Interview Recording
Part 1:
Part 2:
Interview Transcript
Fran and Mal Faul interviewed on 19 April 2024 by Dr Kate Cregan
Synopsis
Fran and Mal Faul were both born and raised in Melbourne. Fran was born in 1942, grew up in Strathmore, and was educated through the government school system, culminating in University High. Mal was born in 1948, grew up in Brighton and was educated at Haileybury College. Both completed university degrees – Fran in teaching, Mal in commerce and economics. They have both been adventurous domestic and international travellers, which is how they first met, on a bus tour to Kangaroo Island organised by the Young Trust section of the National Trust. They married in 1978 and had two daughters.
Mal and Fran both joined the National Trust in 1970 and have been interested in historic buildings ever since. Their involvement in the AGHS began in its second year of existence, Fran joining first after seeing notice of it in the National Trust Bulletin. From their early years of membership they attended events but it was with the initiation of working bees that they became actively involved at sites across Victoria – at Turkeith, Mooleric, Eurambeen, Belmont, Warrock, Wombat Park, Mount Boninyong, Tute’s Cottage and Buda. In the Melbourne metropolitan area they took part in working bees at Arthur Streeton’s house, Medlow House and the Country Women’s Association house in Lansell Road, Toorak.
Fran eventually took over coordinating the working bees and they both organised day-trips and weekend trips. The most notable were their North-by-North-East tour that ended in a night at the Swanpool Cinema; a trip down to Sale, including a visit to the swing bridge; and an Australian Impressionists day-trip that took in both Arthur Streeton’s and Tom Robert’s homes and gardens.
Together, Fran and Mal have organised many walks and talks, taking people through historical areas of Melbourne such as the site of the Newmarket Saleyards, Garden City in Port Melbourne, and Mont Park, to rediscover the traces of gardens past.
Fran was on the Victorian Branch Committee in her capacity as working bee coordinator and Mal was Branch Treasurer for six years and then a representative on the National Committee.
In concert with their long association with the AGHS, Fran and Mal have also been keen organisers for the Mediterranean Garden Society, Mal being the Victorian Branch Head. They have been involved in that society since 2000 and have attended conferences and events in Europe as well as organising over 50 events themselves in Australia. The linking thread between these two interests is of course gardens, but more importantly their commitment to ‘dry gardening’ as the way forward in a drying Australian climate. This guides them in their own garden and in Fran’s continued dedication to working bees.
[FF] I really do think that our future lies with that sort of garden. Definitely, yeah.
[MF] Especially as now we’ve got an exponentially growing population with an exponentially growing requirement for water and food, um. Irrespective of global warming we’re going to need to do um, do something and ornamental gardens are grafted into the Australian psyche. There are more, I think there’s more and better use of um, dry climate plants now than even in 2012.
[FF] Yeah
Four photographs were taken: of Fran and Mal in their kitchen at home (Fran and Mal Faul 1 19APR2024); of Fran and Mal in their back garden (Fran and Mal Faul 2 19APR2024); a photo of the archaeological finds from their own garden and the 1904 MMBW map of their area (Fran and Mal Faul 3 19APR2024); and of a painting presented to them by one of the working bee recipients, Jo Reed (Fran and Mal Faul 4 2MAY2024). These are available for research through AGHS.