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Suburban life and the boundaries of

nature: resilience and rupture in Australian backyard gardens

Lesley Head and Pat Muir

Despite an academic shift from dualistic to hybrid frameworks of culture/nature relations, separationist paradigms of environmental management have great res and vernacular appeal. The conditions under which they are reinforced, maintai ruptured need more detailed attention because of the urgent environmental cha of a humanly transformed earth. We draw on research in 265 Australian backyard gardens, focusing on two themes where conceptual and material bounding pract intertwine; spatial boundary-making and native plants. We trace the resilience of separationist approaches in the Australian context to the overlay of indigeneity/ non-indigeneity atop other dualisms, and their rupture to situations of close every engagement between people, plants, water and birds. Our ethnographic method that gardens are places where both attitudes and practices can change in the proce such engagements. In a world where questions of sustainability are increasingly by cities and their residents, these chains of agency help identify areas of hope an transformative potential as well as concern.

key words Australia garden boundaries ethnography urban ecology subu

GeoQuEST Research Centre, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences,

University of Wollongong, Wollongong, 2500 Australia email: lhead@uow.edu.au

revised manuscript received 28 July 2006

family and about being involved with the soil.

However, the outcome is ongoing stewardship of A stone's throw from Australia's largest steelwoarlkosc,ally endangered species. For Lorenzo, if the

Lorenzo and Caterina' live adjacent to a sEm. malalculata go, the reserve status of the spare blocks

formal reserve that helps protect a remnant sgtoaensd, and they would be sold off. People building a

of Eucalyptus maculata (Spotted Gum) in the mindedwlehouse on such prime real estate are unlikely to

Introduction

of the suburbs. It cannot be built on. Lorenzo andCaterina's backyard is dominated by an extesnhseidveand richly perfumed compost pits right on their and productive vegetable garden and chook2 sbhoeudndary. For the moment, protecting E. maculata that maintain traditions they brought from gItiavleys Lorenzo a buffer to pursue his intensive more than 40 years ago. Lorenzo has establisphreodduction without upsetting any neighbours.

On the other side of the hill lives Kris, an environ- some small vegetable beds out on the reserve,

mental scientist. The remnant stand of E. maculata where he also grazes his rabbits in their mobile

hutch. He is very careful to protect seedlingsaonfdEo.ther eucalypts was the reason she bought her maculata, which he marks with stakes and tape,blaonckd, which contains a number of very large spotted is in active discussions with the local City Coguunmcisl. She has been actively trying to restore the officers about these activities. In talking abountathiivse vegetation, including E. maculata seedlings garden, Lorenzo does not talk about endangearned associated understorey vegetation, since she species. His narrative is about productivity amnodved in: 'it was just lawn and trees and azaleas and

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be happy about a large and sometimes noisy chook

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506 Lesley Head and Pat Muir

g e r a n i u m s . . . a n dthrougah intwricatehnetoworlkse for lthoe trtansfero offgoodso t h b e e n t r y i n g t o r aned siernvicets. Nrewocondceputuaclizaetionstfrahmede around a t

I n f r a m i n g h e r hytbrihdityiandnketwiornkspgrovideithneoretitcalemordelms s

m e r g i n g o f t h e foAr apuprosachtingr thae lcoimaplenx entangleamtentus ofr a l

o u r l i v i n g e n v i r ohumnansmand neatunre itn a'n, ageKof arcceliersatingnurbean-v e r

v i e w s a b o u t w h iizcatihonandpeaarthrsutrfsaceporocfessesp'eorvuadedrby l i v

s h o u l d b e t o l e r a htumeandage.ncyS.Thusweecani tshinkionfthenvetwaorrksy i

f l i c t w i t h t h e n thaet ciurgrenthly pbroteoct uE. mracuslata ino Wnollongohng eas r

strongest impression for the visitor is of ordaenrdarnedstoration of native understorey vegetation

tidiness.Innesdescribesthisareaasbeingolnikperiavateland.Moredistantlyintimeandspace,

'small house', which it is necessary to look tahfetyerc,onnect to the production of Kris's vegetables

but when they are over, she plans to 'cleanthitouusapnds of immigrants like Lorenzo and Caterina like a vacuum cleaner' with the hose. When Innes to Australia in the decades after the Second World mows her lawn or feeds her roses she sees herself War. These networks have both resilient and unstable

as loving and nurturing a backyard which is 'evcehrayr-acteristics; they are currently held in place by

thing in my heart'. Despite, or perhaps becauspeeorfs,onal passions and a sometimes fraught con-

her demanding full-time job, her morning rouftiginureation of neighbourly relations.

begins with half an hour in the garden, lookingDeastpite both conceptual and empirical challenges,

everyplant,checkingitsneedsandwateringwtheenseparationistparadigmofenvironmentalman-

necessary. This is a time that 'makes me relaxaegde'm, ent has great resilience and vernacular appeal.

when she notes the cycles of plants and their floPwreort-ected area management in many parts of the

ing, and plans what she needs to do for them inwotrhled continues with the ideal of fencing off nature

settler Australian environmental relations, Innes isby different agencies, or different parts of a single

alienated from nature through taming and domesatgi-ency, although they may be part of the same cating it, and Lorenzo is projecting a Europleandscape. As Castree argues,ethic onto it, rather than coming to terms with the

each of whom has a different attitude to trees in

including not only the legal instrument of formal general and natives in particular. reserve status, but also intensive vegetable produc- Further down the hill, in Innes's backyartdi,onthoen private land, rabbit grazing on public land,

clean and decorate. Under current water restric-

in agricultural spaces outside the city, and the tions she cannot keep it as clean as she wouldhilsitkoer,ical circumstances that brought hundreds of

next few weeks.

from human presence and influence. Natural herit- According to the conventional wisdom aboaugte and cultural heritage are frequently managed

essence of Australian nature. Kris's backyard workmatters ... academia may confidently declare that there

would be seen as representing the appropriatenever was a Maginot line dividing natural things from

conservationist response, but because it is under-social things. But in several walks of life people taken in an industrial city it would be deemed facrontinue to speak and act as though such a divide were less important than her professional work in naturself-evident ... there is a continuing need for close

analysis of nature-talk in any and all realms of society. protection outside the city. Indeed, all three back-

(Castree 2004, 191) yards would be deemed peripheral to the urgent

work of protecting the 'real' nature in remTohte conditions under which separationist views of areas. There are two central divides, or dualisms, nature and culture are reinforced, maintained or

in this wisdom; between an immigrant Australianruptured need much more detailed attention by

nation and their environment, and between nature and the city.

