The Australian Garden Taylor Cullity Lethlean Has won the "Landscape of the Year Award". The Australian Garden is situated within the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne on the south-eastern outskirts of Melbourne, Australia. It was developed in a former sand quarry and allows visitors to follow a metaphorical journey of water through the Australian landscape, from the desert to the coastal fringe. The garden brings together horticulture, architecture, ecology, and art to create the largest botanic garden devoted to Australian flora. It showcases some 170,000 plants across 1700 species all adapted to its challenging site condition, using the Australian landscape as its inspiration to create a sequence of powerful sculptural and artistic landscape experiences that recognise its diversity, breadth of scale and wonderful contrasts.
The jury summarized the project:
“This garden brilliantly summarises the great variety of Australian flora as well as the large part of the country which is arid desert. Like a botanic garden, it is a collection of difference, but with a strong unifying set of journeys through the various landscapes. This landscape stood out with its originality and strong evocation of Australian identity without having to use any signs or words – just the beautiful flora of Australia’s countryside!”.
