Charles Weston was a horticultural pioneer whose green thumb shaped the very soul of Australia’s capital. In the new book, The Man Who Planted Canberra (NLA Publishing, 15 Sep 2025, $39.99), acclaimed historian Robert Macklin brings to life the remarkable story of the man who designed and planted the green heart of a city.
From humble beginnings in industrial London, Weston rose through Britain’s grand gardening estates to eventually oversee the magnificent grounds of Drumlanrig Castle in Scotland. But it was in Australia that his genius took root. As Head Gardener at Admiralty House in Sydney and later as the chief architect of Canberra’s living landscape, Weston planted over 3 million trees and shrubs, creating a city that would not only be beautiful, but resilient in the face of a changing climate.
Defying bureaucracy, war, and the elements, Weston worked alongside Home Affairs Minister King O’Malley and Walter and Marion Griffin. Yet it was Weston himself who gave the capital its living form, transforming the Limestone Plains into a thriving garden city and laying the foundations for modern Australian horticulture.
With engaging prose and new historical insight, Macklin reveals Weston’s overlooked legacy as a green revolutionary, a man ahead of his time whose ideas on sustainability, biodiversity, and beauty continue to inspire town planners and gardeners. Filled with historic images of Weston’s first plantings, as well as modern images of the Canberra landscape as it appears today, The Man Who Planted Canberra is essential reading for history lovers and gardening enthusiasts alike.
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.