It is now a truism that these are just two of the culture/nature dualisms dismantled, or at least

geographers and others. We focus here on nature- talk in suburban gardens, taking seriously the lived human experience of non-human nature in urban Australia. Lorenzo, Kris and Innes each engage

unsettled, by recent research in geography andwith the non-human world through their bodily related disciplines. Wilderness has been shown tlaobour using all their senses. They are not alienated, be saturated, both materially and symbolically,but embedded within it, albeit in very different with culture. The city is itself saturated with naturwe,ays. Analysing their and others' 'environmental and is enmeshed with non-urban landscapes cultures' provides a means to identify shared

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it would be wrong to think that nature no longer

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Suburban life and the boundaries of nature 507

Table I Some environmental dualisms, and examples of th are not suggested to line up with a particular dualism. Indeed they transgress several dualisms)

Nature Liminality Culture

Sciences Suburbs, backyards, ferals, so Country weeds, some migrants, invasive aliens (human and non-human), City

Wild/savage hunter-gatherers Tame/domestic Protected area Unprotected

Natural heritage Cultural heritageNative Non-native (except some Aborigines)

Deep past Present

u n I t

w p

d i

o

e

r

s

t e

a

d

n

d Douiglans arggued tshat thea clanssificdation sydstemis f (albeita thermselvges alludifferentd) leave, certaini thnings A

s noti beglonginng. In diiffefrent iwaycs, thaese cnome tot be labeloled difrt, i.e. disoerdern, or mavtter oiut orf placoe. n

r

l

e

n b

e

s

o

f

e

t

m

e

n

s

research shows to be s Where there is dirt there is system. Dirt is the by-product

and to a high degree th

(Commonwealth of Australia 2001). In fact however

our environmental cultures have received only a fraction of the research attention that has been

Eliminating dirt then 'is not a negative movement, invested so productively into understanding the

scientific dimensions of sustainability.

but a positive effort to organise the environment'

(1966, 2). The need to make sense of the world Before presenting our empirical results, we site

results in classification into sets, but this always the study in several related bodies of literature in

leaves some things not belonging. This 'creates which questions of spatial and conceptual boundary-

liminal zones or spaces of ambiguity and making have been prominent; cities as places of

discontinuity' (Sibley 1995, 33). The connected set nature, and hybridity and the garden. An additional

of dualisms discussed in this paper, and the consideration is the extent to which purificationist

liminalities between them, are summarized in perspectives are particularly strong in settler socie-

Table I. Sibley showed how this can lead into ties, where questions of belonging apply not just to

exclusionary practices in the wider society. types of plants or animals, but also to the indigeneity

of the settler. Our examples illustrate the intertEwxcilnuesidonary discourse draws particularly on colour,

disease, animals, sexuality and nature, but they all relationships between material outcomes and con-

come back to the idea of dirt as a signifier of ceptual framings when it comes to bounding practices,

imperfection and inferiority. (Sibley 1995, 14) focusing on human engagements with plants. We

conclude by considering som e im plicationsThoufs tfhorisexample, gypsies are represented as rats research for wider questions of urban sustaicnoambinligtyout of sewers, slum clearance is associated and environmental management. with moral cleansing, and residents oppose the

Binaries and boundaries

siting of an AIDS hospice in their neighbourhood (Wilton 1998). People are designated as weeds to denote their being 'out of place' (Cresswell 1997).

The literature on 'nature-talk' in geographAy sahnarded human need for order, however, does elsewhere is now huge (for a recent revienwot,esxepelain why binary classifications are so strong Castree 2005). The path we cut through itinsWtaerstesrn thought and practice. Binary divisions with Sibley's (1988 1995 2001) influential woforskpacoenin the city, Sibley argued, 'are deeply the making of social and spatial classifricooateidoninsWestern societies because of the ways and boundaries, which drew in turn on that of

of a systematic ordering and classification of matter, in so far as ordering involves rejecting inappropriate elements. (Douglas 1966, 35)

"Western selves" are constructed, socially and mate- anthropologist Mary Douglas (1966). In illustratinrigally' (2001, 243). He drew on psychoanalytic theory how different cultural groups order the worldt,o answer what for him is the key question: 'how

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508 Lesley Head and Pat Muir

d o e s t h e s e l f e m eNarturegandecultufredronootdmivulgethtemhselvesintuhe n i o

fabric of plants like some sort of botanical apartheid infant?' (Sibley 2001, 243). The bou

that marks out the wild and the domesticated as certain initially manifest in a distaste for b

kinds. But neither are they merely the project of human then assumes a much wider cultu

categories on to an object that makes no difference to (Sibley 1995, 7), as a set of good/

their effectivity. Rather, PGR emerge as a socio-material tions are imposed on self and b

non-human others.

confirmation of the boundaries of the self and situating

Experience of the world in childhood also involves theevent. (Whatmore 2002, 98)

the self in the social world through the sorting of

Whatmore's world then 'is decidedly not one people and things into 'good' and 'bad' categories.

fabrication in which the histories and geographies of more than vegetative associations that they make flesh are constituted through and constitutive of this ordering

'Good' and 'bad' enter the unconscious and, in the where pure forms are "mixed"; it is one of ongoing process of socialisation, they are projected onto othderisfferentiation. In her worlds things are, and who become the objects of fears and desires. (Sibalelyways have been, "impure"' (Braun 2005a, 836; 2001, 244) see also Demeritt 2005).

Exclusionary practices and maintenance of boundaries are a response to the anxiety created by

the liminal state:

As Braun argues, that 'humans, animals and

machines no longer can be seen to have an exist- ence independent from the relations that constitute them' (2005a, 836) is now a position widely held in

the urge to make separations, between clean and dirtyg,eography. On the other hand, as Castree (2004)

ordered and disordered, 'us' and 'them', that is, to

pointed out, this is at odds with many common sense

expel the abject, is encouraged in western cultures,understandings, which themselves need critical

creating feelings of anxiety because such separations

can never finally be achieved. (Sibley 1995, 8)

analysis. Thus geographers have explored how, following Latour, continuing attempts to purify and separate nature and culture actually proliferate

the hybrids. For example, Robbins (2001) showed food and outputs of excrement, and as the city

that Indian attempts to physically partition land shows at a wider scale (Kaika 2005), we are tightly

embedded in a set of relations that are both uses encouraged the proliferation of 'impure' land

As the body shows by its dependence on inputs of

material and social.

covers, and Murdoch and Lowe (2003) discussed

how the preservation of the English countryside Ideas of hybridity and networks are thus being

encourages more people to move there, thereby utilized to more effectively understand such places

and processes (Latour 1993; Whatmore 2002).

reducing the amenity of the 'nature' they are pursuing.

There is a particular challenge here to studies of

the garden, perhaps the classic 'hybrid' landscapeCities as places of naturewithin geographic and anthropological thought. The increasing interest in urban nature within the

human sciences is now well established (Whatmore [T]he garden has long served as a way of thinkingand Hinchliffe 2003; Braun 2005b). Methods in the

about nature and about culture and how each

ethnographic tradition have been important in

influences the other. The garden has been viewedhighlighting the non-human presence in cities

philosophically as the balancing point between human

control on one hand and wild nature on the other. (Francis and Hester 1990, 2)

Gardens carry additional baggage in relati(oen.g.tJoones and Cloke 2002), although most authors

ideas of hybridity, since they are key placeasckwnhoewrleedge that 'the "non" of nonhuman is far

hybridization - understood biologicallyfarsomthbeing a straightforward boundary marker'

mixingoftwopurespeciestocreatesomethi(nHgincnhelwiffeetal.2005,643).Differentgroupswithin

and usually sterile - occurs. Whatmore's elabtohreatcitoyn have been shown to have attitudes and

of hybridity is explicitly different to thepirdaectaicoefs vis-a-vis animals that can be related to the

'mixing' pre-existing essentialized categpoartiiecusl,ars of their own cultural experience (Wolch

whether nature and society, or different varieettaile.s2o00f0). Detailed focus on nature-culture hybrids

soybean.3 As she shows in debates oversuPchlaanstzoos (Anderson 1995) and agricultural

Genetic Resources (PGR):

shows (Anderson 2003) has challenged the way the Journal compilation @ Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) 2006

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(Hinchliffe et al. 2005). Foci include human-animal relations (e.g. Griffiths et al. 2000; Philo and Wilbert 2000; Wolch 2002) as well as human-plant ones

