Walter Hill (garden curator)

Walter Hill (1820 - 1904) was the first curator of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, located at Gardens Point, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Personal Life

Walter Hill was born at Scotsdyke, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on 31 December 1819, the son of David Hill and Elizabeth Beattie.

Walter married Jane Smith, the daughter of John Smith and Jane Brunton, on 16 September 1849 at Holy Trinity Church, Brompton, Middlesex, England. They had a daughter Ann (born 25 April 1850 in England, died 1 November 1871 in Brisbane)

The family immigrated to Sydney, Australia in 1852 on the "Maitland", where Walter intially tried his luck on the goldfields. In 1855, Walter undertook an expedition (as a botanist) to North Queensland in which most of the party were murdered by Aborigines. After this, Water accepted the position of curator of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens.

Until Walter's retirement in 1881, the family lived in the Curator's Cottage at the Brisbane City Botanical Gardens, which today is the City Gardens Cafe, a venue well-patronised by tourists and staff of the adjacent Queensland University of Technology's Gardens Point campus.

He died at his home "Canobie Lea" at Eight Mile Plains, Queensland, on 4 February 1904. He is buried in Toowong Cemetery together with his wife Jane (died 1888) and their daughter Ann (died 1871).

Professional Life in Horticulture

Walter started out as an apprentice to his brother, David, then head gardener at Balloch Castle, Dumbartonshire, Scotland. Later he worked at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and then in 1843 moved to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Walter Hill was the first Superintendent of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens from 1855 to 1881. He made rapid progress in establishing the gardens, which he organised into 34 separate areas, each with a specific purpose. In the spring of 1856, the newspaper Moreton Bay Courier urged the local citizens to come and enjoy the gardens and walkways, giving praise to Walter Hill for achieving so much so quickly. In 1861, he worked with the Governor's wife, Lady Bowen], to organise Christmas festivities in the gardens, personally decorating the Christmas trees.

When Queensland became its own colony (having formerly been part of New South Wales, Walter was appointed the first Colonial Botanist of Queensland in 1859, a role he held until his retirement in 1881.

In these roles, he conducted a number of expeditions to northern Queensland to collect native plants, including trips to:

• Cape York Peninsula in 1862
• nort-east coast to Mossman and the Daintree River in 1873, climbing Mount Bellenden Ker

He sent many of the specimens he gathered to herbariums around the world (including the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne and Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in London). Although Walter Hill wanted to establish a herbarium in Queensland, he was unable to do so due to lack of a suitable building and the other demands on his time. However, on his retirement in 1881, Walter gave his books to the Queensland Museum, which later became the nucleus of the present Queensland Herbarium library.

Walter Hill also had a significant role in acclimatisation of exotic plant species into Queensland. He was also responsible for the introduction of mango, pawpaw, ginger, tamarind, arrowroot, cotton and mahogany. In particular, he introduced sugarcane and established through experiments that the juice of the Queensland-grown sugarcane could be successfully granulated, opening up a major new farming crop for Queensland.

Conversely, he also cultivated an Australian native nut, the Queensland nut, which went on to become known as the macadamia.

Although his interests primarily lay in economic plants, he also took an interest in more decorative plants. He introduced the flowering trees, the jacaranda and poinciana, which are still popular garden plants in Queensland. In 1857, he exhibited a native water lily at the Australian Horticultural and Agricultural Show held in Sydney.

In 1862, Walter was appointed as one of Queensland's Commissioners to arrange for produce and other articles to be exhibited in the Exhibition of Industry as part of the 1862 International Exhibition held in London.

Walter frequently clashed with his superiors and, following a disagreement regarding his upkeep of the gardens, Walter was forced to retire in 1881. However, he continued to experiment with fruit trees in his retirement.

Memorials

Walter Hill is memorialised in a number of ways, including:

• the Walter Hill Fountain

The Walter Hill Fountain is located in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens and was built as a drinking fountain in 1867 when reticulated water was introduced to Brisbane. In 1972, the fountain was renamed to commemorate the achievements of Walter Hill.

External Links

• Biography of Walter Hill, Australian National Botanic Gardens
• Biography of Water Hill, Australian Dictionary of Biography
• Photo of Walter Hill's house in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, taken about 1868
• Photo of Walter Hill, taken about 1880
• Photo of Canobie Lea, home of Walter Hill, taken about 1910
• Walter Hill fountain