Ellis Stones

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. ==War years (1914–1918 and 1939–1945)==

On 25 April 1915, he was a rower in the first boat of the second wave of the landing in the Gallipoli Campaign. 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. ==Building==

After World War II, he returned to work as a carpenter and, later, a builder, eventually living and working at Avenel in country Victoria. The Depression brought him and his family back to Melbourne, where he took on whatever work he could find (including repairing broken window glass), and eventually settled in Ivanhoe. Working on a house in Heidelberg in 1934-35, he volunteered to build a stone wall for its landscape designer Edna Walling. ==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: 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. ==Association with Merchant Builders; the Elliston Estate==

Merchant Builders Pty Ltd was an initiative of Melbourne businessman David Yencken. After discussions with prominent Melbourne architect Robin Boyd and his young employee Graeme Gunn, Yencken (with timber merchant John Ridge) established the company with the vision of providing architect-designed houses at project home prices. 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'. Elliston includes the following streets: Bachli, Cremin, Ferrier, Pickworth, Hartley, Nagle and Devlin Courts; Stanton, Crampton, Phillips and Von Nida Crescents; the west side of Finlayson Street; and Thompson Drive (all in Rosanna). ==Environmentalism==

Ellis Stones was deeply concerned about the destruction of the Australian landscape. In the introduction to his book Australian Garden Design, published in 1971, 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." Not long after his death, the MMBW preserved a large amount of land along the Yarra Valley in a series of metropolitan parks, landscaped with native vegetation exactly as he would have wanted. ==Awards and recognition==

Stones posthumously received the Royal Australian Institute of Architect's Robin Boyd environmental medal. can be found in a rock garden in Chelsworth Park near his former home in Ivanhoe. 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 ==References==

About war experience • McMullin, R. Gallipoli’s three musketeers went off to war ... only one returned. Life section, The Australian, 25 April 2015 About gardening • Alston, P.Making the most of your space Gardening, The Age, 3 December 1976, p 27 • Blog posting Iconic Australian Landscape Architects – Ellis Stones , in Grass Trees and Butterfly Chairs, 13 September 2012 • A fertile field for green fingers (article mentioning Como garden and promoting gardening apprenticeships) Monday Job Market, The Age, 28 March 1988, p24 • Kerr Forsyth, H =en Garden edging can make life neater and easier Executive Living, The Australian, 28 March 2015 About garden heritage • Latreille, A. Magic of a garden, Environs, The Age, 13 October 1976 About environmentalism • Colebatch, T. 'Pocket' park plan urged. City's wasteland can be transformed so cheaply - expert, The Age, 5 December 1974, p10 • Stones, E., Letter to the editor. Restaurant in Botanic gardens (Ellis objects) The Age, 16 December 1968, p4 • Latreille, A. Plan for Valley: Landscaping scheme proposed. Living in Melbourne, The Age, 12 February 1975 • Wilson, G. Planners should go native Weekender, 'The Age', 20 May 1977, p16 • Colebatch, T. Boom returning for Toorak of the North Environs, The Age, 4 February 1974, p22 • Stevens, J. Action speaks louder than words (concerning report of the Valley Freeway Action Group), ND Column 'The Age', 23 March 1976 About playgrounds • Building backlog could be ended. 'Children doing landscaping to plan of Ellis Stones', The Age, 13 January 1975 • Dexter, N. Highrise quality of life Accent, The Age, 4 June 1970, p17 About Elliston • Chisholm, J. Unorthodox Elliston: 50 Acres of natural parkland 20 November 1969 • Buhrich, E 'Planned for enjoyment' 'The Sydney Morning Herald', 18 June 1970, p13 Recognition, obituaries and honours • Dexter, N. Working with nature Accent, The Age, 3 April 1970, p11 • Our leading landscape planner dies, The Age, 7 April 1975 • University chair may honor architect Home news, The Age, 9 April 1975, p 4 • Robin Boyd Environmental Award 1975 Home News, The Age, 22 October 1975, p2 • Barker, J. Three-story design is house of the year Houses and Property, 'The Age', 27 October 1975, p13 • Honor for Ellis Stones Home news, The Age, 28 October 1976, p4 • Latreille, A. Ellis Stones Appeal, Environs, Accent, The Age, 3 November 1976, p26 Legacy • Guest, S. We need to create a true Australian style Spring/Summer Gardening, The Age, 17 October 1989, p24 ==Newspaper advertisements mentioning Stones==

• Stones, E. Newspaper advertisement for Stones' 'Garden Art' business, The Argus, 16 July 1945 • The Good Life for sale, advertisement for houses for sale in Winter Park, Doncaster'The Age' 23 December 1972 p27 • Davie, R. Merchant Builders' house popular, editorial and advertisement for houses in Merchant Builders' Winter Park], Real estate, The Age, 7 November 1975, pp25–6 • Advertorial concerning house for sale in Merchant Builders' Elliston estate, The Age, 26 August 1981, p34 ==External links==