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Suburban life and the boundaries of nature 509

hum an itself is conceptdiuscuassleidzategdreatalsengath,uanndiafdoimeindantathnemde separate category. The material enmeshments has been that of alienation; of the bush, outback

Cronon (1991), Gandy (2002) and Kaika (2005a).lso created a strong temporal dualism - before A related shift is also occurring within the naantdurafalter 1788 - thus deep time belonged to nature, sciences, partly due to the pragmatic realizaantdiohnistorical time belonged to culture (Table I).

that the world is becoming more rather thaAnrclehsistect and critic Robin Boyd drew a direct

connection between the environmental alienation urbanized. New journals such as Urban Ecosystems

aretakingupthechallenge,acknowledgingtohfatthefrontiermentalityandAustraliansuburbi

In dubbing it 'arboriaphobiaville', he described

between human and non-human worlds extend far

and desert being hostile to white settlement, indeed beyond the space of the city, as demonstratiendimbicyal to culture itself. This understanding of history

From a scientific perspective, urban and suburbanpostwar suburban expansion as 'the second perio

landscapes have been understudied and underutilizedof pioneering' (Boyd 1963, 91). 'The object of th

by ecologists throughout the world. The reasons forpioneer cult, in short, is to clear all decks for action

this are many, but the primary underlying cause can be

to reduce everything to the same comprehensible attributed to the reluctance of ecologists to work in

areas dominated by humans. (McDonnell 1997, 85)

few decades have destabilized both settler under- McDonnell's point is reflected in the resilience of

level so that something new can be put on it' (p. 92

Indigenous claims to land and rights over the last

the separationist paradigm within mainststraenadmings of their own belonging, and environment conservation biology journals, where there conmtiannuaegsement based on a separation between natur to be a focus on relatively 'intact' habitats a(Fnadzecyulture. However, Aboriginal people themselve et al. 2005), with few studies 'conducted entirdeolyniont express an exclusively nativist view on areas under intense human pressure (agricuqlutuerstailons of plant and animal belonging. Trigger landscapes, coastal and urban areas)' (Fazey e(itnapl.rep.) has docum ented a 'm ulti-dim ensional se 2005, 70). A number of writers have been forced to

of Aboriginal responses' that indicate considerabl recognize the positive potential of urban ecosyisntteemllsectual flexibility in dealing with changing

for biodiversity conservation, as seen for exeacmoplolegical and socioeconomic conditions.in the high levels of species diversity they harbDouesrpite the challenges provided by the indige- due to the richness and diversity of habintaotuss presence, and some advances such as join (Niemela 1999). In the growing field of umrbananagement of National Parks, the colonial herit ecology (Pickett et al. 2001 2004) there is emeagregicnogntinues to be deeply embedded in much recognition that the cooption of human actenovrisroinsmental thinking and management in Australialikely to be crucial to biodiversity conservantdioenlsewhere (Willems-Braun 1997; Neumann 1998;(Savard et al. 2000; Rudd et al. 2002).

Zimmerer and Young 1998; Head 2000; Howitt 2001).

Its diverse expressions, influenced also by the Indigeneity and belonging structure of scientific disciplines, include not only

In settler contexts such as Australia, North Americathe establishment of protected areas that exclude

and New Zealand, the construction of the citpyeoapsle,a but also the division of natural and cultural place of civilization in a world of savagery dishpelarciteadge within government instrumentalities. In notonlyplantsandanimalsbutindigenousptehoepAleu,straliancontext,suchthinkingcontinues who were considered to belong, if at all, in rteompootseition 'the environment' outside of cities areas (Anderson 2000; Blomley 2004). Settler (McManus 2005), leading to a focus on 'green' rather

than 'brown' environmental issues. Australians' sense of their own belonging is thus

intertwined in ambiguous and contradictory ways

with a variety of attitudes and practices to the sortGsardens as culture/nature hybrids

of plants and animals that belong (Trigger 2003C;ontemporary suburban gardens are nested within

Trigger and Mulcock 2005; Lien 2005). Relatedthe multiple hybridities of suburbia. These include

questions have been explored in New Zealand not only the central tension between country and

(Dominy 2001; Leach 2002), Canada (Mosquin 1997)city, but the gendered and classed distinctions

and South Africa (Comaroff and Comaroff 2000).The role of landscape myth in the creation of whistepace (Bunce 1994, 153-4). Even as Franklin was Australia's sense of national identity has beewnriting that 'one of the most staggering nature-

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between inside and outside, private and public

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510 Lesley Head and Pat Muir

h u m a n i n t e r f a cpeestsset,c.) arge leagiorn (de.g.ePonllani19n91 g2001,). Inhsucah s a l m o s t c o m p l e t e lcyonte'xts(t2he0que0sti2on,then5be)c,omestrehfoceusedgfrormo G a r d e n s a r e c othmehowmandwhaynofhdybridintytgothehiownancdwrhye

attention in botofhpurifhicatiuonmandboaunndary-m(aHkingi.tchin

a n d S h a r p 2 0 0 3 ; ThBis sthudyathtustcointribautnes tdo theCrepohsitiuoninrg c

of both environmental issues within urban and 2005) and natural (Rudd et al. 2002

2 0 0 4 ; F r e n c h e t saublur.ban2con0text0s,a5nd)humsanscasienemenshedcwieths a s b e t t e r u n d e r s t a n ratdher thuan orutsibde naon-nhumannatuare.tIt usesrbacke- s , d

S o w h a t d o t h yeard ganrdenes aws a lenshthryoughbwhrichitodanalygse e

W h a t m o s p a c e ? Mo f ' e v e r

r eo s t

h

2 0i m

0 2 )urbahn, paredvomeinanttly osettleor, Afustfraleianrrelatitonsh i p oto nratutrea. Wne utse lthye te,rm 'tbachkyaerdygardenr' heres i s

( L a t o u rdifference as relational rather than static. That is

y

y

b

ri n domWestichspacae ctonnmoted boy 'rbackeyard2', an0d a0fo2cus,

1 9 9 3

in varying contexts. Second, these relations of dif-Methods and study area

i tdo encoampsass baoth tmhe phiysxicallty eunclrosede, priovatfe

on human relations to plants implied by 'garden'. differences, for example between nature and cultIutries,to this analysis that we now turn.

are not preexisting entities but take particular forms

ference operate in webs or networks of connectivityand multiple agency (Philo and Wilbert 200W0e). draw on a study of 265 backyards in Sydney,

