The Man Who Planted Canberra: Charles Weston and His Three Million Trees

A book cover featuriung a painting of a man in suit standing on tree-lined path with a small dog. COver title: The Man Who Planted Canberra by Robert Macklin and Dr John Gray

From humble beginnings, London-born Weston rose through the massive British gardening industry in the second half of the nineteenth century, becoming foreman of the 79 gardeners at the magnificent Drumlanrig Castle in the Scottish borderlands.

Reaching Sydney in 1896, he became Head Gardener at Admiralty House, Kirribilli, and in the wake of Federation in 1901, set his sights on the greatest challenge of all – the new national capital across the ranges on the open Limestone Plains. It was here that, despite the daunting obstacles of government bureaucracy and the Great War, he gave life to his ‘dream city’.

In the collection

A black and white group portrait of the Sullivan family

William James Mildenhall, Canberra, 1921-1924, nla.obj-141467044

An aerial black-and-white photo of a field with a nursery

William James Mildenhall, Yarralumla, 1948, nla.obj-141428642

A black and white image of house. on the image the inscription reads "ACTION" BCHELORS QUARTERS

V.G. Marshall, Canberra, 1913, nla.obj-152749655

Walter Burley Griffin, Canberra, 1913, nla.obj-230041959

Department of Lands, New South Wales, 1914, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-232352801

A black and white image of men surveying land, with tents in the near background

Surveyors at the Federal Capital site survey camp, Canberra, Australia, 1909, nla.obj-140779372

A black and white portrait of Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin standing in a garden

Jorma Pohjanpalo, Sydney, 1930, nla.obj-136874560

A black and wihte photo of a group of men sitting on a rock and looking over a field

Luke, E. T. (Edmund Thomas), Orange, Australia, 1902, nla.obj-140784447

A black and wihte photo of a group of men standing in a field, some on horseback, some on carts, inspecting the field

Luke, E. T. (Edmund Thomas), Tumut, Australia, 1902, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-140782149

A water colour painting of an Australian landscape with a gum tree in the foreground

William Lister, Canberra, Australia, 1913, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135214638

Portrait of Robert Macklin

About the author

Robert is one of Canberra’s most wide-ranging and accomplished authors with no fewer than five awards to his name—the $30,000 Blake Dawson prize for best Business Literature 2009 and four annual Canberra Critics Circle book awards.

His work includes four novels, one adapted to the MGM film, Storyville, starring James Spader and Jason Robards; and The Queenslander currently optioned for a three-part TV series. His non-fiction books include biographies of Hamilton Hume, Kevin Rudd and Jacka VC, as well as the bestsellers Sniper Elite (2006) and Castaway (2021). The Man Who Planted Canberra is his 31st published work. 5 of his books have been published in China, others in the UK, USA and New Zealand.

He lives in Weston with his wife, a former teacher of many hundreds of young Canberrans, Wendy Macklin.