This is largely finished and is due to go to the publisher (The Cuba Press) by the end of the month. It will be published in the later part of 2022.
The book, which starts with the pre-European settlement of the area, is a botanical/garden/local and social history. The Wiltons, the first settlers, preserved tracts of bush (the area was to be known as Wilton’s Bush). In later years Leonard Cockayne and John Gretton McKenzie, Wellington’s first Director of Parks and Reserves, were behind the development of the Otari Native Plant Museum. A succession of curators and gardeners have transformed it into the internationally renowned garden/reserve of today.
It will be heavily illustrated, with many archival photos sitting side by side with recently commissioned images by Wellington photographer Chris Coad.