Non-humans such as pets are powerful co-shapWerosllongong (a city of about 300,000 people, 85

activities. Recognition of non-human agencywisasandesigned to encompass the socioeconomic and important counter to the notion of gardeencosloagsical variability in each of these main study predominantly cultural constructions (Hitchairnegas. We also targeted particular groups such as 2003; Power 2005). Nevertheless, there are ongmoignrgant vegetable gardeners, bushcare volunteers m ethodological dilem m as in the fact thatantdhegarden clubs. The period of fieldwork, 2002-3, means of articulating the liveliness and agencyorroefsponded to a time of significant drought in the non-humans is (inescapably?) through a hsuomutahneastern Australia. In keeping with the aim lens. Philo (2005, 830), for example, pondoefreadnalysing a variety of engagements between how an ethnography of elephant agency mighutmbaens and non-humans, multiple methods were operationalized. employed. Each backyard was visited and a semi-

structured interview undertaken on site with the Third, an important means by which the new

hybrid geographies rework the nature-cupltaurrtiecipant by one of a team of three researchers, divide is the emphasis on everyday knowledgeinacnlduding the two authors. The backyard was practice (Whatmore 2002). Everyday knowledgme anpdped and photographed, and checklists on the practice are perhaps best put together in the ndoteimonography of the household, the structures in the of dwelling, as developed for example by Clokbeaacnkdyard and the biogeography were completed. Jones (2001) from the thinking of HeideggerT,haendinterviews were transcribed and imported into Ingold (2000). 'Dwelling is thus potentially btohuendqualitative data analysis program, N6. Each up with ideas of home, local, and concern or affecintitoenrview was read through and indexed at nodes for nature and the environment' (Cloke and Jgeonersated by the text. New nodes were created as 2001, 651). This idea of dwelling, which 'helpnsewtoideas emerged and coding at multiple nodes account for the intimate, rich, intense, makibnegcaomf e established practice where content, context

of domestic environments and wider social struc-

kilometres south of Sydney on the Pacific coast) tures (Haraway 2003). Weeds, birds, water anadndthAelice Springs (a central Australian desert town power of the place itself interact with huofm2a6n,000 people) (Figure 1). Our sampling strategy

the world' (2001, 652), is very appropriate for tahnindke-merging theory overlapped. Pseudonyms are ing about the everyday knowledges and pracutsiecdesthroughout this paper.within suburban backyard gardens. This is alsowell illustrated by considering popular writing

Overview of results about gardens, in which tales of engagement both

against recalcitrant and with obedient or passTihone-total body of evidence illustrates considerable ate non-human actants (weeds, lawn, roses, pdeivtse,rsity in both the conceptual and material

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Suburban life and the boundaries of nature 511

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a)c)HELENSBURN GH 0 5 10

N.T.km QLD

Alice Springs oY OUTER W.A.--------NORTHERN

S.A.

S 1000 km

N.S.W.

S Sydney Wollongong

vic

SUBURBS 'W. . . . OUTER

INNER

SNORTHERN SUBURBS

Mt. Keira

TAS

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INNER BellsWOLLONGONG

OfWESTt-VBayen WOLLONGONG

HILLSr-oofMt.PORT DIlSTRICT Kembla

PENRITH SHOREATGreatWester FOREST

' A NFAIRIELD IJaon IawaOr

CO NBany h NBoan CAMPBELLTOWN

Figure 1 Map of study area

boundaries that suburban backyarderswshtorkuiclltubrade trees. The question of belonging is around spaces and species, and also thethwusayhisghinly contingent; trees, cats, native plants, w hich, after W illiam s (1982), 'a bounddaorgys,ibsirtdos, weeds are situated in various ways,

and in relation to each other. We focus here on two cross'. As many of the authors cited above have

argued, the processes of conceptual tbhoeumneds:atrhye-process of spatial boundary-making, making have material consequences. Acbcotrhdwinigthitnothe backyard and with respect to the how w e have conceptualized som ethionugtsicdae;llaend the question of nativeness and nature, w e m ight w ant to put a fencebealornoguingd, aista,pplied particularly to plants.

At the broadest scale, the native/exotic distinc- create a bureaucracy to look after it, kill it, eat it,

plant it, or rem ove it. The dividing line tiisondrisawthnatibnetween Australian plants and those m any different places under a variety ofinitnrofdluceendcferso:m elsewhere, but the categories con- between inside and outside spaces, between flate considerable ecological and social complexity. domesticated environments and restored bushland

Our overall research findings concur with previous ones, between trees and the suburbs, between Australian studies showing that the most popular native and non-native species, between exotics tghaartden types include exotic plant species, either

alone or in combination with natives (National sit quietly and ones that behave badly, between

neighbours who kill good trees and neighbourPsarks and Wildlife Service NSW 2002; Zagorski et al.

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512 Lesley Head and Pat Muir

2 0 0 4 ; T r ig g e r a nvardiedcoMnsidueralblcy)oandc8k7per2cen0t0ad5efi)ne.d r o g a t e i s s u e s t o recrdeatoional/wenteritatinhing arena adajactenit ovr aettanchede i n g r e a t e r d e p ttohthe, backw of ethe hgouser. Moostustupdyepadrticipaontsu f o l l o w s , b a s e d o nhave caretatetd siotmeutydpe eofshousee/xgarpdenreceotosnes v i e w s : c o m m i t t toe codnnectn thaeirtliviinvg sepace gto taheroutddooers,n buet g e n e r a l n a t i v e gbeyaonrd tdhatethne preocerssess of (boGundNary-mG aki)ng awre

both natives and exotics (n = 62), and non-nativegardeners (NNG) who chose not to plant nativesboundaries contrasts with a study in Japan, where

much more variable. The blurring of inside/outside but who may have inherited some when they movetdhe inside of the house is associated strongly with

to their current address (n = 136) (Table II). Anothergroup defined as non-gardeners were either self- and danger (Ozaki and Lewis 2006).described or not involved in the backyard (n = 33). Zonation of areas within the backyard is evident The construction of the groups on the basis of atti- in both small (Figure 2) and large (Figure 3) back- tudes expressed also has biogeographical validity. yards. Bella's small new backyard shows a typical Fifty-three per cent of CNGs had 80-100 per cent ofpattern of separated recreation, work and display their shrub and tree layer under native plants, whichareas. There is a strong connection between the were also likely to include a higher proportion of house and the recreation area (Figure 2b) andplants indigenous to the local area. In the GNG andclosed external boundaries to enhance the privacyNNG groups 'native' plants usually comprised of the small but actively used backyard. In the Eucalyptus trees and/or hybrid cultivars such asfront garden, which is much less actively used, Grevillea spp. These groupings encompass a diver- there is no fence, and a more open boundary to thesity of socioeconomic, age and gender variables. The street. Celeste and Martin's much larger and oldermain manifestation of class is that the CNG groupbackyard also shows strong internal boundaries,are collectively higher in education and skills. CNGs with an intensively used and fenced family livingare overrepresented in our sample relative to the and play area closest to the house (Figure 3a).general population as they were one of severalTowards the back of the block the boundariesspecial interest groups targeted in our sampling.become more porous as there is a gradual blen Like all boundaries discussed in this paper, thosewith the forest to the rear (Figure 3b). The o between the groups are permeable and often boundary in the northeast corner reflects not o transgressed.

The purification of space

Zonation within backyards

Sociospatial analysis of contemporary Australian

house and garden configurations shows two broad

trends(Dovey1994).Thefirstiszonationofbackyard

spaces to separate utilitarian functions (e.g. clothes

drying, rubbish bins) from recreational ones

(outdoor eating and entertaining areas, swimming

pools). The latter areas are often now depicted and delineated as 'outdoor rooms'. The second trend is

Boundedness with outside spaceA number of participant backyards back o reserves or bushland (n = 38, 14 per cent4). T variability w ithin this subsam ple provides ano m eans of analysing spatial partitioning. As m be expected, CNGs are more likely to have op (i.e. unfenced or physically or visually perm e boundaries to adjacent bushland, and to discu their planting strategies in terms of bringing na

in to the domestic environment (Table II).More complex boundary-making is evidenced

greater integration between informal living abryeaGsNaGt s, who tend towards a more emphatic

(extensive use of glass). That boundaries betJwuleietnte has a fence which separates the more domestic inside and outside the house are being blurrepdaritsoaf her backyard from the bush. On the inside very consistent trend within our data. For exarmepglreass, vegetables, garden beds and homes for 65 per cent of backyards studied had an outhderooerxtensive menagerie of pets. On the 'outside' of dining setting (although the ornateness of thesfence, but still on Juliette's land, is an area

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the back of the house and the outdoors. This trend

separation of what they see as domestic and natural to 'bringing the outside in' is accomplishedsbpoactehs, even when involved in restoration activities physically (e.g. large sliding doors) and visuianlltyhe bush adjacent to their backyards. For example,

cleanliness and safety, and the outside with dirt

the lack of a physical fence, but strong posi interactions with neighbours on that side.

