Wendy Whiteley and the Secret Garden: 23 years building a sanctuary

Book reveals making of this garden and its remarkable creator, Wendy Whiteley.

Wendy Whiteley at work in her Secret Garden at Lavender Bay, Sydney.

The garden Wendy Whiteley, wife and muse to the late artist Brett Whiteley, has created on public land over the past 23 years qualifies as an early example of guerilla gardening.

Sandwiched between the high-rise of North Sydney and a disused railway line along the harbour foreshore, this special sanctuary lies at the foot of her own home at Lavender Bay and was a wasteland whose salvation Whiteley claims was also her own.

The long strip of land, owned by NSW RailCorp and later leased to North Sydney Council, was left over when a railway line was built on landfill across the mouth of Lavender Bay. Overgrown and unused for a century, this patch lay neglected until Brett Whiteley’s death from heroin addiction in 1992.

Grief-stricken, Wendy hurled herself into cleaning up the area next to her marital home, labouring day after day until she was too exhausted to think. She has kept going ever since, gradually developing and extending the garden, pouring her own money into the site, and transforming it into a glorious place for all to share. The tragic loss in 2001 of her only daughter, Arkie, who also loved the Secret Garden, saw her seek further solace in its development as a nurturing space.

Today, the garden is her living artwork. Her sense of design and balance, her knowledge of colour and texture, are expressed in richly layered plantings, shafts of light and quirky sculptures from found objects. Bush-branch handrails border the informal terraces, and winding paths entice visitors to explore the depths of the rambling garden.

Among an abundance of lush, subtropical plants are many chosen for their foliage colour, while the signature flower of the garden is angel’s trumpet (Brugmansia). Bearing huge, pendulous and fragrant flowers in regular cycles, they are abundant and easy to grow.

The full story of the making of this garden and its remarkable creator is told by Janet Hawley in Wendy Whiteley and the Secret Garden (Penguin Lantern $79.99). A highly respected journalist, Hawley is also a longstanding friend of the Whiteleys. The photographs by Jason Busch are glorious. I also love that the stalwart gardeners who have helped create the garden over many years are given their own chapter. There’s more about friends, the house, and much of Whiteley’s personal story that add to the book’s appeal.

Whiteley says: “In gardens you are involved in a relationship with the earth itself. So we’ve all grown: me, my gardeners, friends and visitors, along with the Secret Garden. Let yourself love a garden, and you can find enduring happiness.”

Just weeks ago, the future of this enchanting garden was at last secured with the announcement that council’s lease has been extended to 30 years, with a further 30 year rollover clause.

Hawley sums up the value of this hidden treasure: “Visitors love the feeling of being cocooned inside the Secret Garden, protected inside a mind-calming, leafy, flower-daubed and bird-chirping retreat, before they emerge to face the hectic world again”.