A different world where all visitors are friends
Photographs: Damon Wilder
‘Glory be to God for dappled things for skies of couplecolor as a brinded cow; For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim.’ Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ
The Main Gates of the College, as Autumn approaches
fully appreciate. Mother Nature herself clearly intended this spot to be a place to rest, relax and enjoy. What better place to wander, and ramble, among the pines, the oleanders, japonicas and flowering shrubs of every variety; or sit quietly by the vast expanses of lawn, contemplating the city skyline, so near and yet so far; or delve into the natural bush among the eucalypts, pittosporum, acacias and melaleuca, along the myriad of walking trails, ravines and sandstone bluffs, crags and caverns, as old as time. The grounds seem to reflect the very spirit of Riverview; antiquity, great natural beauty, a sense of quirkiness, a touch of order, happiness and tragedy.
As one turns off the bottom end of Tambourine Bay Road, L ane Cove, and enters the main gates of Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview, there is always a sense that one is entering a completely different world to that which pervades the remainder of Sydney. There is an immediate quietness, a stillness, a sense of peace. For the uninitiated, it is a feeling of wonder that such a jewel should exist so close to the heart of a city of four million people; to the experienced it is a ‘coming home’ where all visitors are friends. It is the grounds and gardens of the College, which cover an expansive 104 acres, 10 kilometres from the city centre, that first, and lastingly, create these images. Those who might love a prim and severely particular style of landscaping should be prepared to be disappointed, for here is a mixture of styles, emphases and inconsistencies that only the open-minded garden lover can
But the natural beauty of the gardens and grounds, whether you consider them semi-formal or semi-natural, is confirmed only in the context of their unique and irreplaceable setting on a peninsular of the Lane Cove River, adorned by the juxtaposition of buildings, monuments and follies that transcend the usual notion of garden ornaments. These are the unique elements in this unique place. Enclosing the College are the Tambourine Bay and Burns Bay arms of the Lane Cove River, the yellow and grey sandstone cliffs rising bastion-like above their relatively shallow and often muddy waters.
Damon Wilder
Peter Herington
And flowers. Flowers everywhere. From the formal rose garden, made so famous by Fr Charles Fraser SJ, but dating long before his time, to the native orchids at every corner, the dahlias, stocks, gardenias, pelargoniums and zinnias. Lilliums, clivias and agapanthus border
the paths; there are hibiscus, murraya, magnolia and bougainvillea, the most prominent of which cling so regally to the Main Building and St Michael’s House. There is, no less, the Riverview rose, commissioned by the College to mark its centenary in 1980. It was, at the time, the first rose to be named and patented in Australia.
The Riverview rose
Variegated Lillium line the paths in spring.
ii
Damon Wilder
Damon Wilder
Early Blood Plum flowering in the orchard
Border of flowers outside the Jesuit Residence
Here are the hidden gems of the Riverview peninsular; the massive rock outcrops, the patches of coastal mangrove and seagrass beds, together with the ecologically endangered coastal Saltmarsh, which occurs in the intertidal zone on the shores of both Tambourine and Burns Bays. Behind the coastal fringe, particularly on the western and southern fringes, are the remnants of the Sydney Sandstone Gully Forest, with the dominant species being the Sydney Red Gum (Angophora Costa). Here, too, are the caves, some prospectively formerly aboriginal dwelling sites. Geologically, near the entrance to Sixth Field, in the Regis campus, lies the boundary between the Sydney sandstone and Sydney shale structures and here can be found the last vestiges of the Brown Stringybark (Eucalyptus Capitellata) trees, the last remnant of Duffy’s Forest, in Lane Cove.
While it is true that there has been a degree of development over 130 years at Riverview, much of its innate biodiversity remains. It is no longer a naturalist’s paradise, but the preservation of significant stands of native forest on the western side of the peninsular has meant that fauna is as important a part of the ecological landscape as is the flora. No longer are wallabies, kangaroos or koala evident but brush-tail and ring-tail possum abound and there are plentiful native bush rats, antechinus and sugar gliders. But it is in its birds that Riverview now excels, providing a home for (a 1980 estimate of) 86 resident and migratory species, including kookaburras, honeyeaters, magpies, various native rosellas and parrots, cormorants, pelicans and the ubiquitous mynah. There is a cacophony of sound at times that both abuses the senses but also serves to remind one what a unique and special spot this Riverview is.
Angophora Costata
Damon Wilder
Peter Herington
Long before the Jesuits so astutely
purchased the Riverview Estate (formerly Ormeau View) from Emmanuel Josephson, on 28 June 1878 (the Feast of the Sacred Heart), the heights of Riverview had been a wellknown beauty spot. Thanks to the Josephsons, and the former owner George Whitfield, there had been extensive work undertaken on the development of both ornamental and produce gardens, fruit orchards and specimen trees. Apart from Whitfield’s carved steps and the mysteries of ‘Baker’s sundial’, however, little landscape architecture or garden ‘art’ existed. It was the subsequent stream of Jesuit builders who changed all that; notably Br Thomas Forster (Riverview 1906-10 and 1912-29), who built the Gardener’s Cottage, the Tea House, much of the Observatory and, his most spectacular creation, the riverside Band House. He was also responsible for the rather quirky garden pieces of the ‘Spearman and Crocodile’ and the miniature Abbey.
Mangroves along the foreshore of the Lane Cove River
iii
Peter Herington
Purple Jacaranda in spring – by the time the jacaranda blooms it’s too late to start studying for exams.
The College is currently undertaking three projects to capture a greater sense of the significant value of the Riverview grounds. As part of the more recent focus on environmental sustainability at the College, a Riverview Environment Walk, the Cardoner Experience, has been developed to encourage the Riverview and wider community to experience the amazing landscapes, flora, fauna and river (See the back cover of the Ignatian).
metres of paths through and around the Rose Garden. In what we might anticipate to be a five year project, the challenge will be to lay a total of 22,800 pavers (although these may not all be engraved). In order to make the project viable, we are looking for initial expressions of interest from a minimum of 2000 donors of a tax-deductible amount of $40 to the Riverview College Foundation. In recognition of that donation, the Foundation will lay a named paver in the ‘Fraser Walk’. Families may wish to take more than one paver. Details of how to donate and the styling of named pavers are available on the College website: www.riverview.nsw.edu.au > News/Updates Peter Herington
Climbing Bougainvillea cling regally to the cloisters of the Main Building, overlooking the Quadrangle
iv
Peter Barker
Peter Herington
Secondly, in 2012, we will be developing a book on the gardens and buildings of Riverview, a project not undertaken before and, hopefully, a timeless reminder of the special nature of this place we can so easily take for granted.
The Fraser Walk Lastly, we have launched the ‘Fraser Walk’, an ambitious project to pave the Rose Garden paths over the next five years, using pavers inscribed with the names of families, former students and friends of the College. There have been elaborate gardens and rockeries in front of the present main building at Riverview since before the Jesuits bought the property in 1878. The design and extent of these has been lost, however the paths, which led to the verandah of the original residence, Ormeau View, are still in existence. It is now time for us to consider a ‘makeover’ of these paths, perhaps the focal point of the Riverview Gardens.We intend to do this through a named paver project, titled the ‘Fraser Walk’. There are a maximum of 600sq
Artist’s impression of the ‘Fraser Walk’