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Suburban life and the boundaries of nature 513 (a)

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Paved access to clothesline

Ornmental planting of palms and treeferns, camellias, and flowering groundcovers

N- " ... , " Lawn

(predominantly exotic). All , Future camellia hedge planting is new, and garden

beds are dominated by woodchip mulch at present

LEGEND

Nativetree IVegetative mulch Plants in pots Non -native tree Pebble or gravel Water feature

Food producing tree Shrubs L Sculpture, ornament or statue GeConifer Goundcer Birdbath

Palm Vegetable growingTree fern Unit pavers PLAN OF BACKYARD Grass or lawnoncrete Scale 1:100 Drawn E

Figure 2 Bella, Forest Grove (a) plan of backyard; (b) socio-spat that she is regenerating, extendJuinliegttedwoowuldnhatvoentohquealmsaboutleavingthe

creek.

exotic camellias if they were a few metres away,

inside the fence.The inside of the backyard I've got a mixture ... but on Carrie, who lives on the outskirts of Alice Springs,

the other side of the fence everything that I plant out has an extremely manicured backyard including there is like local and what belongs there. There's lawn and rose beds, bordered by an open mesh actually three old camellia trees out there that are quitebig which I'm going to have to cut down because they fence that backs on to apparently pristine bush just don't belong there. (Juliette, GNG) extending up to the range behind the line of houses

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-.

Main entry to house and garden via steps at side of house

Main house entry

Covered patio with ornamental paving and outdoor dining setting.

Barbecue

Line of roof over

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514 Lesley Head and Pat Muir

(b) ARRIVAL AND DISPLAY

* This area not actively used Cm * Driveway and formal

address to street

S / ORNAMENTAL DISPLAY

Neat lawn and garden beds primarily for visual pleasure

RECREATION

WORK * Main garden access from* Clothesline and clothesline this ar zone and house to

access* Secondary garden access

through house to this area 00 ORNAMENTAL DISPLAY

0 relaxation0 ? Outdoor eating and

* Neat lawn and garden beds primarily for visual pleasure

LEGENDClosed boundary Use zone E Minor circulation route

Porous boundary 4 Strong connection point Conflict zone

Open boundary j j Weak connection point . I View Interactions across Major circulation route

SOCIO-SPATIAL ANALYSIS Figure 2 Continued

(Plate 1). Although there is a striking coIntgrazsintg his rabbits and growing vegetables in the between inside and outside, Carrie (a GNG) sees it adjacent nature reserve (Plate 2), Lorenzo exemplifies as more of a continuum, enhanced by the fact thatthe extension of domestic environments onto reserve

she can see through the fence: 'we like to think oflands common among NNGs (Table II). However, the our backyard as being an extended backyard in outcome in terms of protection of an endangered that it goes into the bushland and up to the range'. species is in this case just as favourable as reserves The fence marks the legal boundary, and is there to adjacent to CNG or GNG backyarders, albeit they keep the kids and dog in and larger bush animals are each doing it with somewhat different rationales. out, but is transgressed when for example bearded

dragons come in through the fence and are attacked Purification of species: native plants and by the dog. A pond that they maintain outside the the question of belongingfence provides water for kangaroos and euros (asmall species of kangaroo) that the family enjoy Narratives of redemption are expressed frequently catching glimpses of. Like Juliette, Carrie is activeby CNGs, who often describe themselves as purists. in weed removal beyond the fence, seeing different Joanne, for example, contrasts the purity of nature types of nature as belonging in different places. with the impurities of culture.

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a Tall fence to side a boundaries for privac

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Suburban life and the boundaries of nature 515 (a)

Upper garden enclosed andintensively used: children's Lower garden retains the tallplay equipment, vegetable eucalypt forest of the guily with Chicken coop

Two storey house with views garden, clothesline, and grassy understorey and someto garden and escarpment, but regularly used outdoor cooking fruit and ornamental trees. The Rear boundary to forest

poor garden access and eating area feel is soft and natural unfenced

SECTION OF BACKYARD Scale 1:200 Drawn EH

Figure 3 Celeste and Martin, Austinmer (a) sect

Table II Summary comparison of attitude and pract

Committed native General native Non-native gardeners (CNG) gardeners (GNG) gardeners (NNG)

Na 34 62 136% totalsample132351

Most frequent % native in 81-100 41-60 <20

backyard shrub and tree layerbFavoured in own plantings Local native General native, e.g. hybrid Non-native

cultivars like Grevillea3 main reasons for planting 1. Belonging; 1. Aesthetics; 1. Aesthetics (incl. negative);

or not planting nativec 2. Aesthetics; 3. Time 2. Birds; 3. Climate 2. Birds; 3. Climate/Time Nature of boundaries Open, i.e. unfenced or Open Gated or closed, i.e.

to adjacent bushlandd permeable impermeable fence Boundedness' Bringing nature into Separation of domestic Extension of domestic

backyard and natural spaces

See text for further details. aExcludes 33 (12%) participants who identify as non-gardeners. bRec cSubsample of each group, based on interview data. dMain physical boundary type, subsample o adjacent to bushland (n = 38, 14%). e'Dominant practices and attitudes expressing relationship b bushland, subsample of total study who live adjacent to bushland (n = 38, 14%)

pure. (Joanne, CNG) appreciated how the native garden looks and how I feel

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I love the Australian bush. I've been a bush walker all

Yes, I've decided to become really pure. I wasn't quite so my life. I like walking in it and although I havpeugrrisatveat the beginning and I'd be tempted to have a littl doubts about Australian society, the bush itself teoxomtiecihsere and there but as time has gone on, I have really

about it, I've decided that I'm going to be purist and i

For Margot, a purist approach has developed overanything foreign comes up, I'll take it. (Margot, CNG)

time as she gradually became more familiar withthe environment she was living in and thCeNbGusshare usually strongly ecologically informed, adjacent to her backyard. and are most likely to discuss natives in terms o

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516 Lesley Head and Pat Muir

(b)

QUIET *RAdulEtanJdchUildreVn'suEseNATION,,.'-

natural feel 1"-* Unstructured area with a - C/ O f

* Some productive and 3 PRODVC6i 4: ornamental elements (Chicikens) I/j

(bcuhtickl aerngs ealnyd afnruaitr etarefeso)r, /i

* Srtersonpgitleinkantodardjeojiunivnegnia0tion - - o h-/ forest: this sense of ii

environment is strongly a (Vegetables) vcaluoednbynboethcatduiltosn00 tothenatural0i_

00 FAMILY LIVING

EATING AND AND PLAY EATING AND Heavily used area ENTERTAINMENT-- Highly structured:

HOUSE and reHgOuUlaSr-oIutedleomorenetastionfgwork,play * Main garden entry to * Separate areas defined for

garden (also little used drying washing, children's side entry) w play equipm ent, vegetable

