Waite Arboretum

Waite Arboretum, now part of the Waite Historic Precinct, was established as part of the gift of Peter Waite, whereby the Urrbrae estate was transferred to the University with the provision that 67 acres should be held in perpetuity as a park. [1]  As outlined in the first Waite Agricultural Research Institute (WARI) Report, ‘University Council decided that the best means of carrying out the terms of the gift would be to establish … an arboretum, in which trees and shrubs [would] be grown as specimen trees to demonstrate their value for shelter and ornamental purposes.’[2]  Planting began in the late 1920s and by 1932 the Arboretum contained over 1000 trees comprising 67 families, 180 genera and 367 species.[3]

Drought tolerance was an early and enduring theme of reporting on the Arboretum ‘owing to the long, dry summer characteristic of the Adelaide environment.’[4]  Initially, at least, young trees were watered and the relative absence of frost meant an array of exotic as well as natives were planted, including ‘drought-resisting tropical trees from the monsoonal regions.’[5]

The practical matter of keeping newly planted trees alive was allocated to WARI gardener Frederick Couzens, appointed in 1923.[6] He was joined by his son, Fred Jr, in 1929.[7]  The two were responsible for establishing and maintaining trees until their retirements in 1950 and 1966 respectively.[8]  During its first decades, the Arboretum was overseen by the WARI’s inaugural director AEV Richardson, and his successor James Prescott.  Early contributions were also made by systematic botanists Constance Eardley, Enid Robertson and Frank Hilton.  By 1955, the year of Prescott’s retirement, the Arboretum contained 1,300 trees from 630 species.[9]

The 1956 appointment of David Symon to the position of systematic botanist in charge of the Arboretum saw its transition from ‘a relatively undirected park collection’ to ‘a directed botanical collection influenced by the concept of homoclimes.’[10] The latter, the planting of trees from climates similar to those of the Adelaide foothills, saw a reduction in tree watering and an emphasis on ‘a policy of plant introduction with more plants selectively chosen from the Mediterranean, California, Chile and South Africa.’[11] In the WARI report for 1982-83, Symon prefaced a list of trees in the Arboretum with the observation that, ‘[i]n examining the list of the early plantings, the principal changes to date are the complete removal of shrubs and the common failure of plants of tropical origin to survive, a trend accentuated in recent times with the cessation of summer watering.’  Further, ‘[t]he present large collection of Eucalyptus has greatly increased the proportion of Australian species in the collection.’[12]  Symon was also responsible for the introduction and development of drought tolerant ornamental trees, notably a collection of flowering pears along Claremont Avenue and the Southern side of the Urrbrae House gardens.[13]

Symon retired in 1985 and was followed as curator of the Waite Arboretum by Dr Jennifer Gardner. [14] Gardner’s appointment saw the beginning of what is often called the ‘third phase’ of the Arboretum’s evolution, a ‘working collection of trees’ underpinned by more adequate funding and greater collaboration with scientists based at the WARI, the wider University and allied research organisations.[15] The Arboretum was also developed as an educational resource and community outreach program through ‘the development of a self-guided walk and trail guide, more interpretive signs, [and] the establishment of the Friends of the Waite Arboretum who recruit and train a dedicated band of volunteers’.[16]

On Gardner's retirement in 2017 the Arboretum contained over 2,700 specimens and a growing number of features including works of art, memorial seats and a landscaped watercourse.[17]  Major plant collections, in addition to Symon's pears, included eucalypts, oaks, dragon trees, palms and cycads.[18]  Gardner was replaced as Arboretum curator by Dr Kate Delaporte, a specialist in 'improving Australian native plants for horticulture by research into propagation, cultivation, and breeding and selecting new varieties and species.[19]  Delaporte also brought with her an interest in the localised impact of climate change, a focus supported by almost a century of Arboretum specimen records.