Wendy Whiteley - Wendy's Secret Garden

Wendy's Secret Garden

Wendy Whiteley’s own artistic skills were considerable. From the start, Brett always believed her talent was superior to his, she had greater skill at life drawing, and her sense of style and colour exceeded his. He believed she was brilliant and always essential to his career, an astute driving force, a sharp critic and a cleaner-up of his messes. However, any thoughts of her own artistic career had long taken second place to her roles as a wife, mother, artist’s model, muse, critic and stylist of aesthetic domestic and studio environments. After Brett’s death she found a unique outlet for her creativity.

At considerable personal expense, Wendy started to clean up and landscape a large patch of derelict land adjacent to her home in Lavender Bay, owned by the NSW Rail Corporation. It was choked by weeds and overgrown with lantanas, and strewn with old train carriages, abandoned refrigerators, rotting mattresses and broken bottles, and some homeless people sometimes slept there. The Rail Corporation had no interest in doing anything with it, and they raised no objections to her beautifying the area. They even helped by removing the large pieces of junk. Wendy treated the garden like a giant painting, structuring, planting, pruning, moving things around, and letting nature work its own magic. Over 15 years, it has become a coveted spot for those who have heard about or chanced upon it, with random benches in quiet spots, secluded paths, and a spectacular view to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. A wide variety of birdlife previously unknown to the area has arrived. It has been described as rivalling Claude Monet’s garden. It is affectionately known by locals as "Wendy’s Secret Garden", although the public have always had free access.

Daughter Arkie helped her mother in this project, and she planned to hold her second wedding ceremony, to Jim Elliott, in the garden. However, her adrenal gland cancer intervened, and they married in the house overlooking the garden, only a few weeks before Arkie's death in 2001.

Both Brett and Arkie Whiteley’s ashes are buried in "Wendy’s Secret Garden", but in a location Wendy has not disclosed.

On Australia Day 2009, Wendy Whiteley was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for "service to the community through the establishment and maintenance of a public garden at Lavender Bay, and as a supporter of the visual arts".

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