Cultivating Power. An evening of gardens and politics

About

Behind the grandeur of empire lies a quieter, greener story — of gardens used to build alliances, flatter rivals, and grow influence in places where formal power was out of reach. Our evening begins with the men who played this game in public: Sir Joseph Banks, who sent plants to European monarchs carrying messages ranging from veiled threats to declarations of friendship; and Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who built his own network of royal recipients across Europe from the Domain (the site of the future Botanic Garden of Sydney), to grow his prestige and secure a prosperous career in NSW.

But on the receiving end of it all sat a woman who understood the game as well as anyone, and used it to her own advantage. At a Russian court built on patriarchal power structures, the Empress Maria Fedorovna turned her garden at Pavlovsk into a powerful source of political influence.

Join us at the historic Palm House for a talk on the world of botanical diplomacy, including Sydney's own surprising role in it, before we launch a book that reveals how one German Princess at the Russian court turned her garden into an instrument of soft power.

When: Wednesday 7 October, 4:30pm
Where: The Palm House, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney

4:30pm — Drinks & arrival
5:00pm — Talk: Botanical Diplomacy — from the Domain to St Petersburg
6:00pm — Book Launch: Women, Gardens and Agency in Imperial Russia