Tributes to Mervyn Davies Memories from the Archives - A tribute to Mervyn Davis Lifes and times of Mervyn Davis   Memories from the Archives A tribute to Mervyn Davis Margaret Hendry (1991) 'Memories from the Archives' Landscape Australia Volume 3, pages 205-206. Little did I realise when I met Mervyn Davis in the studio at King's College, Durham University in 1956 and Sylvia Crowe the following year at an interview for my first job as a landscape architect at Basildon New Town, Essex, that these two women would have such an influence on my life. When Ian Lyne on behalf of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects presented the Biannual Awards last year to Dame Sylvia Crowe for her contribution to Commonwealth Park, Canberra on the occasion of the Dinner to celebrate Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe's and Dame Sylvia's 90th birthdays, I wonder if Ian knew that the woman who was `Man of the Year' in 1964 was only 89. I read into the letter that declared this secret a warm smile and hidden laughter that was a mark of her wonderful good humour. But as I sought through the ten boxes of papers that have become the ARCHIVES of the AILA, they have become living memories. From 1959 Mervyn Davis worked to establish a professional organisation of landscape architects, at a time when Sylvia Crowe was the Secretary to IF LA. At her own expense, Mervyn travelled to the Grand Council Meetings and corresponded with landscape architects in many countries to establish contact. Another supporter was John Duncan, Senior Lecturer in charge of Interior Design, School of Architecture RMIT, who arranged a meeting at the home of Ellis Stones to talk about the profession and the need to establish education. Mervyn and I attended, along with Alistair Knox, Peter Glass, Gordon Ford and one or two others. All these people became good friends committed to the cause. In 1962, Mervyn sent out questionnaires to 62 people who were in some way connected with landscape architecture. Only 32 responded; these and a few others were the people who on 3rd November 1963 attended the first informal meetings held under the auspices of the Australian Planning Institute's Convention at the Hotel Rex, Canberra. A Steering Committee was elected, with State Representatives. Within a month, Mervyn, along with Sue Marks and Eleanor McClelland, was holding meetings in her own home to get the Victorian Group on its way and was dealing with the problems of what type of organisation and membership criteria. John Oldham, the other IFLA representative, Professor Gordon Stephenson, who chaired the informal meeting, and Jean Verschuer were establishing a similar group in Western Australia. While Gavin Walkley, Allan Correy and Professor Rolfe Jenson were working in South Australia, Queensland had two widely separated members with Alan Wilson in Townsville and David Hobrough from Lae, New Guinea. Distance was not a problem for the Queenslanders, who soon had a flourishing landscape group. New South Wales had two wonderful supporters in Professor Denis Winston and Professor Peter Spooner. Harry Oakman chaired the steering committee which included myself as secretary, Arthur Cowie, Richard Clough and Professor Lindsey Pryor, people who made a significant contribution to the early development of the Institute. By 1963 things were happening. Beryl Mann had presented carefully prepared and thoughtful papers on education and the importance of a professional institute which would have a similar standing to the American Society of Landscape Architects and the British Institute of Landscape Architects. Within a couple of months of the first formal meeting, ideas papers were being presented. Ellis Stones wrote: "The standards of the organisation should be set very high in order to ensure we have that very necessary adjunct to success, satisfied clients." Alistair Knox's contribution is a gem: "The letter kills; the spirit gives life. Today's world is dogged by a great expansion of academic qualifications and a lack of vital inspiration. We have become confused. Of all the professional callings landscape architecture is the one where theory and practice go hand in hand. No one can deny that academic training is necessary and valuable in any field of endeavour including landscape architecture. It should not however be the final gauge of ability. I estimate that one year in the field professionally is equal to three in the lecture room. By their works you shall know them." This richness of activity continued in 1964. John Duncan, started apart time post graduate course for architects, interior designers and graduates of equivalent and similar courses, on the basis of 2-3 evenings a week for 2 years; while Gavin Walkley organised the first landscape conference with the Australian Conservation Foundation under the auspices of the Australian Planning Institute's Conference in Adelaide from 22nd - 28th August, 1964. The conference was significant for two reasons; first, the decision to take steps to register as a separate institute of landscape architects