Old Man Banksia [banksia serrata]

Looking like a repository of the wisdom of the ages, this Banksia serrata overlooks The Haven Amphitheatre, the Scarp, Castlecrag. The entire gully is populated with fine examples of Australian bush plantings, like the tree ferns I showed yesterday, and the Angophora costata I showed the day before that.

And so the cycle that started with the Griffins in the late '20s and early '30s persists until this day. People choose to nestle their homes on the sides of gullies surrounded by the sights and sounds of the Australian bush. There are some things that would horrify the Griffins, but others that would delight them.

Muffled drum roll stage right

Hugging the sides of a steep gully as it does, the site of The Haven Amphitheatre in The Scarp, Castlecrag, must be a really heart-breaker.

Following the contour down from The Bastion, The Scarp is not particularly steep, and one happens upon this delightful relic totally unheralded. The tree-ferns whisper in the wind, the last remaining run-off trickles over the rocks, and this Griffin creation nestles into the landscape, awaiting its leading lady.

Quiet, please. There's a lady on stage.

Spirited performances in her honour

Designed in 1930 by both Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin, the Haven Scenic Theatre is built around and across one of the many gullies that cut through the peninsuls and take heavy rains down to Middle Harbour. MMG was the more theatrical of the two, it was she who was into producing, into interior design, into community involvement. MMG was involved in production, set and costume design for more than 12 plays at the theatre, but I am unable to locate a list. Both the Griffins were active in music, play reading and discussion groups, tree planting and bushland conservation activities. They lived their ethics and their passions. MMG has been called a 'square bohemian'. She was volatile, yet strict. Walter died in India in 1937 [from peritonitis], and MMG returned to Sydney briefly, before returning permanently to Chicago. She 'donated' the Haven Scenic Theatre to Willoughby Council, and it went into decline. It stayed that way from about 1950 until 1976, when a dynamic committee was formed to renovate the site, and breathe lifeblood back into theatre in the suburb. The list of 'shows' since then [6commencing with Wilde's 'Salome', and including one concise version of 'Midsummer Night's Dream'], is long and varied, with maybe three shows per year. The committee runs the theatre side of the venue, whereas Willoughby Council provides the landscape maintenance. It was one of these landscapers to whom I spoke about the spirit of MMG as I sat in reverie on the bleachers.

A spirit that haunts

Having been influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and his 'Prairie school' ethos of architecture and interior design, where life and living is an extension of the natural environment, Marion Mahoney Griffin enthusiastically soaked up the gullies, and rocky outcrops of the Castlecrag Estate that she was developing with Walter Burly Griffin and their Greater Sydney Development Association [GSDA]. The second part of the GDSA development was 'The Haven Estate', centred upon outcrops and gullies immediately to the east of the first estate. The Haven Theatre was more Marion's baby than Walter's. The acoustics of the gully were perfect, and the couple were artistically minded, with an emphasis upon community participation. What better than an open-air theatre for amateur dramatics and soirees.

The Haven - Searching for the spirit of Marion

As I eased myself down onto the natural sandstone block, I heard his hobnailed books crunch the leaf-litter, above, but to the right of me. 'Looking for the ghost of Marion', he enquired, a slight wry smile playing at the corners of his mouth. 'Perhaps, were I a romantic', I riposted. This may be clutching at straws, but I am looking for Marion's spirit, not her ghost. Judging that to be cutting, I instead threw out a hook about Americans from the mid-west and the quirkiness of their identification with the landscape of Sydney Harbour. And, there ensued a nice snippet of conversation about Frank Lloyd Wright and landscape as the 'other room'. Marion's spirit is alive and well.