Lovely lunchtime stroll round this beautiful hidden garden, stunningly positioned overlooking Sydney Harbour.
The entrance to the hidden garden
An artist and cultural icon, Wendy Whiteley is the ex-wife, model and muse of one of Australia’s great twentieth century painters, Brett Whiteley, who died of a heroin overdose in 1992. The couple fell in love when Wendy was 15, marrying in London in 1961 after she had followed Brett to Florence when he was awarded an Italian art scholarship. After bohemian spells living in France, New York and Fiji, the couple eventually returned to Sydney in 1969.
After Brett’s death, Wendy channelled her grief into the creation of this stunningly positioned landscaped garden on derelict land at Lavender Bay, overlooking the Harbour Bridge. Here her ex-husband and their daughter Arkie’s ashes are buried (Arkie died of cancer in 2001).
Under the canopy
Owned by the NSW Rail Corporation, the derelict, overgrown site beneath Whiteley’s home was originallystrewn with old train carriages, abandoned fridges, rotting mattresses and rubbish. Eighteen years on, visitors discover a sprawling,enchanting corner of Sydney packed with native plants, exotics and herbs, towering Moreton Bay fig trees andapricot Brugmansias: attracting vibrant, noisy local birds such as rosellas, kookaburras and wagtails.
The intrepid explorers reach Lavender Bay