Activities

Upcoming AGM:

We are holding our Annual General Meeting on Thursday 8 July 2021, 11.00 a.m.-12.00 p.m., in the Huddleston Room at Hamilton Gardens.

Upcoming Talks

• James Beattie, Willow Pattern, Hamilton Gardens. 8 July 2021
• Zoë Heine, Community Gardens, Hamilton Gardens. 4 August 2021
• Annette Bainbridge, Women & gardening, Hamilton Gardens. 14 September 2021

Subject to the resources available, activities may include:

• Public lectures.
• Specialist seminars, lecture series, and academic symposia.
• Research projects.
• Fellowships or scholarships.
• Co-ordination and support for books, articles, and other publications.
• Expert advice.
• Promotion and co-ordination between national and overseas institutions and scholars.
• Liaison with funders and supporters.

Past talks:

• Ian Duggan, The History of the Garden Gnome in New Zealand. Hamilton Gardens. 11 November 2020.
• James Beattie, Chinese market gardening in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1870s-1950s. Hamilton Gardens. 7 October 2020.

Below is our President’s Report from June 2020, outlining our activities in the previous year:

The Garden History Research Foundation has launched several new initiatives over the last year. For these, I thank the energy and hard work of Foundation members: Treasurer Ian Duggan, Gail Pittaway, Peter Sergel, and Marilyn Yeoman, as well as Secretary James Cassidy. I also want to thank the financial support provided to us by the Friends of Hamilton Gardens.

2020 Achievements

• Graduate Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Garden History:
  • July 2019, awarded to Zoë Heine (Victoria University of Wellington), to assist with her thesis on: ‘Community gardening’.
  • This was supported through funding provided by the Friends of Hamilton Gardens.

• Blog series:
  • Over the last year, we have had 12 original blogs published on our website, with many gaining national and international coverage: https://gardenhistoryresearchfoundation.com/blog-posts/
  • Over May 2020, we had 3 blogs: garnering, 625 views from 329 visitors
  • One of these blogs was subsequently picked up and published by newsroom: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/2020/05/02/1153981/the-origins-of-the-nature-weve-rediscovered

• In all, we have achieved the following coverage:
  • Website: 26 followers via WordPress websites and email alerts.
  • Twitter: 239 followers (https://twitter.com/gardhistnz).
  • Facebook: 61 followers (https://www.facebook.com/GardenHistoryResearch).

• Journal & Occasional Papers series
  • Two issues of the journal, International Review of Environmental History have been published: https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/journals/international-review-environmental-history
  • We have launched the Occasional Papers series to highlight aspects of the background garden history of aspects of the designs of Hamilton Gardens.

• Book Series: Routledge Research on Gardens in History series announced: Routledge Research on Gardens in History series

• Garden History Lecture Series
  • COVID-19 lockdown has delayed the start of this series. Subject to a lifting on assembly and movement, we anticipate speakers at Hamilton Gardens on topics including gnomes, chinoiserie, and much more besides.

• Announcement of International Patron: Jenny Uglow, OBE
  • Jenny is an internationally renowned writer on garden history, and provides considerable backing to our Foundation: https://jennyuglow.wordpress.com/
  • Her writing may also be viewed in New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, and other leading journals and newspapers: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jenny-uglow; https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/jenny-uglow/

• Bank account opened with SBS.

Looking to the year ahead, we plan to:

• present a 2020 Graduate Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Garden History.
• develop closer relations with the Australian Garden History Society, especially over research connections and the sharing of international speakers.
• further a Garden History Public Lecture Series.
• publish our first Occasional Papers
• continue to expand our national and international outreach through blogs, publications, talks, social media posts, and advocacy.
• open a donate page on our website.

James Beattie

Chair, Garden History Research Foundation