When you enter the administration building of Camden Council at Oran Park, you pass an exciting sculpture along a wall adjacent to the entry.
The art installation extends from the entry to the end of the building. It is called The Tree of Life by sculptors Gillie and Marc celebrating the Camden White Gum.
The Tree of Life art installation by sculptures Gillie and Marc was commissioned by Camden Council for the opening of the administration building in 2016 (I Willis, 2023)
The artwork dimensions are described as ‘lifesize’, and the medium is corten steel. Corten or weathered steel is used in outdoor construction and artwork. The steel is designed to eliminate painting and will develop a rusted appearance if left exposed to the elements.
This image shows the situation of the art installation ‘The Tree of Life’ adjacent to the entry of the Camden Council office building. (I Willis, 2023)
Gillie and Marc describe the style of the artwork as contemporary sculpture, silhouette and botanical.
The information plaque tells the story of The Tree of Life adjacent to the art installation on the Camden Council administration building. (I Willis 2023)
The Tree of Life information plaque states:
The Tree of Life is to bring nature into the urban space and raise awareness about the Camden Whilte Gum that symbolises growth and vitality. It represents the passing of time and marking of the landscape. The tree’s branches mirror the branching out and emergence of the diverse social and cultural communities both of the past and present. The Camden White Gum (Eucalyptus benthamii) known as the Nepean River Gum is a threatened native tree, occurring along the Nepean River and its tributaries in Camden.
Camden Council administration building, 70 Central Ave, Oran Park.
The Camden White Gum is an endangered species and can be found along the Nepean River in the Camden area, Bents Basin, and the Kedumba Valley in the Blue Mountains.
The Camden White Gum, Eucalyptus benthamii, along the Nepean River. (Wikimedia, 2005)
The Gillie and Marc website describes the art installation, The Tree of Life, on the Camden Council office building this way:
A combination of steel and nature, trees and architecture. This is the relief for the Camden Council. Proudly displayed on the outside of their headquarters, this relief shows how a community can stay strong. There is a need for steel and strength, building infrastructure that will stand the test of time and keep people safe. But it is also important to not forget the natural world, combining the man-made with the organic qualities of the earth to keep us happy and healthy. Only then can we thrive.
British and Australian artists, Gillie and Marc have been called “the most successful and prolific creators of public art in New York’s History” by the New York Times. Creating some of the world’s most innovative public sculptures, Gillie and Marc are redefining what public art should be, spreading messages of love, equality, and conservation around the world. Their highly coveted sculptures and paintings can be seen in art galleries and public sites in over 250 cities. They’re Archibald Prize Finalists and have won the Chianciano Biennale in Italy, together with winning 2 years in a row People’s Choice Award in Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea, among many other notable awards and accolades.
Gillie and Marc are based in both Sydney and London, sharing their time between their two countries of birth.
The artwork was commissioned by Camden Council for the opening of the new administration building in 2016 at 70 Central Avenue, Oran Park.
The plaque commemorating the opening of the Camden Council administration building in 2016 (I Willis 2023)
The plaque at the opening of the council administration building in 2016 with members of the official party Chris Patterson MLA, Mayor Lara Symkowiak, Minister Paul O’Toole MLA, Tony Perich (2016 A McIntosh)
This image shows the Camden Council administration building (right) adjacent to the library. The artwork ‘The Tree of Life’ is on the RHS of entry at the centre of the office building at the end of the walkway. (I Willis, 2023)
The Tree of Life sculpture complements the art installations in the council library building commissioned by the council. The library building was opened at the same time as the administration building in 2016.
Updated on 18 July 2023. Originally posted on 17 July 2023 as ‘Public art at Camden Council Administration Offices’.
The Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens are some of the most important open spaces and parkland in Australia’s urban places. The 29 hectares of gardens are surrounded by 51 hectares of parkland, including the Sydney Domain.
The gardens are traditionally divided into 4 sections: the Middle Garden, the Upper Garden, the Lower Garden and the Garden Palace Grounds.
They were officially recognised as a botanic garden in 1816, and while it only became the ‘Royal’ in 1959. The site is one of the world’s oldest colonial botanic gardens and one of the most important botanical sites in the Southern Hemisphere (only Rio de Janeiro is older).
The area attracts around 4 million visitors a year.
Sydney Botanic Gardens 1934 (Sam Hood SLNSW)
The Dictionary of Sydney states that the gardens reflect:
the changing styles of ‘public gardens’ – from the utilitarian beds that provided the necessities of life in the early years, to the emerging styles associated with new ideas about landscape gardening for visual effect, to the overwrought overkill of Victoriana, with statues, urns, terraces, ponds, plinths and obelisks at every turn, through to the contemporary acceptance of the validity of ‘native’ flora as a legitimate focus in a public garden.
The Botanic Gardens were the site of the first government farm in the colony of New South Wales in 1788 (Middle Garden) and called the Governor’s Farm in 1792. Governor Phillip ordered the cultivation of 20 acres in 1788, and the area was part of Governor Phillip’s private reserve.
