Blackwood Wittunga Botanic Garden in the Adelaide foothills, South Australia

            The development of Wittunga began in 1902 when Edwin Ashby, a real estate agent, settled on 21 acres of property in the Blackwood area. Much of the area was natural vegetation, such as She-Oak, Peppermint Gum and Blue Gum. 
 
Ashby cleared enough land for a homestead built from local brick and stone, and a farm which included sheep and cattle. 

Edwin Ashby’s son, Keith, undertook an apprenticeship in fruit growing in Tasmania and on his return to Wittunga, set up a commercial apple and pear orchard. The orchard was laid out in a grid for the ease of maintenance during the labour intensive annual cycle of pruning, pest eradication, harvesting, ploughing. The fruit was put in storage at the Blackwood Co-operative Cold Store near the Blackwood Station, from where it was sold locally and overseas.

A reservoir for the initial water supply was constructed close to the house. Excavation of the large reservoir was begun in 1914 and enlarged several times.

Edwin Ashby developed an interest in native plants and began propagating shrubs and trees from seeds and cuttings collected by the family from many parts of Australia. 
 
Edwin Ashby died in 1941, and following World War Two, his children, Alison and Keith took on the garden, expanding it substantially from the late 1950s. Keith Ashby shared his father’s enthusiasm for gardening. When his younger daughter settled in the Transvaal, he became aware of the climatic and topographic similarities and acquired an extensive collection of South African shrubs, such as Erica, Leucodendron, Leucospermum and Protea. By 1964 Wittunga was primarily concerned with the propagation of shrubs and trees, housing
over 1000 Australian native species, 20 varieties of Protea and the largest collection of Erica species outside Africa.
 
On 15 October 1985, Wittunga was formally handed over to the Board of Governors of the Botanic Gardens. Ten years later, Sir Mark Oliphant officially opened Wittunga Botanic Garden to the public.

Ref: Blackwood Action Group

Taken on: October 21, 2020

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Blackwood

Wittunga

Garden

Adelaide

foothills

Edwin Ashby « less

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Camera: Nikon D7500, f/5.0, 1/250 sec, 18mm (=27mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D7500
Lens:	18.0-140.0 mm f/3.5-5.6
Aperture:	f/5.0
Exposure Time:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Focal Length:	18mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Auto, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Not Defined
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Windows Photo Editor 10.0.10011.16384
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