and prepare a draft constitution and by-laws, and second, the publication of the conference papers. By this time a Provisional Executive Council had been elected and was active. Towards the end of 1964, the National Capital Development Commission had invited Sylvia Crowe to Canberra to discuss a commission to design Commonwealth Park. No opportunity was missed to further the cause. Peter Spooner organised a public lecture in the theatre of the Main Building for the evening of Sylvia Crowe's arrival in Australia, 18th November 1964, for a lecture fee of 12 guineas. Sylvia spoke on the topic of `Landscape Architecture and its relation to other professions' to a large audience. As a result 6 enquiries were received for the proposed course to be established at the university. Typical of Sylvia Crowe's commitment to the landscape and to people, in her acceptance of the invitation she responded "as a personal tribute to your school". A gracious response for the Vice President of IFLA. Within a period of two weeks, Sylvia visited the site of Commonwealth Park, prepared a preliminary plan for the National Capital Planning Committee, attended receptions, gave lectures in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Adelaide, as well as attending the 2nd Provisional Executive Committee's Meeting in Canberra on 28th November, where she was an active observer giving advice and even moving the acceptance of the generous offer of Eleanor McClelland to have the Council's stationery printed free, as `Provisional Executive Committee of Australian Landscape Architects'. Sylvia Crowe's lectures and conversations showed her immense understanding of the landscape. Within a few days of arriving in Australia, she was including in her lectures warnings about the problems inherent in the Australian landscape. Eric Prohasky's notes taken during the Canberra lecture given on 30th November 1964 show the depth of understanding: "Overseas, nature heals its own wounds and scars due to a more generous growing climate and better developed soils. In Australia, scars such as road cuttings, remain unclothed for years, and as a result they need prompt specialised landscape." A theme taken up by Peter Spooner in 1966, when he undertook the landscape design of the Cahill, Warringah, Newcastle and Southern Expressways and the proposed Adelaide Hills Freeway. “A married woman with three school-age children is responsible for the landscaping. .." Another leading landscape architect, Akira Sato, President of the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architects, Director of the Town Planning Association and Professor of Landscape Architecture at Tokyo Agricultural College, visited Australia in March 1965. Professor Sato met landscape groups in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, and gave the Institute its first library book. By 1966 landscape architects were getting a good press. In the Perth Advertiser, this gem appeared: "A married woman with three school-age children is responsible for the landscaping and beautification along the standard gauge railway between Kalgoorlie and Perth, a line that will make it unnecessary to change trains between Perth and Brisbane and Perth and Port Pirie. She is Mrs Jean Verschuer who will use native trees and plants and native stone in her plans. None of them must be expensive to establish and maintain and all of them must be picturesque. It is the intention of the Railway Department that this section of the main interstate line be a scenic railway in the true meaning of the word." Much more is contained in the Archive boxes. Stories of Sylvia Crowe's return visits in 1966 and 1977 and the AGM at Alistair Knox's home in Eltham in 1969, when the Constitution was signed and the Institute legally came into being. If you have any papers which you feel should belong, please send them to the National Secretariat. Margaret Hendry [was] the AILA Archivist. The life and times of Mervyn Davis Margaret Hendry (1986) 'The life and times of Mervyn Davis a brilliant strategist and advocate for landscape architecture Landscape Australia Volume 1, pages 57-58. WITH A QUICK SMILE expressing a great sense of achievement and with a hint of laughter in her voice, Mervyn said, 'Marg, round one, now for the next'. Thirty five people from Australia wide had just elected and commissioned an interim Committee with State representatives to prepare a report on education and employment, as well as the formation of a professional organisation to promote landscape design in Australia. As the catalyst, Mervyn Twynam Davis M.B.E., a brilliant strategist and advocate for landscape architecture, had for six years worked to contact and bring these people together. Her enthusiasm brought Jean Verschuer overland by train from Perth, Noel Lothian from Adelaide and Eric Hammond from Melbourne to the first informal meeting, held under the auspices of the Australian Planning Institute Convention at the Hotel Rex, Canberra on 13 November 1963. The meeting, chaired by the Dean of Architecture of the University of Western