Alison Hartman Gardens

The late Alison Hart­man was the Principal at Albany Prim­ary School between 1935 and 1967. The Gardens are named in her honour for her 50-year con­tribu­tion to the educ­ation of children.

Centr­ally loca­ted on York Street, next to the City of Albany Libr­ary, the Gardens were orig­in­ally part of the adjac­ent Albany Prim­ary School, now the Albany Dist­rict Educ­ation Centre.

The gardens are a pictur­esque collec­tion of lawns, gardens, and large timber and steel sculptures

To the south, the im­pre­ss­ive Norfolk Island pine tree dates back to 1890s and is dec­ora­ted as Albany's Christmas Tree during the fest­ive season.

The Statue of Mokare, at the front of the gardens, is ded­ica­ted to the aborig­inal man who helped early settlers main­ta­in a peaceful coexist­ence with the local Noongar people. This was erec­ted in 1997 as part of a re­con­cili­ation pro­ject by the Albany com­mun­ity.

A Peace Pole at the rear of the gardens was erec­ted in 2011 as part of the Harmony Day celebrations. It features the mess­age "May Peace pre­vail on Earth" in six languages.

A series of com­mun­ity sculptures set amongst a granite outcrop were placed in 1989, acknowledg­ing the im­port­ance of ship­ping and agricult­ure in the early de­velop­ment of the town. The large, century-old timbers are from the orig­inal town Jetty and show both the effects of weather­ing by wind and tide, and the hand of man. The steel and timber con­structs are re­pre­s­ent­ative of the Jetty, ships load­ing cranes and other agricult­ural mach­in­ery and are in­tended to re­mind us of the history of the re­g­ion.

Today the gardens are a pictur­esque collec­tion of lawns, gardens, and large timber and steel sculptures and a pleas­ant and popular place to relax in the centre of Albany.

Article updated 27/09/2016.