William Guilfoyle

William Robert Guilfoyle
William Robert Guilfoyle
Born	December 8, 1840 Chelsea, England
Died	June 25, 1912(1912-06-25) (aged 71) Jolimont, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Fields	biologist, landscape gardener and botanist
Author abbrev. (botany)	Guilf.

William Robert Guilfoyle (born 8 December 1840 and died 25 June 1912) was a landscape gardener and botanist in Victoria, Australia, acknowledged as the architect of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne and was responsible for the design of many parks and gardens in Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Guilfoyle was born in Chelsea, England, to Charlotte (née Delafosse) and Michael Guilfoyle (died 1884), a landscape gardener and nurseryman. The family migrated to Sydney in 1853 where William Guilfoyle was privately educated at Lyndhurst College, Glebe where he received botanical instruction by William Woolls, William Sharp MacLeay (1792–1865) and John MacGillivray (1821–1867), who all encouraged him to follow in his father's career.

In 1868 William Guilfoyle was appointed to the scientific staff of HMS Challenger that travelled around the Pacific Ocean. He recorded the voyage with a series of watercolour sketches and a detailed account in the Sydney Mail. Guilfoyle settled in the Tweed River valley where he grew tobacco and sugar cane and first met the noted German botanist, Ferdinand von Mueller.

In April 1873 Mueller created the genus Guilfoylia and described William Guilfoyle as "distinguished as a collector [who] evidenced great ardour" and held high hopes for his collecting ability. Mueller's opinion changed when Guilfoyle was appointed to take his place as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne on 21 July 1873. He accused Guilfoyle of being a "nurseryman [with] no claims to scientific knowledge whatever" and of getting the job due to being related to the wife of the responsible Minister. Mueller subsequently abolished Guilfoylia as part of the genus of Cadellia in his botanical census of 1882.

Mueller had adopted a scientific and educational approach to the Botanic Gardens, which had come in for criticism by influential Melburnians, who wanted a more aesthetic gardens for recreational use. William Guilfoyle set about creating the Gardens' world-famous "picturesque" landscape style. Over the next 35 years, Guilfoyle sculpted sweeping lawns, meandering paths and glittering lakes, creating a series of vistas offering a surprise around every corner. The swamp and lagoon were separated from the Yarra River under the direction of Carlo Catani (1852–1918), a civil engineer with the Public Works Department, allowing Guilfoyle to create the chain of ornamental lakes further adding to the beauty of the gardens.