Interview Recording
Part one:
Part two:
Part three:
Part five:
Length of interviews: 1 hour 9 minutes.
Note: Part 4 is not included.
Interview Transcript
Sir Owen Croft interviewed on 23 & 24 April 2018 by John Maurer
Synopsis
Sir Owen was born on 20 April 1934. His family have a recorded history dating back to 1085 which is held at Croft Castle near the village of Croft, Herefordshire, England. Apart from a period of five years in his early adulthood Owen has lived in the New England area virtually all his life. He and his late wife, Sally, Lady Croft, were instrumental in calling the inaugural meeting of a group of interested garden owners, historians and researchers to Salisbury Court, Thunderbolt’s Way, Uralla, on Sunday March 13th 2005. Sally had been a selector for Australia’s Open Garden Scheme and, as a couple they travelled assessing and opening gardens across much of the northern part of NSW. From the 2005 meeting the Northern NSW Sub-branch of the Sydney branch of AGHS was formed with Owen as the inaugural Chair and Sally the group’s Secretary. The NNSW group became autonomous in 2022. The group aimed, through liaison with the Sydney Branch, to record significant public and private gardens as well as organising tours.
Owen has an extensive knowledge of New England pastoral life and families who settled the land. This series of interviews casts a wide overview of pastoral life, gardening, significant properties and social history. He discusses the challenges of climate in the New England high country and references extensive historic weather records from Salisbury Court which was settled in 1835 with the current homestead dating to 1844. Owen maintains an active physical and intellectual life and has been involved from the outset with the development of the AGHS Heritage Rose Garden at the National Trust property Saumarez Homestead south of Armidale. He continues to be keenly interested in researching and preserving photographic and written records of grazing families and properties that are housed in the New England Heritage Centre.
Please contact info@gardenhistorysociety.org.au for more information on this interview.