Wendy Whiteley's Secret Garden: Sydney Travel Guide (4.8★)

A garden grown on railway land

The “secret” in the name isn’t really true anymore. Thousands of people now come down the steps from Lavender Street every year. It began as one woman’s private project. In 1992, after the death of her husband, the painter Brett Whiteley, Wendy Whiteley started clearing the rubbish-strewn railway land below their home.

She kept at it for decades, and the work continued after their daughter Arkie died in 2001. The land still belongs to the state rail authorities. In 2015 the NSW government leased it to North Sydney Council, which protects it as a public garden.

That history explains the feel of the place. It is a garden someone grieved and dug their way into, not a council park laid out on a plan.

Getting down to Lavender Bay

The easiest way in is by train. Get off at Milsons Point Station, at the northern end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. From there it’s roughly a 10-minute walk west along the foreshore past Luna Park, then up into Lavender Street.

You can also come by ferry to Milsons Point Wharf, right beside Luna Park’s grinning entrance face, and walk the same foreshore path. On foot from the city, walk across the Harbour Bridge and head downhill from Milsons Point.

The garden drops steeply from Lavender Street toward the rail line. Expect stairs and uneven paths. It’s hard going with a pram or wheelchair.

What you find on the paths

Once you’re down the first set of steps, the street disappears. Narrow paths wind under the canopy of big old Moreton Bay figs. Every few turns you get a framed view of Lavender Bay’s water and the Harbour Bridge.

The planting is dense and a little wild, with none of the formal borders of a botanic garden. Look for these as you wander:

• Sculptures and found objects tucked among the ferns and palms
• Mismatched benches and small tables set into clearings
• Lawns lower down that work well for a picnic blanket
• The Whiteley house on the ridge above, the view Brett Whiteley painted again and again

Trains to and from Milsons Point run along the edge of the garden. Their rumble is part of the soundtrack.

Beating the weekend rush

Weekends are when the garden fills. Measured foot traffic shows the busiest stretch is 9am to 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays. That’s when the good benches are taken, and the narrow paths turn into slow single-file walks.

If a weekend is your only option, come before 9am or after 6pm. The garden is listed as open 24 hours. The paths are steep and shaded, though, so arrive with enough daylight to see your footing.

Weekdays are the better bet in general. You’re more likely to find a clearing to yourself.

Garden manners on Lavender Street

There’s no gate, ticket or staff desk. You just walk in from the street. That openness depends on visitors treating the place gently. A few habits help:

• Keep to the paths. The beds are hand-planted, and trampling is the quickest way to damage them.
• Carry your rubbish out. Pack your picnic so you leave with everything you brought.
• Keep your voice down near the top. The upper paths sit right below private homes on Lavender Street.
• Don’t pick or take cuttings, however tempting the plants are.
• Share the benches. On busy afternoons, nobody expects you to hold a table for hours.

Photographers usually head for the lower lawns, where the harbour opens up. Please don’t block the narrow stairways while you set up a shot.

Making a half-day of the north shore

The garden fits neatly into a slow afternoon on this side of the harbour. Luna Park is a few minutes’ walk away. Its 1930s entrance face is worth a photo even if you skip the rides.

Walk west from Lavender Bay and you reach McMahons Point and Blues Point Reserve. From there you get one of the widest unobstructed views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. East of Milsons Point, the streets of Kirribilli have cafés for a coffee afterwards.

If the garden makes you curious about the man who painted this bay, visit the Brett Whiteley Studio in Surry Hills, across the harbour. It’s the preserved warehouse studio where he worked, and it gives the view from Lavender Street its missing half.