Get involved in a heritage garden project at Eskbank House Museum

Eskbank House Museum is looking to bring together a small group of gardening and history enthusiasts to participate in a project to develop and nurture a heritage garden.

Mary’s Garden is an imagined garden based on historic photographs, 19th c gardening practices, and the plant species known to be available in Australia during Mary Brown’s time at Eskbank House. It incorporates elements common in Australian and Scottish approaches to gardening during the mid-19th century.

The project will involve gardening workshops, field trips, talks and hands on gardening. The group will meet regularly for working-bees to establish the garden and for seasonal planting, and the garden will also be made accessible to participants 5 days a week so they can spend as much time pottering as they wish.  Gardening workshops and working-bees, including establishing an edible garden and working with environmental challenges and risk, will be led by Jessica Lawn from Arborvitae. As a horticulturist and arborist experienced with heritage gardens throughout the Blue Mountains region, Jessica has cared for many gardens at risk and nurtured their recovery following periods of drought and fires.

The heritage garden project will create a new aspect to the museums role in providing the community access to local history as well as providing a unique educational resource to diversify the museums audiences. Participants in the project may also wish to contribute to a planned publication on the medicinal and everyday use of plants in the Victorian kitchen garden.

“Such a unique educational resource will attract new visitors to the museum,” Mayor Ray Thompson said. “Importantly, however, the garden will provide a space for the community reconnect following the impact of fires on our region.”

Registration closes Wednesday 12th May. The first group meeting is scheduled for w/c 17th May with specific dates reflecting participants availability. We are particularly interested in engaging fire affected or at risk residents.

For further information or to register your interest please contact:

Summar Hipworth, Cultural Development Officer

6354 9999 or [email protected]

Eskbank House Museum, cnr Inch and Bennett Street, Lithgow

This project is funded under the

Bushfire Community Resilience and Recovery Fund.