Australia, Gordon Stephenson, set the scene for the future development of the profession in Australia and highlighted Mervyn's unique contribution to the founding of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects. Mervyn had always wanted to be a landscape architect, so it was not surprising that she worked diligently to become one, first as a jobbing gardener to learn the trade, then in 1956-7 as a postgraduate student at King's College, Durham University under Professor Brian Hackett. To further the profession while studying, Mervyn applied to the Grand Council of the International Federation of Landscape Architects to become an individual member of the Council. In 1959, she was appointed a joint member with John Oldham of Perth. Their goal as individual members was to establish an Australian organisation. For the next ten years, Mervyn worked to achieve this goal, first by personal contact, then after the first national meeting in Canberra, through the administrative framework of the Australian Planning Institute, as an affiliate member. Mervyn acted as the link between the landscape group and the Institute. So, for the next six years, landscape meetings were scheduled as part of the Planning Institute's Conventions in Canberra, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. This provided the opportunity for regular annual meetings to take place. As the projected numbers of landscape architects were small, discussions took place with the Institute's Council concerning the possibility of establishing a membership category for landscape architects. Fortunately, at the second meeting in Adelaide on 29 August 1964, after much spirited discussion the meeting resolved that the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects be established. There was a provisional Executive Council of nine members with one from each State, five of whom were to be practising landscape architects. Mervyn, as a member of this Council and the previous steering committee, was concerned with education, employment and establishing the criteria for corporate membership of the proposed Institute. She became a foundation member at the inaugural meeting on 25 August 1966 and served on the First Interim Council. The following year both Mervyn and John resigned as individual members of the International Federation of Landscape Architects, as their goal had been achieved, and nominated the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects for membership. To mark the moves to officially register the Institute in Queensland, the only State at that time to recognise the term landscape architect, and to honour her unique contribution, Mervyn was elected the first Fellow of the Institute. The following year the Institute's registration was confirmed at the Melbourne Conference on 14 March 1970. Prior to the formation of the Australian Institute, a talented network of mostly self-taught people were successfully operating as landscape designers. For more than a century Australian design philosophy was evolving through the work of Thomas Shepherd, William Guilfoyle, Carl Bogue Luffman and more recently Walter Burley Griffin, Edna Walling, Ellis Stones, Glen Wilson, Gordon Ford and Alistair Knox. These people set the scene for the profession to grow and flourish during the environmental movement of the last twenty years. In Melbourne, where Mervyn was born and worked, she was influenced by a group of people at a time when they were making a significant contribution to landscape design. Edna Walling began her professional career, which spanned more than fifty years, in 1920. Within four years, Edna had linked up with Eric Hammond to create some of the most beautiful gardens in Victoria. Six years later, she told Ellis Stones to take up landscape design. As one of the first group of women students to graduate from Burnley Horticultural College, Edna Walling (1916) joined a group of enthusiastic women designers at a time when they charged one pound ($2) per design plus 10% of the cost of plants. This group including Olive Mellor (1914) and Emily Gibson (1915) set the scene for Mervyn's work. Emily Gibson was to later provide the educational link for many Burnley students to go to study at King's college, Durham University. After studying at Burnley, Emily worked in the office of Mr and Mrs Walter Burley Griffin and lectured in landscape design at Burnley, before going to work as an apprentice in the office of Messrs Milner, Son and White, Landscape Architects, in Victoria Street, London, at about the same time as Dame Sylvia Crowe. The principal Edward White was the first president of the British Institute of Landscape Architects (1929). Some sixteen years later, Mervyn was to become part of another influential group of designers including Hilda Kirkhope, Nerine Chisholm, Hilda Dance, John Stevens, Grace Fraser and Beryl Mann. In 1945, Mervyn undertook a CRTS Course at Burnley and graduated dux of a class which included Kevin Heinze, Tony Fetherstone and Bill Nicholls. For the next ten years, she worked as a jobbing gardener, designer and