About Us

Gordon Rowland, founder and managing director

I was born and raised in the UK, trained in osteopathy and humanistic psychology, and practised in Chichester, West Sussex.

In 1983, my Australian wife Marie and I sold the house and practice, and with our three children we migrated and settled in Sydney. Family visits to national parks reawakened my lifelong interest in garden design, plants and nature, and this quickly developed into a passion. I enrolled as a student of landscape design at Ryde College of TAFE (Ryde School of Horticulture), graduating in 1991. I went on to study art-photography at the National Art School, East Sydney.

I opened my landscape design studio in 1992 and launched Indigenous Landscape Design Australia in 1998.

Achievements

• Australian Plants Society representative on the Olympic Coordination Authority plant selection advisory panel for the ‘Look’ of the 2000 Olympic Games. (My impassioned plea for an all Australian 'Look' received unanimous support, and the OCA commissioned me to compile the species list.)
• Garden design and landscape consultancy to private clients and public authorities, mainly in Sydney and the NSW mid-north coast.
• Audio-visual conference and seminar presentations to gardeners, horticulturists, landscape architects and designers.
• Former ‘Landscape & Garden’ columnist for Sydney’s Inner Western Suburbs Courier and occasional contributor to other publications, including Backyard Design Ideas, Green Garden & Home, Landscape Australia, Landscape Outlook, Native Plants for New South Wales, Nature & Health, Our Gardens, Prevention, Public Works Engineer, Sussex Life (UK), The Sydney Morning Herald and The Tablet Educational Supplement (UK).
• Design of native plants display for the Australian Museum's ‘Bio-diversity: Life Supporting Life’ exhibition opening.
• Founder and first editor of Landscape Outlook, the quarterly journal read by garden designers and landscape architects across Australia.
• Visiting lecturer in the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology, Sydney.
• Panel judge for the Stormwater Industry Association Environmental Excellence awards.

Awards

• Sydney Festival of Gardens: Garden Design Award for the ‘Earth Alive’ Garden, sponsored by the Australian Museum's Community Biodiversity Network, the Australian Plants Society and others
• ABC Gardening Australia Live: Runner up Award for ‘The Sydney Wildflower Garden’, sponsored by the Australian Museum, Australian Plants Society, Birds Australia and others
• Certificate of Excellence: World Environment Day essay: 'Preserving the Environment I Live In', sponsored by Voice of the Palms

Memberships

• Australian Flora Foundation
• Australian Plants Society
• Birds Australia
• Great Lakes Environment Association
• Horticultural Media Association of NSW
• Invasive Species Council (founder member)

(Following policy differences, I resigned from the Australian Institute of Landscape Designers & Managers and the Australian Institute of Horticulture.)

Marie Rowland, administration and research

I was born in the western district of Victoria, and worked as a pre-school teacher in Warrnambool and Melbourne. In the 1960s I travelled through Europe and taught at several schools in London and Sussex. In 1983 I returned with Gordon and our three children to live in Sydney, and worked until 2001 as an educational consultant for children with special needs.

I hold a B.Ed. (Early Childhood) and Grad. Dip. in Educational Studies (Special Education). I am a member of the Australian Plants Society and the Great Lakes Environment Association.

We are both committed to biodiversity, conservation and social/eco justice, and we support the following organisations:

• Amnesty International
• Pax Christi Australia (Gordon is a founder member)
• Rural Australians for Refugees
• St. Vincent de Paul Society
• The Earth Charter
• World Wildlife Fund Australia (WWF-Australia)

and others.

In 2002, we sold our Sydney house and bought 10 hectares (25 acres) of part-cleared wet sclerophyll forest on the edge of Wallingat National Park on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. Within the cleared centre, we’ve built a mud brick house, lagoon and design studio. We are now establishing a wildflower garden and wildlife sanctuary.

Our aim is to help you make informed choices, and inspire you to create a truly beautiful garden, a union of aesthetics and ecology.

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