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Statement of Significance

The Fitzroy Gardens owe their design, circa 1848,to a Scottish landscape architect, James Sinclair, who laid out the pathways roughly in the shape of the Union Jack. The paths were lined with elms, cedars and oaks. Subsequent gardeners added trees more or less randomly, so that today the original design concept is all but lost. The elms which have been identified as Ulmus x hollandica, Ulmus x vegeta, and Ulmus glabra x U. plottii were plantedclosely together in the European tradition. In the more mild Melbourne climate, this has resulted in pyramidal, deeply-crotched trees rather than wide spreading stronger specimens.