Making Landscape Architecture in Australia by Andrew Saniga (review)

Reviewing University of Melbourne Senior Lecturer Dr. Andrew Saniga’s recent book (built on his doctoral research), Making Landscape Architecturein Australia, reminds me of a question I was asked after a lecture in the Netherlands about Australian landscape architecture: “So what can Dutch landscape architecture learn from Australia?” Despite its arrogance, it is a useful question, because it asks us to consider what, beyond a general, incremental contribution to knowledge of the profession, a local history can offer to those outside its immediate milieu. For an international audience an answer might, on the one hand, note the influence of the international on the local, and on the other, distinguish the local from the international. Since the profession of landscape architecture developed internationally in the geopolitical and media landscape of the twentieth century, Australian landscape architecture reflects many international trends, notably the rise of environmentalism. However, these have been inflected in very particular ways due to the character of the Australian landscape. In this review I will examine this tension between the local and the international in Saniga’s book.