidisciplinary design team revitalising the landmark Canberra project. ‘It would feel inappropriate for us to approach this project in a way that wasn’t sensitive to their ethos,’ he says.
True to the spirit of the place and its original design, Johnny is eager to reinvigorate the detailed seasonal planting design by Barbara Buchanan and Harry Howard, adding layers of complexity to match a contemporary understanding of Australian plants, and weave through meaningful connections to Country.
‘We aren’t bulldozing what everyone has come to love about the Sculpture Garden, but adding to it in a sensitive and yet somehow also transformative way,’ says Johnny.
‘We are so excited about the project. We are putting our heart and soul into it, and I think we are developing something extremely special.’
The Design Files is partnering with the National Gallery to bring you stories about Australia’s most beautiful gardens, chosen by the Gallery’s National Sculpture Garden Revitalisation project design team. Find out more here.
