William Guilfoyle - Private Gardens

Private Gardens

He also undertook private landscape design work which included Nellie Melba’s Coombe Cottage at Coldstream; Moritz Michaelis’s Linden in Acland Street, Mawallok between Skipton and Beaufort for Philip and Mary Russell in 1909, St Kilda; Werribee Park for the Chirnside brothers; and two gardens near Birregurra, "Mooleric" - a four acre (16,000 m²) private garden registered under the Heritage Act as being of state and national significance and "Turkeith" for Mr. And Mrs. Urquhart Ramsay.

The gardens around Parliament House, Melbourne were designed by Clement Hodgkinson and William Guilfoyle and feature the Parliament Gardens, a small triangular park which features the Coles Fountain and provides pleasant views of Parliament House, St Patrick's Cathedral, the Old Synagogue, the Old Baptist Church and the Eastern Hill Fire Station. They became a public reserve in 1934.

The Parliament House Gardens, designed by Guilfoyle, have restricted access and are used by parliamentarians and guests, and for official garden parties. The garden contains The Federal Oak which was planted in 1890 by Sir Henry Parkes; a plaque recognising the efforts of Vida Goldstein; and an 'oriental-style' pavilion.

Guilfoyle also wrote extensively for the Bankers’ Magazine of Australasia, the Victorian Naturalist, and two guide books (1902, 1908) to the Melbourne Botanic Gardens. He also wrote on Australian plants, including Australian Plants Suitable for Gardens, Parks, Timber Reserves etc (1911). Guilfoyle retired from landscape design in 1909, living at Chatsworth in Jolimont Road, Jolimont and died on 25 June 1912.