Rogue: Art of a Garden by Rick Eckersley

 A Relationship with the Earth – a letter by Rick Eckersley to Trevor Mein.

Reflecting on my influences has taken me back to my childhood, growing up on a farm in Western Victoria in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. Today the response to that natural landscape could be interpreted as vandalism. The stony rises which were covered in bracken were deliberately and slowly poisoned by super phosphate. The silver tussocks were slashed, and disc ploughed to accommodate the sewing of strawberry clover flats, specifically to feed sheep. At the same time the land was drained of natural swamps. Draining these flats lead to the death of the swamp gums, the largest indigenous tree to the area. The desecration of the swamps destroyed not only native plant life but resulted in the loss of swan breeding habitat and the loss of refuge and breeding areas for other wild life. This was the way things were done, however, at a very young age I begun to question this process. It made little sense to me. The loss of all this habitat to feed sheep to grow wool, which was sometimes profitable but often was not. Witnessing the loss of such a diverse and stunning landscape filled me with regret, but it also strengthened my appreciation of the fragility and beauty of native plants and wild life. Perhaps Musk is a response to this destruction of the balance in nature; a small gesture to restore beauty lost. Who knows? In my school years I distinctly remember the change of pond life, at Musk guests often comment how loud the frogs are, a sound I find very comforting. As a child we built stone houses out of the rocky rises, houses that looked a little like Stonehenge! When I left school, I planted my first home garden, making up simple garden beds around the homestead. Although I loved the wild native plants there were few to choose from as they were all gone by this stage. It was the era of pine plantations and Cyprus specimen trees. My first success I recall was going to Dartmoor and collecting pine offcuts to make screens around the septic tank which I covered in ivy. This was the first time I remember making divisions within a garden, recognising that there are components to a garden. My success was to be short lived as the pine base was made of offcuts, which eventually collapsed under the weight of the ivy! The philosophy at this time was that if something was tough and thrived it was a considered to be a weed. Thus, all native plants were thought to be weeds and weeds needed to be controlled. I recollect planting miniature gladioli at the farm which spread like wildfire, my mother was appalled at the propagation and promptly pulled them all out commenting that they were growing “just like weeds!” It was the dominant attitude at the time, whereas I always took the attitude that if something did very well it was a success. Even at this early age I was interested in field like planting, natural meadow style planting which included natives and exotics, mindful of how using colour, texture, proportion to balance could create harmony between these forms and tones to contribute to the spirit of the quintessentially Australian landscape. As you can see my relationship with the earth is a complex one, but I would say it is one of deep respect. I hope this has been helpful to you in creating your own response to Musk.