Heronswood, Heritage site on the Mornington Peninsula, Australia
Heronswood is a heritage site in Dromana, on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia, made up of a historic house built in the 1870s and a garden laid out by landscape designer Edward Latrobe Bateman. The garden combines native and exotic plants along winding paths, with an old orchard that still survives on part of the grounds.
The property was built in the 1870s and passed through the hands of three notable Melbourne figures: university professor William Edward Hearn, poet and teacher Alexander Sutherland, and lawyer and politician Henry Higgins. Higgins would go on to play a central role in shaping Australia's early system of labor relations.
Heronswood is now home to the Diggers Club, an organization dedicated to keeping old and rare plant varieties alive and available to home gardeners. The on-site shop sells seeds and plants that are hard to find anywhere else, drawing gardeners from across the country.
The site is easy to reach by car, and parking is available on the grounds of the Mornington Peninsula property. Visiting in spring and early summer gives the best chance to see the garden at its most colorful, though each season brings something different.
The garden design at Heronswood was shaped by European, particularly French, ideas that favored a natural and loose look over a formal arrangement. This influence is still visible today in the way paths curve and plants are grouped without rigid symmetry.
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