The original farm furrows are evident in the alignment of the longitudinal beds of shrubs. The Governor’s Domain was one of the first pleasure grounds in the colony, established in 1792 by Governor Phillip.
Governor Phillips Private Reserve (Domain) 1816 C Cartwright (SLNSW)
There were some private land grants on the eastern side of Farm Cove (1800-1807), which were resumed under Governor Bligh when carriage roads were built around Bennelong Point and Farm Cove in 1807. The main botanic farm function was transferred to Rose Hill at this time under Governor King.
The Royal Botanic Gardens Trust states that in 1810
The new Governor, Lachlan Macquarie, terminate[d] leases and embarks on wall and fence building to re-establish the Domain as the Governor’s private parkland. His walls and rules [were] flouted.
The gardens link the oldest surviving group of Governor Macquarie period buildings in Australia along Macquarie Street (1810).
Governor Macquarie also landscaped the domain with a gate and sandstone wall. The wall, which now separates the Lower and Middle Garden, was built between 1812 and 1816 to protect the garden from the harbour. In Governor Macquarie’s time (1816),
Mrs Macquarie Road was completed around the Domain to Mrs Macquarie Point.
The work of the gardens illustrates the associations with the 18th century European scientific world of Sir Joseph Banks, Sir William Hooker and others. The gardens are Australia’s oldest scientific institution (1816) for botany and horticulture. In 1821, Superintendent Charles Fraser, a botanist, was appointed to develop the gardens along scientific grounds for the first time. Fraser accompanied John Oxley on his inland journeys and brought back plant specimens.
In 1825, Governor Brisbane extended the garden west of Farm Cove for an experimental garden to acclimatise Australian plants for export and imported plants. Colonists were interested in ‘exotics’ and brought many of them with them and were added to the garden plant collection. In 1829, grape vines were planted, which became important in the foundation of the Australian wine industry.
1831 Governor Bourke opened roads and paths for general access despite conservative opposition.
The path through Sydney Botanic Gardens (2015 IWillis)
By the 1850s, military, sporting, and ceremonial events had become common in the domain. The area was the home of first-class cricket in New South Wales from 1857 to 1871, and the first interstate match was held in the Domain in 1851 when NSW defeated Victoria.
There were the first swimming championships in 1846 and a gymnasium (public playground).
All England Cricket Match Freeman Bros 1862 (SLNSW)
Construction commenced for the new government house in the northern section of the Domain in 1837. It was completed in 1845. The area was the site of Australia’s first zoo, an aviary in 1860 that was expanded into a larger facility with a monkey house in 1880. Eventually, the zoo was relocated to Moore Park in 1883.
Sydney Conservatorium of Music (former Government House Stables c1816) (2015 IWillis)
The Domain and gardens were the site of the 1878 International Exhibition, and the Garden Palace (1879), which burnt down in a spectacular fire in 1882, was the first exhibition in Australia featuring arts and industrial displays.
The Garden Palace was located between the Conservatorium of Music (formerly the Government House Stables) and Macquarie Street. The site is the highest point in the garden and was originally surrounded by a paling fence for grazing the governor’s stock.
The Central Depot in the gardens was the kitchen garden for the government house (Bridge Street, then Macquarie Street) from 1813 to 1870, and it still has a rare glasshouse.
Tarpeian Way Sydney Botanic Garden (2015 IWillis)
The northern boundary of the garden is the sandstone wall adjacent to the Opera House, which has stone steps and iron railing.
The cliff wall, built in 1880, enabled the extension of Macquarie Street and is known as the Tarpeian Way. It provides a dramatic backdrop to the Opera House forecourt and gets its name from the famous rock on Capitoline Hill in Rome, where prisoners were hurled to their deaths in ancient times.
What are now the Opera House iron gates were originally the Governor’s private gates and were built-in 1870.
The Lower Garden was reclaimed from Farm Cove between 1848 and 1879 when the seawall was constructed with stone from the old government house on Bridge Street. This work extended the garden’s pleasure grounds with curving pleasure walks and plantings.
Port Jackson and view of Botanical Garden 1803 JW Lancashire (SLNSW)
In the Domain, the Hospital Road gate lodge and gate were built around 1865, and the Victorian gate lodge house was built on the eastern side of the garden. The Victorian herbarium building was constructed in 1899 and adapted as the visitor centre in 1982.
The Domain was quite extensive at one stage, and successive governments have taken bits of it for various cultural institutions -the Art Gallery of New South Wales (1885+), the State Library of NSW (1910+), Government House (1836+), Opera House (1966+), and Conservatorium of Music (formerly Government House Stables, 1816 and CoM, 1916+) -and oil tanks for the Navy in WW2.
The Domain has been a site of decent by the Sydney populace. The Dictionary of Sydney states:
The Domain has also had an important history as a ‘soap box’ arena, like London’s Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park. ‘Soapbox Sunday’ may well go back into the late nineteenth century: in 1878, Baptist pastor Allen is reported to have gone there to speak on Irish Home Rule, after a riot in nearby Hyde Park. The Domain has been the site of free opera events as part of the Sydney Festival since 1982.
