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Boyce Gardens is a heritage-listed garden at 6 Range Street, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. It was built from to 1950s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 25 January 2001. == History == Boyce Gardens was named for Leslie and Margaret Boyce, who established the garden following their arrival in Toowoomba after their wedding in April 1930. A number of extensions were added to the house in 1940 and in 1955. The tennis court was constructed in 1937 and a swimming pool was constructed in 1947.〔 Harriet Margaret Rose Hall, of Silverspur in southern Queensland, purchased Portion 601 in 1929 The six hectares of land was located in an area that was, at the time, the north-eastern outskirts of Toowoomba. In the same year, Margaret became engaged to Leslie Atherton Gerard Boyce, a business executive at the Toowoomba Foundry (now Southern Cross Corporation). The land that Margaret had bought comprised a spur of eucalyptus woodland running south from Mt Lofty on its northern border, a section of natural rainforest and a run-down dairy farm, including one cultivated paddock. Portion 601 formed part of an area which was originally covered by a dense forest of Eucalypts and Scrub Box trees. The Eucalyptus forest originally covered most of the area on which Toowoomba stands. In the 19th century, the rainforest area was known as the Fairy Glen Scrub.〔 When Margaret Hall purchased Portion 601, all of the rainforest had been cleared east of Mackenzie Street. Margaret had designed the house site, drive and surrounding terraces, the spur was remoulded, every metre of top soil was removed, stored and later re-spread over the shaped terraces. The house was built and the Boyces moved in after their wedding on 29 April 1930. They lived and gardened on their property for the rest of their lives, and after their deaths (Margaret in 1984 and Leslie in 1988) their ashes were scattered in the garden.〔 Initially, the Boyces did not have it mind to restore the scrub. The house was constructed on higher ground on the side of Tick Hill (now known as Mt Lofty), looking east down towards what was then around four acres of scrub. Much of the timber had been cut out and stumps from eucalypts remained. Much of the natural vine scrub was heavily infested with lantana, blackberry and trees such as camphor laurel, celtis and Japanese laurel. The Boyces spent time in the mountain and rainforest country of south-east Queensland, including camping in the Canungra Valley and Lamington National Park. Following these visits, the Boyces made the decision to "restore, regenerate and preserve" the remnant rainforest on their property.〔 The garden commanded much of the Boyces' activity and much of their leisure time. At first, the lantana and blackberry was cleared, however, not wanting to make too many sudden gaps, not all the camphor laurels, celtis and other exotics were removed. Instead, they were ringbarked and poisoned and let to die where they had sprung up. Seedlings began to sprout, these were then pulled out to keep them from reinfesting the rainforest.〔 Upon beginning the restoration and preservation of the remnant rainforest, the Boyces had questions such as whether such a small area of native forest could maintain itself and whether or not to introduce new native species to the area. In all, around fifteen new species were introduced, all native to Queensland, though not present in the scrub when the Boyces purchased the property. Before the Boyces' time, most of the orchids, stag and elkhorns and tree ferns, as well as larger trees, had been milled.〔 After the exotics were removed a canopy of only about 12 metres remained. A plantation of hoop pines was established on the eastern border to provide initial protection and the Boyces began reintroducing indigenous trees, shrubs, vines and ferns, encouraging their growth with a built-in rain-like fine spray watering system, many years before such devices were common. Today the rainforest canopy is more than thirty metres high.〔 Over the years, they established a sunken garden (now the white garden), a terraced flower garden, a western walk and shrubbery, a walled garden, lawned terraces, rockeries and a fruit and vegetable garden. An avid "plantswoman", Margaret continually experimented with new species, trying dozens of varieties of daffodils and iris and many liliums and rhododendrons, to establish which did and did not "do" in Toowoomba. Good records were kept and these experiments have proved to be of great value to Toowoomba gardeners. This is of significance, particularly as Toowoomba began to gain in importance as a noted "garden city". One important aspect of Toowoomba's garden city title was the annual Carnival of Flowers. In September 1949, a public meeting was held in the town hall to discuss the idea of a street carnival for the city. It was decided to hold an eight-day festival from 21–28 October 1950. The Carnival of Flowers has continued every year since 1950, making it Australia's longest running annual festival. Established in 1973 was the Toowoomba Chronicle Exhibition Gardens program. Since that time, the Exhibition Gardens have run every year, promoting a display of non-competitive gardens at Carnival time. The Boyce Gardens have been included in the Exhibition Gardens program as an example of an outstanding, beautifully prepared, private garden.〔 The Boyces also collected plants and gardening knowledge on numerous trips abroad. They pre-empted the vogue for South African proteas and leucodendrons, planting a grove of them near the tennis court after a trip to Africa in the early 1950s. They visited most of the great gardens of the world and Margaret read and indexed many gardening magazines, Australian and foreign, building up a formidable knowledge of plants and design.〔 In May 1969, the Boyces gave the estate to the University of Queensland in trust, to hold the land in perpetuity for educational purposes and to preserve and maintain the gardens and natural forest for use as a Botanic Garden and Natural Forest for the education of the public. In 1973, Leslie Boyce was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws by the University of Queensland for his contribution to education. Until their deaths, the Boyces continued on as Curators of the property, which they also endowed to provide a perpetual maintenance fund.〔 The present intention and hope for the future is to continue the development of the garden, forest, wildflower garden and park as a pleasure and demonstration garden for the public and a tourist attraction in Toowoomba, the "Garden City".〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Boyce Gardens」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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