technical assistant in the herbarium at both the Melbourne and Adelaide Botanic Gardens. These experiences gave Mervyn an extensive and remarkable knowledge of plants. At this time courses in landscape design were being established at University College, London and King's College, Durham University. Mrs Gibson began to encourage her students to enroll in these and so started a link between Australia and England. During the 50s Erica Ball, Joan Kilby, Mervyn Davis, Margaret Hendry, Eleanor McClelland and Susan Marks studied at King's. Similar moves were taking place in other cities. Richard Clough studied at University College, London, under Peter Youngman and became an Associate of the Institute of Landscape Architects in 1955. Peter Spooner from the University of New South Wales won the Byera Hadley traveling scholarship and studied under Brian Hackett at King's College (1955-6), the year prior to Mervyn; Allan Correy followed the year later. Malcolm Bunzli and George Williams from Brisbane joined the team, while Lindsey Robertson from Sydney undertook a course in the United States. These and many of the core of people working in the profession formed the initial group that Mervyn approached to support the formation of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, and they acted as committee and Council members. In each State there were resident groups of designers; in Perth: John Oldham, Robert Hart, Jean Verschuer, Marion Blackwell; Adelaide: Gavin Walkley, Stefan Rohozinski; Melbourne: John Stevens, Grace Fraser, Glen Wilson, Gordon Ford and many more; Sydney: Peter Spooner, Warwick Watson, Dennis Winston, Bruce Mackenzie, to identify a few; Brisbane: Harry Oakman, Alan Wilson, George Trapnell, Arne Fink and Barbara Van den Broek. These people provided the back-up support for the Institute's early initiatives in the promotion of education and employment. As education was the first priority, Mervyn was associated with the first series of annual extension lectures on landscape design conducted at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, starting in 1961 under John Duncan, the principal, and she prepared the first landscape design and history course. She specialised in history, and paid attention to the early development of the profession. Much of this work is yet to be published, including her public lectures to the Sydney Garden Club and the Victorian Chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects. Other people were also active from the mid-50s, when John and Ray Oldham introduced a series of illustrated talks at the University of Western Australia's summer school and Adult Education programmes. In 1963 Peter Spooner organised a ten lecture extension course and followed this with a postgraduate Diploma Course. By this time both the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the University of New South Wales had established continuing programmes of education, which later led to full-time undergraduate courses. These have been added to, until today there are seven educational institutions conducting courses in landscape architecture and related studies. Mervyn followed others into the public work sector. John Oldham was employed in the early 50s by the Snowy Mountains Electricity Authority and later the Western Australian Government. Richard Clough in 1959 became the first landscape architect to be employed by the National Capital Development Commission. Mervyn was, however, the first to be employed by the Commonwealth Department of Works and to work throughout Australia and New Guinea. Her works were wide-ranging and included the major airports in Melbourne, Perth, Launceston, Hobart and Canberra, HMAS Stirling Naval Depot at Garden Island in Cockburn Sound (off W.A. coast), RAAF Base Naval Sports Complex at Randwick, Dockyards at Williamstown, RAAF Base at East Sale, Reserve Banks in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, Broadmeadows Army Establishment and many more. It was ironic that at this stage in the development of the profession Mervyn was employed as a Senior Technical Officer, acting as the only landscape architect providing consultant services to Regional and Client Departments. Mervyn's contribution was many-sided but was always directed to improving the environment. This was recognised at the 50th National Conference of the Royal Institute of Planning and Recreation on 28 October 1977, when she was elected a Fellow. The American Institute of Parks and Recreation also honoured her with a Fellowship the same year. Her greatest achievements were acknowledged in 1980, when Mervyn was awarded an M.B.E. for her contribution to the community and the profession. Mervyn would not have been able to set the scene for others to follow so successfully without the help of 'a close friend and associate, Daphne Pearson, who shared her interest in horticulture and love of plants. As the profession moves with confidence out of the pioneer phase into the development phase, it is timely to honour Mervyn's contribution and commitment to the profession in Australia.