Abutting one of Sydney’s most beautiful bays sits one of the city’s most idyllic retreats. Born out of an act of love and grief, Wendy Whiteley started work on her secret garden at Lavender Bay in the weeks after the death of her husband, Brett, in 1992. She threw herself into clearing disused, rubbish-filled and weed-infested railway land with a passion that has created the garden that is now a sanctuary and place of wonder for locals and visitors alike.
When Whiteley started on this incredible journey, she had no permission from the often mercurial transport authorities for her guerrilla gardening and its fate was only secured in 2015 when the then New South Wales premier, Mike Baird, placed the garden under a long-term lease to North Sydney council.
