The Laboratory Gardens was a two-week Melbourne University elective commissioned by Project Toria in 2022, for London’s Architectural Association Visiting School. I co-led this unit with my teaching partner and creative collaborator, Lucy Moroney. For our student brief, we examined the myth of wilderness in Australia. Our intensive looked at the stories we tell ourselves—and others—about discovery, and the narratives we form in the process.
With guidance from expert guests, our students explored the notion of the ‘wild’ as a myth that negates the agency and cultural participation that has directly shaped and influenced the landscape around us. We tasked the students with surveying two unique Victorian landscapes, capturing sound and tactile experiences without collecting physical mementos to convey their exploration. The work focused on two curated sites: John Douglas Reserve, a pre-colonial land fragment acquired by Bush Heritage, and The Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, a living plant museum whose roles had evolved over time—from academic collections and curiosities to displays of beauty and educational institutions.
Responsibilities:
Brief Design
Producer
Workshops
Tutoring
Guest Crit
Installation
Videography
Editing
Guest Contributors:
Bill Gammage, historian and author of The Biggest Estate on Earth, How Aborigines Made Australia
Bush Heritage
Erin Mathews for touring arts organisation NETS Victoria
Patrick Cronin, sound artist, producer and maker of Sonica Botanica
Sally McPhee, placemaking producer for the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
Clients:
Architectural Association Visiting School (London)
Melbourne School of Design, University of Melbourne
Project (Vic)Toria
Bill Gammage
Gammage is an historian and adjunct professor in the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University. His multi-award-winning book The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia, explodes the myth that pre-1788 Australia was an untamed wilderness—revealing the complex, country-wide systems of land management used by First Nations people.
John Douglas Block
Gammage, together with representatives from Bush Heritage Australia, led the students on an educational bush walk through The John Douglas Block. Throughout the hike, Gammage sought clues in the landscape that told the stories and history of the flora and fauna. Gammage talked of the matured eucalyptus whose endurance can testify to the ghosts of neighbours long past. By looking at the way these eucalypts have twisted around other trees throughout their lifespan, continuously seeking sunlight, we can see where other—long gone —trees have been at various stages. This depth of knowledge helped guide the students beyond the narrative of the Australian ‘wilderness’.
Erin Mathews
Mathews is a gallery professional who is passionate about equality curating, specialising in dynamic exhibition design and development. In 2022 Mathews gave an interactive talk on the foundations of curation and the role of storytelling in designing an exhibit. She discussed the role of exhibitions as testing grounds—where one can explore and distil ideas. Mathews took the students through the multitude of ways curators tell stories, and helped them to grapple with the process of elevating an object in status by curating it into an exhibit.
Sally McPhee
McPhee is a multi-award winning place-maker and urban planner, working at the RBGV as the Creative Producer in Placemaking and Interpretation.
Patrick Cronin
Cronin is a Melbourne-based creative producer, sound designer, musician and founder of Idiomatic Arts.
Cronin was commissioned by the RBGV to produce the audio series Sonica Botanica. As the co-creators of Sonica Botanica, Cronin and McPhee collaborated on connecting audiences to the historic gardens through stories from a diverse range of voices.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
On a field trip to the RBGV in 2022, Sally McPhee and Patrick Cronin led an educational visit to the Melbourne Gardens.
McPhee talked about how the role of Botanic Gardens have changed since their colonial origins, moving away from the ‘discovery’ of plants to the ‘describing’ of them, acknowledging the knowledge of First Peoples. Today, the Herbarium is a working collection focused on botanic and conservation research.
Cronin then guided the students through an observational listening exercise, showing them how to enhance their awareness of ambient sounds. This was followed by demonstrations of different microphones in the field. For place-based projects, Cronin also emphasised the importance of recording in the actual environment being discussed by the interviewee.
