ALAN CORREY (1931- ) (Fellow)

Image from Landscape Australia 2/1992, p 102.

A version of this article first appeared in the December 2006 edition of Landmark.

 

Allan Correy – A Passionate Landscape Architect

Correy began his working life as a gardener at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney and attended Sydney Technical College to study ornamental horticulture.  He was one of the first Australians to travel overseas to obtain university qualifications in Landscape Architecture, as there were no courses available in this country.  He studied under Brian Hackett at the University of Durham, United Kingdom.  Hackett’s course was innovative in that it placed an emphasis on ecology as the basis of landscape design, rather than the decorative arts.

After completing studies and working in Britain, Correy travelled to the University of Illinois following his mentor Hackett, where he was offered a scholarship.  From his overseas experiences he developed a design philosophy influenced by the well known American modernists, Garrett Eckbo and James Rose as well as being influenced by the British Landscape Architects, Hackett, Brenda Colvin and Sylvia Crowe. 

Whilst his earliest influences were of modernism, Correy later turned to the work of Brian Hackett and Ian McHarg to inform his design.  Correy decreed that environmental values were vital followed by social values.  Places should primarily be functional and comfortable for users, followed by aesthetic values.  He liked to mass plant shrubs and groundcovers and viewed large areas of turf as wasteful. 

Some of Correy’s best known works include Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens, the Sculpture Court, National Gallery of South Australia and the refurbishment of Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.  He also completed a large number of domestic gardens, often using second hand railway sleepers for walls and steps, influenced by the American, James Rose.  This was innovative material re-use as the Railways Department in South Australia viewed these timbers as waste and burnt them accordingly.  Horrendous practice to us today!

Correy was the first practising Landscape Architect in South Australia and was employed to create a Master Plan for Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens.  In 1964, he applied the systematic ecological approach he had learned from Hackett to develop a sound understanding of the landscape, rather than rely on an intuitive approach.  This was design informed by science.  The result was a picturesque landscape made up of a series of valleys planted with temperate plant species from the northern and southern hemispheres, with a backdrop of Eucalyptus obliqua woodland.  The creeks which dissect the valleys converged onto two lushly planted lakes.

Correy’s 1962 design for the Sculpture Court, undertaken whilst he was employed at the Botanic Gardens, was based on modernist principles and influenced by Mondrian’s artwork.  This outdoor space was designed to complement the art gallery and became one of Adelaide’s most popular outdoor cafes.  Its success lay in the human scale of the outdoor spaces. 

Like his contemporaries, Margaret Hendry and Bruce Mackenzie, Correy criticised the landscape development of central Canberra.  He believed the landscape of the parliamentary triangle was a lost opportunity to express an Australian character and required greater informality and less axial ordering elements.  He believes this outspoken view expressed in Architecture in Australia, later republished in The Bulletin went against him when he applied for a position with the National Capital Development Commission in Canberra.

In 1978, Correy was appointed to establish an undergraduate degree program in Landscape Architecture at the University of Sydney.  The first students enrolled in 1981.  Unfortunately the program folded eight years later for a variety of reasons.

Like his mentor Hackett, Correy did not subscribe to a purist native plant approach.  This set him apart from practitioners of the Sydney ‘bush school’ like Bruce Mackenzie and Harry Howard.  At times, when aiming to create a local regional character he would employ all native plants.  A good example of this is the redevelopment of the Australian Section at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

Correy has always been a keen environmentalist.  During the 1960s in Adelaide he protested against the removal of 20 mature Eucalyptus camalduensis (River Red Gums) as part of a road widening scheme.  In the 1970's, he undertook environmental studies at Macquarie University, and in turn introduced environmental philosophy and ethics into the course he led at Sydney University.

Throughout his career Correy has been a prolific communicator, writing numerous articles for magazines like Landscape Australia and Australian Garden History.  In an article on using native trees and maintaining solar access to houses, Correy proposed using judiciously thinned evergreen natives to the north of the house.  He recommended species with slender trunks and branches, like the Mallee Eucalypts.

In a review of Catherin Bull’s acclaimed book, New Conversations with an old landscape which celebrates the achievements of Australian Landscape Architects, Correy fires a broadside.  While Bull suggests that our landscape is in capable hands, he believes the book should be read in conjunction with Mary White’s (1997) Listen … our land is crying: Australia’s environment, problems & solutions.  This discrepancy is revealed as Correy writes:
"A major theme throughout the book is the need for landscape designs to address water conservation issues and included are several projects that attempt to do this by planting only native species and creating artificial wetlands….. Nevertheless, it is the emerald green lawn – symbol of Australian suburbia and so wasteful of water – that dominates many of the illustrations." (Correy, 2003, p 47)

He continues, and relaunches his attack on the landscape of the national capital. Canberra is probably our best example of a designed landscape that looks so beautiful on the surface but has been an environmental and social disaster. (Correy 2003, p 47).

Correy, a man of strong views, has made an enormous contribution to the profession and has been recently made a Fellow of the Institute.

 

Edwina Richardson AILA 2006

 

References

Aitken, Richard & Looker, Michael (2002). The Oxford companion to Australian gardens. Oxford University Press: Melbourne.

Boyle, Terry (2003) “A passionate life: Allan Dale Correy’s contribution as a pioneer to Landscape Architecture in Australia. Unpublished thesis. Bachelor of Landscape Architecture, UNSW.

Bull , Catherin (2002) New Conversations with an old landscape – landscape architecture in contemporary Australia.  Images Publishing Group: Victoria.

White, Mary (1997) Listen ... our land is crying: Australia's environment: problems, solutions. Kangaroo Press: Sydney.

 

A selection of articles by Correy

1962 “Landscaping in relation to housing” in Architecture Australia, vol 51, no 2, pp95-96

1963 “The role of the Landscape Architect in the future development of metropolitan Adelaide” in Architecture Australia vol 52, no 2, pp103-105

With Correy, J. 1967 “The landscape treatment of Canberra” in Architecture Australia, vol 57, no 4 pp 627-629

“Ephemeral Landscapes: a case for temporary landscape design in a changing society” in Landscape Australia, pp102-104, 2/1979.

“Reading the landscape: a tribute to J B Jackson 1909-1996 ” in Landscape Australia, pp52-54, 1/98.

“Landscape design dilemma: Australian Native Trees & Solar Access Conflict”, in Landscape Australia, pp101-104, 169 2/92

“Vale Professor Brian Hackett 1911-1998 – a creative conservationist”, in Landscape Australia, pp346-348, 4/98.

“A dialogue on new conversations with an old landscape: landscape architecture in contemporary Australia ” in Landscape Australia, pp45-47, 2/2003.