Ellis Stones

Ellis Andrew Stones (1 October 1895 – 9 April 1975) was an Australian landscape architect of private and public gardens—many displaying naturalistic rockwork—and a conservationist whose work and ideas influenced approaches to public landscaping in Australia. and one of the founding fathers of the Australian landscaping style.

Early years and family life

Ellis Stones was born in Wodonga, Victoria. His father was Thomas James Stones a customs officer, born in Victoria. His mother was Hannah May, née Downs, also born in Victoria. He grew up in Essendon, Victoria. After attending Moonee Ponds West Primary School he worked with the Victorian Railways as an apprentice carriage builder. He married Olive Doyle in 1922. They had a son who died in his first year, and three daughters. He took a bullet in his left knee, an injury which was to cause him lifelong pain.

During World War II, Stones worked in the Volunteer Defence Corps and the Civil Constructional Corps.

Landscape architecture Stones collaborated for many years with Edna Walling, constructing many of the rock outcrops, walls and ponds in the gardens she designed.

In Australian Home Beautiful of December 1938 Walling wrote:

"It is a rare thing this gift for placing stones and strange that a man possessing it should bear the name Stones... Lovely as formal gardens can be, it is these informal schemes, in which boulders form so important a part, that appeal so tremendously... they give us the atmosphere of the country, and the refreshment of mind derived from such". shortly after his death, Thistle Harris elaborates

"Ellis Stones abhorred geometrical patterns as much as does nature on a grand scale, and straight paths, trimmed borders and serried ranks of plants are never to be found in his gardens. Curving paths leading to forever; informal clumps of plants, bending intimately towards each other; lichen-covered rocks of geological antiquity—these things distinguish his designs." He was a foundation lecturer in the landscape design course at RMIT. His employees Bob Grant and David Leech went on to develop successful landscape businesses. Leech practised in Far North Queensland but his work lives on in beautiful parks and gardens in the Eltham area. and pioneer of the bush garden concept, Gordon Ford. Ford's influence lives on into the 21st century through the work of his former employee, contemporary landscape architect, Sam Cox. Stones was also a major influence on John Fenton, one of Australia's foremost ecological farmers.

Commissions

As noted, over his long and busy working life, Stones was involved in creating several hundred gardens around Melbourne and beyond. Beginning with smaller specific elements such as rock outcrops and pools (especially for Edna Walling) his body of work includes the following:

Year Name of garden Suburb References 1935 Rockwork for Edna Walling designed Darling garden Toorak houseBalwyn 1952 'Stella Park' Pyke sisters' gardensTemplestowe Fairfield 1961 Dellas Avenue (Yarragunyah) Templestowe ? forecourt Hume House, designed by John Stevens Melbourne, William Street 1968 playgrounds for disabled children at Churinga and Yooralla Greensborough and Balwyn 1969 BHP research laboratories Clayton (by Graeme Gunn) Kew 1971 Carnegie courtyard garden Malvern 1972 Landscaping, Karwarra native plant nursery Kalorama 1973 Rock gardenUniversity of Melbourne, Parkville 1970s, early Townhouses by Graeme Gunn townhouses, Kensington Rd South Yarra 1970 to 1974 Winter Park development Doncaster

Other commissions included a garden in Balwyn for Alan Blazey, chairman of garden products firm Hortico in the mid-1950s, and playgrounds and gardens at Invercargill in New Zealand. Graeme Gunn was architect-in-charge, and Ellis Stones – then aged 71 – took on its landscape and garden design. Eventually Merchant Builders assembled a team of architects to design 50 basic house plans. The architects consulted included: Charles Duncan Daryl Jackson and Evan Walker McGlashan Everist Graeme Gunn

Ellis Stones was commissioned to undertake landscaping in many of the Merchant home developments. Elliston Estate was one of the best-known Merchant Builders home developments, named after Ellis Stones himself. Swamped by protests from local residents when the Rosanna Golf Club was to be subdivided for housing, Heidelberg City Council agreed to buy the golf course, retain half of it for a park and sell the rest to Merchant Builders for on-selling to the public. Ellis Stones advised on landscaping the park and developing the streetscapes and gardens so that 'gardens streets and park' would 'flow into and through each other'. he writes "Before the commencement of any major project that encroaches on the landscape there should be formed a panel consisting of persons representing every profession concerned with the project, to discuss and advise on the best means of carrying out the project with the least damage to the landscape. A landscape architect should certainly be included in any such panel, as he is in other countries which are deeply concerned about the preservation of their natural flora and fauna." He goes on to say, "The ideal way to design a garden is in consultation with the architect or builder, before operations have commenced, so that the building may be sited in a way that will give plenty of scope for the garden, preserve some of the existing trees if the area is a wooded one, or emphasise any other strong features that may be evident in the natural contours." In 1964 he assisted the Blackburn Tree Preservation Society to develop a proposal for staggered planting of clumps of Australian plants both within the median strip and either side of Springvale Road. The retention and supplementation of native vegetation championed by Stones and the Blackburn Tree Preservation Society has become the norm for median strips and roadside planting throughout Victoria. He was the first president of the Ivanhoe River Parklands Protection League established in 1955 to prevent the destruction of Chelsworth Park. As Anne Latreille describes it "Peter Glass visited Ellis on site the day before he died and found him 'leaping around those rocks like an antelope'. He came home for dinner on the night of 9 April, tired and happy. 'Oh I've had a good day' he said to (wife) Olive. 'There's a boy on the job who really understands what I'm talking about.' He went for a short lie-down before the evening meal and did not wake. He died in harness, quickly and quietly, as he wished it."

The rock garden he designed near the staff car park at The University of Melbourne bears another memorial plaque.

The Ellis Stones rockery in Burnley Gardens was created to honour his contribution to landscape design in Australia.

The Ellis Stones Memorial Award is offered biennially to a landscape student for an outstanding piece of research.

Books Stones, Ellis, 1971, Australian Garden Design, South Melbourne, with photographs by Ted Rotherham Stones, Ellis, 1976, The Ellis Stones Garden Book, Nelson Australia, West Melbourne Stones, Ellis, unpublished manuscript Priority Landscaping Latreille, Anne, 1990, The Natural Garden – Ellis Stones: His Life and Work, Penguin Australia, Ringwood, Melbourne Latreille, Anne, 2013, Garden Voices Australian Designers – their stories, Bloomings Books, Melbourne, Australia Saniga, Andrew 2012, Making Landscape Architecture in Australia, UNSW Press, Sydney Vale, Anne, 2013, Exceptional Australian Garden Makers Lothian, Middle Park, Melbourne

Peer reviewed academic literature Dr Andrew Saniga, University of Melbourne http://www.findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/display/publication258502#time