Why garden? Gardening on mining fields in the dry tropics of Queensland, 1860 to 1960

Abstract

Climate, water shortages, poor soils, pests, isolation and the impermanence of settlements made ornamental gardening difficult for householders on the mining fields of Queensland's dry tropics between 1860 and 1960. Only some tried to overcome these disadvantages. Out of the many motivations that exist for ornamental gardening, the principal reasons here seem to have been the love of plants, climate mitigation, expectations of gender and class, the desire of schools to civilise their students, aesthetics derived from European tastes, and attempts to improve the raw rough mining settlements.