In a suburban front yard in Melbourne's north, two swans carved from old car tyres are perched serenely on a well-manicured lawn.
Painted white with orange beaks, the ornaments once common in gardens across the country are now going the way of the dodo, according to urban photographer David Wadelton.
"They didn't just become out of fashion, they became impossible to make when steel belted radials came in so there's practical as well as fashion reasons you don't see tyre swans anymore," Mr Wadelton explained.
Describing himself as a "self-appointed amateur archivist", Mr Wadelton has become an expert in the space between the footpath and the front door.
"The number of front yards I've photographed over the years would be well over 1,000," the Melbourne photographer estimated.
Mr Wadelton has spent his adult life documenting Victoria's unusual, nostalgic and heroic homes, shops and public spaces – from paisley-carpeted lounge rooms to milk bars caught in a time warp.
"It gradually became my calling to try and record what I felt was on the tipping point and perhaps could not survive very much longer," he said.
His latest obsession – garden ornaments – has taken him to quiet corners of Melbourne's far-flung suburbs, and into Victoria's regional towns on the hunt for front yards worth documenting.
"One of the most extraordinary ones that I've come across is a scale model of the Parthenon in Tootgarook, on the Mornington Peninsula," he told 7.30.
"It is mind-bending how it came to be made.
"It's got all the columns and then inside, it's got a statue of David, the whole thing."
It's one of about 100 garden features included in his upcoming book Front Yards.
"My favourite gardens, the ones that attract me the most, are the ones that are a little bit different, stand out — you wouldn't see their birdbath in Bunnings, for example," he explained.
"Ones that are a little bit different, or even extraordinary, or sometimes heroic, as I'd like to put it."
Extraordinary creations
Halfway down a quiet street in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir, a striking front yard stands testament to its creator's artistic vision.
"It's one of those you've got to see it to believe, locally famous kind of things that I think most people around that area know," the photographer said.
On a drizzly afternoon, Mr Wadelton met Vito Di Benedetto.
Mr Di Benedetto grew up in the home decorated by the traffic-stopping construction — a triple-tier concrete fountain with hand-made dolphins — which was built by his elderly father, a plasterer, who these days prefers to remain behind the scenes.
The craftsman's son said it took him until adulthood to appreciate the very public evidence of his father's unique creativity.
"Dad started building the fountain in the late 60s. I've never really had a conversation with him as to why he built the fountain," Mr Di Benedetto said.
"The fact that he actually designed and built the fountain himself, it's quite an amazing achievement."
Mr Di Benedetto spent his childhood scouring Melbourne beaches for the shells his father added to the yard's signature piece.
The dolphins' teeth were made from the tips cut from tubes of gap filler and the various critters surrounding the plinth were made using concrete set inside plastic lolly containers.
"Every part of the fountain has a story," Mr Di Benedetto said.
"I think this thing will be around forever, I think it's going to outlast us all," he laughed.
Around the corner is another Di Benedetto garden feature dating back to the 1950s – marking the home that once belonged to his grandparents.
"That was the first fountain that [Dad] built. It's not motorised and not quite as ornate or as complex," the artist's son said.
A hand-sculpted menagerie
When Thieu Nguyen retired he took up a pair of secateurs.
He turned the garden at his Pascoe Vale South home of 20 years into a local landmark, even attracting groups of nursing home residents out on day excursions.
Mr Nguyen said he could make any animal with his shears; the work of it shows in his strong hands.
"The neighbours love it," he said.
In his garden, a giraffe, reindeer and birds with googly eyes watch over the street.
Mr Nguyen said he never used electric clippers in his garden.
There are spiral conifers, one with a koala shorn into its middle, and front and centre is a bush trimmed into the shape of Australia, complete with Tasmania.
Mr Wadelton said photographing gardens like Mr Nguyen's was important.
"Pretty soon these houses will change hands, and they won't even exist anymore — so I like to capture that for posterity," he said.
The front-yard photographer said he stumbled upon Mr Nguyen's work after a spur-of-the-moment decision to turn left rather than right on a drive home one day.
"The house really just jumps out and catches your eye because it's got a lot of fancy topiary along the fence and then up the garden path and then within the garden, then up against the house as well," he said.
Mr Wadelton believes his photos capture cultural touchstones that are disappearing as people knock down old houses.
"If someone spends close to $2 million on a house and they don't have any sentimental attachment to that extraordinary front yard, there's no motivation to maintain it. I mean, that's reality," he reasoned.
"In the face of changes of taste, demographics, they linger on still and they are echoes of a previous life."
Watch 7.30, Mondays to Thursdays 7.30pm on ABC iview and ABC TV
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiaGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDI0LTAxLTIwL21lZXQtdGhlLXBob3RvZ3JhcGhlci1jYXB0dXJpbmctbWVsYm91cm5lLXMtZnJvbnQteWFyZHMvMTAzMjQ3MDMy0gEoaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEwMzI0NzAzMg?oc=5
2024-01-19 18:51:48Z
CBMiaGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDI0LTAxLTIwL21lZXQtdGhlLXBob3RvZ3JhcGhlci1jYXB0dXJpbmctbWVsYm91cm5lLXMtZnJvbnQteWFyZHMvMTAzMjQ3MDMy0gEoaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEwMzI0NzAzMg
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Meet the photographer capturing Victoria's unique front yards - ABC News"
Post a Comment