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

Charles Weston was one of our most visionary designers of green landscapes and a true founding hero of the nation’s capital. He experimented and planted more than three million trees and shrubs from Australia and around the world to create the horticultural wonder of Canberra.

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 denuded, rabbit-infested Limestone Plains, Weston embarked on an ambitious re-greening project that would transform the region and the fledging national capital. Despite the daunting obstacles of government bureaucracy and the Great War, he gave life to his ‘dream city’.

This highly readable story of the tree planter of Canberra includes familiar characters in Home Affairs Minister King O’Malley and Walter and Marion Griffin—portrayed in a surprising new light—and offers new insight into the making of Canberra.

This is also a story of three million trees and shrubs from Australia and around the world, planted to create a template garden city, less susceptible to climate change.

The Man Who Planted Canberra will be released on 15 September 2025.

About the Author and Contributor

Robert Macklin is the author of 31 books, including Dark Paradise, Hamilton Hume and four works focusing on the SAS and Australia’s Special Forces: SAS Sniper, Redback One, SAS Insider and Warrior Elite. He lives and works in Canberra with his composer and artist wife Wendy.

Dr John Gray, forester and landscape designer, completed his doctoral thesis on Charles Weston’s truly remarkable feat of afforestation in the formative years of the national capital. Dr Gray’s thesis provided the motivating foundation for this biography.

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