* Good views of garden and growing, and outdoorto forest and escarpment , cooking and eating, which beyond, but awkward entry is undertaken on avia narrow internal stair frequent basis

WELCOME AND

--- DISPLAY* Arrival zone ----- This area not actively used

PRODUCTION DISPLAY

onI Formal address to street

* Floral and vegetable mix Formag e defined by preetvious * Planted for display and * Image deined by previous

production owner * Not well maintained

LEGENDClosed boundary Use zone

Porous boundary Strong connection point Open boundary E~i Weak connection point Interactions across 0 Major circulation route

SOCIO-SPATIAL ANALYSIS Celeste and Martin, Austinmer

Figure 3 Continued

localness, i.e. they emphasize the importhaencperoocfess of self-seeding of local plants. Converse being 'native to this area' rather than jutsthenyattievned to express disparaging attitudes towa to Australia. Many either work as enviro'enxmoteinct'aolr 'foreign' plants, as in Margot's quot professionals or are involved in volunteaebrovbeu,shand to neighbours who enjoy them. Thi regeneration or native plant special interesrteignrfoourpcse,d when we compare participants' reaso i.e. they express what we traditionally unfodrerpsltaanntding or choosing not to plant natives (Tab as a conservationist mindset. These people IaIr).e Ammoroeng CNGs the most common reason giv likely to propagate their own plants frfomor lpolcaanlting natives was related to what 'belong seed, seek out specialist suppliers and/or ifnatchilaitastpeecific environm ent.

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Suburban life and the boundaries of nature 517

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Plate 1 Carrie's backyard, Alice Springs, lookin

At the other extreme are some NNGs who There's a lot of native plants I don't like ... I don't find

them attractive and I didn't like them when we grew actively dislike native plants, often seeing them as

them on our farm. My husband liked them ... and I 'straggly' or 'scraggy'. Others distinguish between

probably always liked exotics. But I also loved the what is desirable in their backyards and out in the

bush; I love the bush and I've spent time in the bush, bush. Anita (NNG) apologized for her dislike of

natives, saying, 'bush to me should be bush and ...bush. So it's not because I don't love the bush.

you know and I could spend a week walking in the

you know, if you want to plant a hibiscus, put it in

your backyard'.

don't like natives; probably that's a sin to wildflowers and things like that. But I just felt what I

moral terrain of nativeness and indigene like your cottage type garden and the natives just

didn't do that for me. (Monica, NNG) question of nativeness both induces and

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(Christine, NNG)

Anita's apology (above), and comments su I love going out in the bush, and going and looking at

but that's just how I feel personally', alert u wanted out here was a nice, very flower garden, more

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518 Lesley Head and Pat Muir

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Plate 2 Lorenzo and his rabbit hutches in E. maculata reserve

alien Lantana camara (lantana) is that its dense guilt. Guilt was also expressed by the participant

who said, 'It's probably the worst thing I cotuhlidckseatys provide valued habitat for many small

native birds whose traditional habitat has been is, I'm not a big fan of natives.' For GNG Michael

the nativeness of his lily pilly hedge assuagdedcihmisated by land clearing. This dilemma is guilt at how much it cost; 'when we spent particularly felt by CNGs such as Donald, w hundreds of dollars buying the lily pillies we weredescribed work over several years to remove pleased that they were natives'. variety of weeds from his backyard in an attem

The emphatic delineation of species belonging to restore locally native species.

expressed most clearly by CNGs has material con- I feel pretty passionate about not having exotics. B sequences for non-humans considered not to I'm beginning to realize it's a bit more complicate

belong, including exotics, lawn and/or weeds. than that now, that lantana isn't necessarily totally b Kris, who we met in the introduction, explained because it's bird habitat. (Donald, CNG)

her rationale for restoring native vegetation byDonald is typical of CNGs in having a fixed

elaborating on her feelings about lawn:

taxonomy of belonging that is in tension with his

this was lawn, the whole thing was lawn, and I've justpractice. In contrast, GNG Jane explains her planting

ripped it up ... I just find that [lawns] look ugly, and Idecisions in terms of the behavioural qualities of

My garden to me is an eco system and a lawn is an anti I think with exotics versus natives, if you live near the

In such engagements the non-humans have con- without having them invade the bush. (Jane, GNG)

siderable agency. For example, a key tension thatFor Jane there is a strong distinction between good participants encounter in removing the invasiveand bad exotic plants, separate to their non-native

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just find them environmentally reprehensible basically.plants, an attitude that has been developed over a I can understand how people with small kids have long' period of observation and engagement.lawns, but ... it's not what I'm about with my garden.

eco system. (Kris, Mangerton, CNG)

bush like we do, then I've proved to myself that you The actual labour of this type of species purification must be careful what exotics you plant near it, because

is a long and difficult process that can itself change some do invade and some don't ... I've become morepeople's understanding of how appropriate it is. knowledgeable about those that I can plant, safely

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Suburban life and the boundaries of nature 519

status. The bad ones (includodn'itnhavgeanAytnreersiendouerbracakyacrdo.Brardryiwfoon'tlhiave

(Madeira vine) and Lantana) are invasive in the a tree. I would have one, but he feels threatened by

trees falling on us ... When I was a child I got a lot of bush, while those that sit quietly in the domestic

good feelings out of national parks and picnic areas space of her garden (specimen conifers, port wine

and that. But to be honest, I get a better feeling in my magnolia, daffodils) are very welcome despite

being exotic.

own backyard now; you know, I can sit out on that

grass and feel like I'm in a national park. I have my

Non-gardeners were more likely to view natureown space there, so I'm fine with it. (Nicky, Albion

or the natural environment as something 'out there'Park, non-gardener)

and distanced from their own backyard. This was

These attitudes that trees belong 'somewhere else' particularly evident in relation to trees, non-humans

was expressed most frequently in newer housing whose size seems to intensify human passions,

estates where large houses take up most of the whether towards love and respect, or hatred, danger

block. and risk. The size of eucalypts in particular is often

generalized to exclude their belonging from back-

yards, an attitude encapsulated by Lindsay: 'I don'tComparisons - resilience and rupture

think gum trees have a place in suburban backyards

On the face of things Nicky, who was happy to somehow'. For those who consider large trees out

leave nature 'out there', and those participants of place in the suburbs, the reasons are congruent

who think 'the bush' is the place for native plants, with the metaphor of dirt; messiness and disorder

preferring lawn and exotics in their own gardens, are constantly referred to. Even people who loved

have reinforced the modernist divide between trees were concerned about the mess created by the

country/nature and city/society. In extending constant shedding of leaves and bark. For example,

vegetable gardening into the adjacent nature rese Sabrina was able to enjoy the trees in other people's

Lorenzo is projecting a European ethic onto gardens because she did not have responsibility for

rather than coming to terms with the essenc cleaning up the mess. 'Everybody else has got the

Australian nature. In this view CNGs such as gum trees, I love the gum trees but I don't like the

mess, so everybody else has got them.'

