Prologue:

Montmorency had its own train station from 1923, and before then it was a long walk from Greensborough or Eltham. Bill Hutchinson, who met his wife Elsie on a street corner in Montmorency, was one of many labouring workers travelling back home from the city. He would throw his heavy bag off the train near the Monty RSL and then walk back from Eltham to collect it on his way home.1 This edge of the trainline is now Petrie Park, a place made possible through the gifting of land from the Petries who had a poultry farm and some dairy cows.2 Today, backyard farmlets are as plentiful as ever and the local food swap group meet every month to share produce and gardening tips.

The Petrie Park Garden Shed is an array of utility for knowledge swapping, indigenous seedling raising, workshops, produce sharing and gardening essentials available for all. The interchangeable and adaptable timber structure gradually falls with the landscape. The modules are drawn closed with fabric shutters, and the shades above sway with the surrounding trees. Each could provide for a collection of drawers for seeds, shelving for seedlings, storage for garden tools, baskets for fruit and veggie swapping, or benches for workshops. 

1. As I recall, Greensborough Histrical Society, ‘Monty Days’ Bill and Thelma Hutchinson tell John Gibson, Pgs 20-21

2. Montmorency - Farm on the Plenty, Maureen Jones, 2015, Pgs 102-103