Indigenous Landscape Design Australia

About Us

Gordon Rowland, founder, and managing director

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

In 1983, I migrated and settled in Sydney. 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
  • Horticultural Media Association
  • Invasive Species Council (founder member)

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

We are committed to biodiversity, conservation, and social/eco-justice, and we also support the following organizations:

  • Amnesty International
  • Lifeline Direct (The Newcastle arm of Lifeline Australia)
  • Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)
  • World Wildlife Fund Australia (WWF-Australia)

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