Margot, Donald and Kris have ruptured the d

by facilitating and enhancing biodiversity c People often qualified their negative comments

servation in their backyards, i.e. by bringing n with an apology, and a profession of passion for

into the city. The evidence however requ trees in the right place. For example, Liza from

more nuanced approach. Kellyville (a new suburb on the northwest fringe of

Although welcoming native biodiversity back Sydney) has a small backyard that is completely

the city, the conservationist position, as exemp paved, with no trees (Plate 3). She talked about her

husband's attitudes to tree clearing.

by our committed native gardeners, has transf

other aspects of separationist environmental th

my husband loves to bushwalk and that, so he lovesing into the urban context with little modific

nature and he loves trees. He would be a country boy if(Albeit their practices are as hybrid as any o

he could, ... he hates, he actually even hates that peoplesince this view of nature requires exceptions

cut down, even though they are specifically grown ...made for dogs, cats and human selves.) A

Christmas trees; he just hates that. (Liza, non-gardener)divide between humans and nature is reinscribed

Liza regarded nature as trees and open spaces, butin the way the human self is exempted from the

expressed hesitation as to whether people werecategory of invasive alien. A strong social separatio

part of nature. For her, trees are grown so that 'weis also seen when attempts at species purificatio

can have forests' in an environment that is visited,intensify social boundaries with neighbours. Partic-

rather than the backyard. Similarly, a resident ofipants who were strongly committed to restorin

Albion Park, an area of rapid urban expansion onnative trees indigenous to their area were often

the edge of Wollongong's forested escarpment,highly critical and in some cases intolerant of th

articulated this separation when asked to comparechoices made by neighbours.

her attitude towards her backyard with other areas

such as national parks.

When we moved in there were quite a few young camphor laurels6 in the front and she [the previou owner] said to us 'look after our trees' and as soon as

I sort of appreciate our national parks and the need fortrees and things like that. But if you look around wshee left we cut them down. People don't realise what

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520 Lesley Head and Pat Muir

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Plate 3 Liza with children

t h e y 'v e g o t , t h e y I'mtnhotaivnerykgoodifneighiboturs,yoguwrone'tewanttoit ' getting everyonleivenetxttoomesnowe.'e the m erits o indigenous plants, that's not really f

Thus, in denying or eliding the human and the

just to get them to cut down a weed. I social 'in here', many CNGs are just as separatist as

pretty then they don't really care abo

causes to the native bush. (Miranda, CNG)

Nicky in framing distinct realms for humans and

nature. This is a classic example of what Mosquin That the moral battleground became physical wasrefers to as the paradox of human exemption,

not an isolated case; a number of CNG participantswhereby 'definitions [of invasive aliens] exclude admitted to killing neighbours' trees they con- humans from recognition as alien species regard- sidered weeds. After expounding at length on what less of biological, geographical or historical facts' he described as his 'bloody minded' passion (Mosquin 1997, 3). Perhaps the most profound against his neighbours' exotic plants and cats, ocnoentradiction of the narratives of purity is that, committed native gardener laughed, 'You can saelethough they are articulated in ways that exclude

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Suburban life and the boundaries of nature 521

people, or in w hich peoplenaarteuirnev/issoibclie,tyan,ycoauttnetmrypt/cit to m aintain or foster tdhieviddoems oinbsaenrcveedofbylocoatlhlyer sc indigenous species in a bancokny-airnddirgeeqnuoiurse.sTahnaetniosr,-in a

mousamountofhumanefsfeotrto,fatpllaenasttcahsomicuecshonastheg maintainingaweedfreebanutdelxucxluurdiianngttlahwemn.sIetlviessfr not labour w hich can betihneveCsNteGds jaurset eoxnpcree,ssbiuntg the m ust be ongoing if it is tolebnecseusctcehsastfualc.com pany que

Different types of sepabrealtoinogninargeteoxtphreeslsaendd.bTyhis g those, m ostly general angdronuopn-isnatlsivoestgraorndgelnyerins,fluen w ho continue to positionlomgoystwohficthhehnasontr-haduimtiaonnally world as belonging outsidestehpearcaityio,norofbyhuthmoasnessuacnhd n as Carrie and Juliette whteonsesiobnacskayraerdnoztoncoantifoinnsed to increase the proportionspoefrm'naactuilvteurnisatuDruen' cwainthin the distance from the house. W e have suggested that,

I guess the other angle is that at both ends of the nativist spectrum the dualisms

we're probably not meant to be are exacerbated by settler anxieties about their own

you know, white Anglo-Saxon h belonging. This is seen in both the redemptionist

everything we eat, well ninet

narrative of native purism and the guilt acknow- things we eat aren't native to Au

ledged by those who dislNiNkG)e native plants. In all these situations nature has an agency of its own, providing a variety of invInacdonetrasst,tthehraupttursepisrmeosatdstrobngolytarhticublatyed seed an d v eg etativ e m e(aorn,fsol.lowTinghReobsbiens2i0n01,ctlhuehdyberidsbaroetgihven native and non-native spevociciee)isntthehcaonttexctofmdwbelliing,e'thienintnimeatwe, ways, with a range of urniceh,xinptencset,meadkinegcofotlhoegwoirclda'l(Clcokoenan-d s e q u e n c e s , r e f e r r e d t o b yJoneecs 2o0l01o,g65i2)sdtevseloapsed b'ny leabwour,nenagatguemrenet'

and close observation. Thus Donald leaves the (Low 2002) or 'novel ecosystem s' (Hobbs et al. 2006).

The m ajority of urban Alauntsatnar,aolriatnlesaswtrhemooveesxiptrmeosresslowly, preferences for exotic anpdronviadtesivbierdshpaebcitiaets,ainndJcaonmedbisit-ingui nation are in tune w ith thbiestwenenegwoodhanydbbardiedxotricsebaalsiedtyon.her

observations of which ones behave themselves in In fact the purists recognize that the purity to

w hich they aspire is rupttuherbeudsh.nNoortisoitnonllypbeoyplecwhoawnoguldedidentif ecological thresholds, butascbonyserovatthioneisrtwdhiomhaveenthsiisoenxpserioenfce.Man their ow n lives, includingofthhoatumsaejosr,itydoofgpasr,ticipaatnsts,wvhoesgegea-rdens t a b l e g a r d e n s a n d t h e i r ocwomnbinpe rnaetsiveenancde n. oTn-hnaetiyve kplannotswdescrib that none of their gardenjosyincgaonbsebrveatiuonnsodfebrirsdsttohoatdhaavesbecom p u r e i n t h e t e r m s t h a t t h peartn oafrtrheairt idvaiely droeutminea,nanddst.haTt hnoewyprovid contain the im pure plantsitrnogngsinocfentpivresefvoriotuhesmotowexnpeanrdsn,ative and are juxtaposed againsptlantthinegsb(TabclekIyI).aTrhudssnaotifvepnlaenitgsihng-ratiat b o u r s w i t h v e r y d i f f e r e nthtemisdeleveassinatonpdlaceps rofa icmtpiocrteasnc.e Oinuthre daily

lives of GNGs and NNGs via birds. participants deal with these paradoxes in various

We do not read the concern with order and tidi- ways. Thus Donald tolerates a large camphor

l a u r e l b e c a u s e i t i s h i s c hneissl dasraestnra'isghtsfworwi nardg extpresesieon. oKf ra siesttler

Australian desire to dominate and distance them- really loves her cat. 'I think they should be phased

out of the country, but Iseldveosflromve'natuhree'.mAlth.o.u.ghI'mthatvisecrerytainly com prom ised w ith m y ctahetreifnortsohmaetparrtiecispapnetsc,ta.m'oOrenwiedespread CNG couple nam ed theirmodtiovegisPtoopaut,oradfertientrohtumhaenlgivers.aTsidsinessg e n u s c o n t a i n i n g a n u m bvaelured ofofr aAcoumspltexr saeltioafnreansoanst tihvate include s p e c i e s , i n a p r e s u m a b l y sosciualbrecsopenctsabciliitoyu, as ceartatine morpaltqutaloity, and naturalize his presence inthtehstreeissroclcasniondesdcbaypmees.s,thelatterexpresse

W e suggest here that twhitehsiodmeeawlearoinfesspbuyrthietwyorkiisngsmootherwh

resilient because the (posstai)dcoflohenribaalckAyaurds,tarsaiflioafnanocthoenr-child,

resented the mess and the constant need'.text provides another dualism to line up with the

Trans Inst Br Geogr NS 31 505-524 2006 ISSN 0020-2754 @ 2006 The Authors.

