La Trobe University

Nangak Tamboree Wildlife Sanctuary- Margaret Cooper Memorial Garden

We have sourced plants from the Nangak Tamboree Wildlife Sanctuary Nursery (at La Trobe University) for many years, so we were thrilled when they asked us to tender for the Margaret Cooper Memorial Garden. Together with the team at Indigenous Design Landscaping we designed an accessible, educational garden for school groups and families. We used recycled materials to add a veranda to the existing Bioshack and create art pieces in the garden. 

We created two ponds and a dry creek bed to capture runoff water from the nearby dwelling and divert it to an adjacent lake. There are countless opportunities in this garden for children to learn from and observe the natural world. There are nesting boxes, lizard lounges and the tracks of local animal species imprinted in the concrete slab. No animals were harmed in the making of these tracks, the footprints were 3D printed and stamped into the concrete before it had fully cured. The all-indigenous planting palette and native lawn will provide food, nesting materials and habitat for the wildlife within the sanctuary. We hope that the Margret Cooper Memorial Garden will inspire visitors to create an indigenous habitat garden at their house.

CONSTRUCTION: INDIGENOUS DESIGN LANDSCAPING