The gardens and domain have suffered under the influence of modernism. In the 1920s, the site was dug up using a cut-and-cover construction method to build the City Loop of the underground railway on the western side of the Domain.
In 1956, the City of Sydney took the western side of the Domain and constructed a car park, resulting in the loss of 47 rare trees. The influence of the car again played out with the construction of the Cahill Expressway between 1958 and the 1960s, which resulted in the loss of the Fig Tree Avenue planted in 1847 and the division of the gardens and the domain areas.
In 1978, the administration of the gardens and Domain was transferred from the Department of Agriculture (from 1908) to the Premier’s Department.
In 1980, the state government passed the Royal Botanic Gardens Trust Act to secure the extent of the grounds, and the administration of Centennial Park administration became autonomous. The Friends of the Botanic Garden was established in 1982.
The Calyx Signage 2016 (IWillis)
Development of the gardens and Domain occurred in 1970 and 1971 with the construction of The Pyramid as a tropical glasshouse. Two annexes were established in 1988 at Mount Annan (native plantings) and Mount Tomah (cool-climate plantings), and in 2016, in the Upper Garden, the new Calyx replaced the demolished Pyramid as the tropical plant centre.
The Calyx (2016 IWillis)
To read more, go to the Royal Botanic Gardens’ website and read about the gardens’ history and heritage at the State Heritage Inventory.
The Dictionary of Sydney has some interesting stories about the Domain and the Royal Botanic Gardens, and the Domain is one of the most popular spots for the Sydney Festival.
Updated 27 April 2024. Originally posted on 26 January 2017.
The early colonists of the Sydney area viewed the landscape from several different perspectives, according to historian Grace Karskins in her book The Colony a History of Early Sydney (2009). This also applied to the Cowpastures.
The meaning of landscape
The term landscape has a variety of meanings.
The two most common are when landscape refers to all the visible features of an area of land, usually the rural features and the aesthetic appeal of neat paddocks and fields. The other meaning is applied in an artistic sense and is its pictorial representation of an area of countryside, usually in a painting.
There can be different types of landscapes, such as cultural and physical.
Landscapes have different meanings in different scholarly disciplines; for example,
art (English landscapes of Turner and Constable),
photography (American Ansel Adams),
literature (the idealised pastoral scene or bucolic in art, music and literature, for example, English poet Milton, William Wordsworth; an early form is the Aboriginal Dreamtime stories; William Gilpin’s Observations on the River Wye was published in 1770, the idea of the picturesque began to influence artists and viewers and British romanticism),
architecture (the term landscape architecture was invented by Gilbert Laing Meason in 1828 and was first used as a professional title by Frederick Law Olmsted in 1863), and
gardening (Italian influences of an arcadia – The English garden (and later French landscape garden) presented an idealised view of nature.- The work of Lancelot “Capability” Brown and Humphry Repton and in the Cowpastures, JC Laudon).
These views of landscapes are culturally derived and depend on the viewer’s interpretation, which is the essence of landscape and its contribution to the sense of place.
View of the Government Hut at Cowpastures, 1804. State Library of NSW SSV1B / Cowp D / 1
Seven principles
Grace Karskins’s The Colony, A History of Early Sydney (Karskins: 242) has presented seven principles of interpretation that she maintains were used by the early colonists of Sydney towards to new environment they took possession of the land in 1788.
All of Karskin’s seven principles are evident in the diaries and accounts of the Cowpastures by a host of Europeans who travelled through the area. They are:
Utilitarian – the economic benefit – the protection of the cows and the herd
Picturesque – the presentation of the Cowpastures as a result of the burning of the environment by the Aborigines –fire stick farming – the reports of the area being a little England from the 1820s – Hawdon
Regulatory – banning of movement into the Cowpastures to protect the cows
Political and philosophical – evils of the governors and transportation were the true corruptors of the countryside
Natural history – collecting specimens and describing fauna and flora – Darwin’s visit to Sydney – the curiosity of the early officers
‘New natures’ – the environmental impact of flooding along the Nepean River and clear felling of trees across the countryside
Emotional response – how the European viscerally experienced the countryside – sights, smells, hearing – and its expression in words and pictures.
The aesthetics of the Nepean River floodplain caught the attention of the early Europeans in a landscape managed by the local Dharawal people for hundreds of years. Camden Town Farm Miss Llewella Davies Pioneers Walkway Pond (2020 IW)
How these were used in reports and diaries often depended on the written work’s audience in England or France. Often the accounts were used to promote a book and sometimes a set of paintings or sketches.
Sometimes there were just personal comments in a diary, or reports were the basis of a book published in England on the person’s return home from Sydney.
The reports of the Cowpastures in the colonial period by a host of naval officers, military personnel and surveyors have elements of all these views of the landscape.
Exploring examples of landscape interpretation
Anyone interested in exploring some of the aspects of these types of interpretation sees other posts on this blog that mention:
Camden History Notes 
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