Journal compilation @ Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers) 200

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522 Lesley Head and Pat Muir

T h e r e i s a c l e a r Tche oinsinghtsnproevidced tby ianoethnnograpihinc emphta- h i s

t h e d i v e r s e e v e rsisyon edverya day practeicenhavge imapligcatieonsmfor tehe n t

h u m a n w o r l d ( scotmprlex quuestgionsgof luriban susgtainabiwlity tihat mhay w

p r a c t i c a l k n o w dilfferfdromgateop-dowonfplanninhgapoprowach.Fore x o

s p e c i e s b e h a v e , examnplej, aorguymenitsnforgurbanbconisorlidadtions r)ou- a n d

m o r e s e p a r a t i o n tineslytinvokvethieeenwvironsmentoalafdvantangesaoftitsu r e

t o e m p h a s i z e t h raedutced utrbahn foeotpringt bay crompdariseonnwith uirbsan n o

these transformations. It should not be understood

sprawl, in which the gardens of suburbia are seen as a separate field site where we can view the exasprperso-blematic. Yet if in the process the flawed sion of pre-constituted attitudes and practices. Ra'stohceiral' is quarantined further from nature 'out

it is a place - like any other - of active makintghearne'd, the implications for reduced human engage- re-making, of both humans and non-humans.ment and empathy with plant and animal others will be considerable. Across the spectrum of attitude and practice, separation and purification are most disrupted in everyday situations of close interaction

The exam ples presented here show howwsiothmaend observation of the non-human world,

attitudes and practices have destabilized orwbhreonkebnackyarders engage with the agency of

down the dualisms between nature and sowcieetdys,,birds, water and self-seeded shrubs, among

and the associated anxiety created by stateosn othfe types of relationships and engagements that

Conclusions

while others have reinforced them. Reinforcements

others. Our argument is not intended to essentialize include the various means of tidying naturethuep,garden as an environmental good, but to focus

disorder; and the view that real Australian natureis native, defined by those organisms that were environmental debates, we need to continue to find here before 1788. Rupture includes the diverseways to go beyond dualisms, while continuing to practices by which nature is welcomed into the cityanalyse why they remain so resilient and appealing. (the 'bringing the bush back in' of the committednative gardeners, and the widespread welcoming Acknowledgementsof birds). Locally indigenous planting practicesmake important contributions to the conservationThe study was funded by the Australian Research

Council (ID No. DP0211327). We are indebted to of native biodiversity in urban areas. Yet the social

viability and resilience of such purification, as seen the people who welcomed us into their backyards in strong social bounding against neighbours, is and gave so generously of their time and insights. likely hampering its uptake and spread. Islands ofThanks also to Eva Hampel for assistance with the biogeographic purity in the suburbs are unlikely to interviews, and several anonymous referees for be able to survive in a sea of hostility any more comments which improved the paper.

than they could survive genetic isolation. The social dimensions of these networks need as much

attention as the biological ones. On the other hand,1 Pseudonyms are used throughout this paper.

a significant minority actively dislikes native plants2 A vernacular Australian term for chicken.

are possible in such a context. In this, as in other

Notes

in the domestic context, and will probably continue3 The purity or otherwise of the category 'species' is

to resist attempts to educate them otherwise. Thealso of course an issue within the biological sciences

w idespread preference for exotic garden(seepflaorntexsam-ple Hey 2006).either alone or in com bination w ith nati4vDesue-toisthjuesdtissected sandstone topography of Sydney

and Wollongong, stream reserves and bushland frag- one example that indicates a level of comfort with

ments are not just on the urban margins but penetrate and attachment to an Australian ecology that has

very close to the city centres. changed radically since 1788. There is potential here

5 It is important to emphasize that the question of native- for engagement with the 'new natures' of increasing

ness is a highly contingent one within ecology. We interest to ecologists. The same attitudes however

have argued elsewhere that the conceptualization of 'alien invasives' conflates two axes of variability that have become unhelpfully blurred (Head and Muir 2004).

can reinforce old dualisms when they see thehybrids as simply part of the cultured environmentsof the city, and continue to position a pure nature6 Cinnamomum camphora, one of the top environmental

as existing somewhere else, 'outside', 'in the bush'.

Trans Inst Br Geogr NS 31 505-524 2006 ISSN 0020-2754 @ 2006 The Authors.

weeds in southeastern Australia.

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Suburban life and the boundaries of nature 523

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Abstract

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their representativeness. It is often the unusual situations that are most revealing of the social forces at work. As Sayer (1984: 226) argues: In some cases the

unusual

189

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190

intrusive surveillance, particularly those

but not as tenants of the Commission (Inspectors

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emphasis, ST 2374 Box 10/412dd). Although the HFA program increased the chances of indigenous peopl files often appear to express a callous indifference to suffering and

191

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192

poverty, being guided instead by social engineering priorities. In 1972 an). Another, in assessing an elderly Aboriginal woman for suitabilityforan agedcare unitwrote thatshe:

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has been unbearable to stand near because of her bodily dirtiness and her boisterous manner. Even if Mrs D wears an acceptable frock it is usually worn over dirty undergarments and one won, regular and dependable appeared in favourable assessments). Some made the transition from reserve or rental accommodation with few problems, such as the case of RL, discussed below (ST 2210 Box 14/1424). Most, however, did not.

193

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194

Most of the applican of HC officers-they frequently made

stereotypical assessments of Aboriginal applicants and tenants-in many respects, theregulationofclassandgenderwas muchmore important.

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Passing and suburban housingThe HFA program drew many Aboriginal people into suburban tenancies who would not have achieved this goal as mainstream applicants because of the competition with the many thousands of non-indigenous people. For some, this involved leaving their communities behind and conforming to Commission expectations. During the assimilation era, Aboriginal people were taught to think of their way of life as inferior to those European

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196

and promising applicants from lives of poverty and to encourage them into

area. This smooth transition from inner-city slum or reserve housing to home ownership was atypical. Most files demonstrate some evidence of conflict around culture and/or rental obligations.

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frowned upon by the HC, which sought to cultivate communities based on

197

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198(

The conventional idea o

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was, therefore, to uncover the processes of

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2

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the Wiradjuri people and their culture, as might be assumed by most shocked white observers, but instead sees such activity as connected to traditional practices in which such conflict plays a part. Similarly, social historian Heather Goodall writes of the movement of Aboriginal people to the fringes of white settlement when they had been dispossessed of their lands in the first w a v e of colonisation, not as exemplifying the collapse of their way of life, but as a creative and pragmatic response to the situation in which they found201

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202

which th

the same yardsticks that were applied to mainstream applicants. They had to demonstrate that they were both eager and capable of making the transition to a

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suburban lifestyle, one of solid nuclear family values-modesty, privacy, strictly delineated gender roles, hard

, numerically or