“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better it’s not.”
The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
UNLESS someone…cares, George Brington Malcolm cared.
From one acorn grew an oak tree & one man’s vision created Emmett Street in Shirley.
‘Major Housing Development in the Shirley District’, 31 March 1953
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19530331.2.8
An aerial photograph of part of the Shirley district showing a State housing area laid out on modern town-planning lines. The building project, which is almost completed, comprises 518 homes designed for more than 2000 persons. The west and east boundaries of the main block are Hills road and Quinn’s road. Shirley road is the southern boundary and a private property the northern.
Malcolm’s vision & plan for planting the Oak Trees along Emmett Street, has made the difference to the identity of Shirley’s community & created an environment for Shirley residents (people & wildlife) to benefit from over many generations.
George Malcolm’s legacy is an inspiration to those that admire the ‘Emmett Street Trees’ as they have weathered all seasons, earthquakes, aftershocks & floods.
Yet are still standing…
From Emmett Street to Canterbury University, Malcolm’s trees can be seen.
From Lincoln University to NZLIA, Malcolm’s name provides a scholarship for aspiring landscape architecture students, to celebrating professionals receiving his NZLIA Supreme Award, his legacy from Shirley to throughout NZ lives on…
because he cared.
I didn’t know who had planted the ‘Emmett Street Trees’, until after I shifted from Shirley to Richmond & started researching these communities while advocating for a new Centre to be rebuilt at 10 Shirley Road.
It wasn’t until I found the ‘Shirley MacFarlane Park Community Concept Plan’ created by Lucas Associates in February 2008, that I found Malcolm’s name.
https://www.lucas-associates.co.nz/christchurch-banks-peninsula/shirley-concept-plan/
https://www.lucas-associates.co.nz/assets/Document-PDFs/Shirley-Concept-Plan.pdf
Page 14, Photos of George Malcolm on Emmett Street in 2008 & photos of the Hanson Lane Nursery
Page 15, ‘Stories from the Past: George Malcolm’
A feature of the area is the tree lined streets which are a result of George Malcolm’s design.
Much of his work can be recognised around Christchurch, including the Canterbury University grounds, some of his earlier work on the housing development in Shirley was known as the Emmett Street Block.
George was employed as a landscape officer in 1948 by the Housing Department.
George became more involved with the planners responsible for the overall layout of the Emmett Block development and worked with them to try to convince them to give more attention to the landscape.
For the Emmett Street Block subdivision, the planners had originally allocated just 3 different species of shrubs and hedge plants; crab apples were the common street tree available.
George organised the establishment of a nursery on the old Ballantyne Block in Hansons Lane [Upper Riccarton], so there were more plants available for housing developments – especially large trees.
[When my family shifted back to Christchurch from Whanganui, our family home was in Ballantyne Avenue. When I read Malcolm’s story a few years ago, I was surprised to find a connection between our lives through the Upper Riccarton & Shirley suburbs]
At this nursery, George began to propagate big trees with the help of a large glasshouse gifted to him from the Burnham Military Camp.
In the Emmett Block development, George had the job as landscape officer working with the planners to set aside areas for vegetation – retaining existing large trees from the previous farms and designing street tree planting.
“I had to fight hard to allow wide berms and allow large trees” but in the end he managed to convince the planners to do so in the proposed streets of the Emmett Block. Today the large Scarlet Oaks are a unique feature of the area.
“It was in desperate need of this – I feel I have achieved it”.
George Brington Malcolm, MBE
27 November 1917 – 29 January 2012
George Malcolm died in Christchurch on 29 January 2012 in his 95th year.
George Brington Malcolm Obituary from ‘New Zealand Garden Journal’
https://www.rnzih.org.nz/RNZIH_Journal/Pages_34-36_from_2012_Vol15_No1.pdf
Page 2-3, This obituary was originally published in Landscape Architecture New Zealand, Winter 2012, Issue 14. It was written by Neil Aitken, using archival background information from H. G. Gilpin, L. W. McCaskill, Alec Wilson and Jan Woodhouse.
He was a founding member of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Inc. (NZILA) and actively supported the Institute’s endeavours throughout his career. George’s earlier background was in horticulture and he was awarded the National Diploma in Horticulture (Hons) in the early 1940s while working with the Parks and Reserves Department of the Christchurch City Council.
In 1948, he joined the Ministry of Works, Housing Division as Landscape Officer.
He consolidated this with his voracious reading of overseas landscape publications. He also started to amass his renowned reference library.
In 1962 he was appointed Senior Landscape Officer for the Ministry of Works with nation-wide responsibilities. This enabled him to start preaching the doctrine of landscape awareness throughout New Zealand.
At this time there was a dearth of academically qualified landscape architects in New Zealand (those who were here had overseas qualifications), and George, typically, sought to remedy this by approaching Auckland and Canterbury Universities, but without success. Imagine, therefore, his reaction to Professor T. M. Morrison of Lincoln College telling him that the college proposed to establish the first course in landscape architecture in New Zealand in 1969. George described this moment as “a great thrill to me.”
This, of course, provided George with the opportunity to realise his dream of having landscape architects throughout the Ministry of Works and Development (formerly MOW) and he pursued this with typical dedication, vigour and success. In addition to providing employment opportunity and experience to many graduates, he also obtained departmental approval for study awards in landscape architecture, not only within New Zealand but also overseas in recognition of the important global perspective.
Throughout this period, George also corresponded with overseas landscape architects, and in 1972 received a New Zealand Government travel grant which enabled him to meet landscape architects in public and private practice and in educational institutions throughout the US, Canada, and Great Britain…
George Malcolm was a very human and humane man. He nurtured his staff and ensured their welfare, always providing wise counsel to express their ideas over the full continuum of landscape from planning to detailed design. He always championed sound design on the ground, and it is no coincidence, therefore, that the NZILA’s premier design award is the George Malcolm Award.
This selfless dedication to the education and training of his staff was the true measure of George’s breadth of vision and generosity of spirit.
George was recognised by numerous institutions: he was one of the two foundation Life Members of the NZILA; an Associate of Honour of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Inc.; a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Parks and Recreation Administration; and last, but by no means least, an Honorary Associate of the Institute of Landscape Architects (now the Landscape Institute, Great Britain) in recognition of his achievements. This is an honour rarely bestowed and without precedent in New Zealand.
George Brington Malcolm Obituary from ‘The Press’
https://quakestudies.canterbury.ac.nz/islandora/object/qsrobject%3A264384/datastream/OBJ/view
Saturday, February 18, 2012
The second-youngest of 10 children, he was brought up on a mixed fruit-growing and dairy farm in Richmond, near Nelson. His childhood was marked by financial hardship and good fun, having to live for some years in a ‘permanent tent’ as the family home was too small for all the children.
Farm work instilled in him a love of trees, nature and landscape. His parents were devout Christians and he followed this path throughout his life.
On leaving school during the Depression, he applied for a job delivering telegrams. Work was so scarce that four years passed before he was advised of a vacancy. In the meantime he had taken a job on a relative’s orchard in Hawke’s Bay. He then worked at a plant nursery, where he was encouraged to study for the national diploma in horticulture.
Malcolm married Ethel in 1941. They settled in Christchurch and had four children. He continued his studies while working for the Christchurch City Council’s parks and reserves department and in the Botanic Gardens. He joined the Ministry of Works in 1948 as officer in charge of landscape work in the Christchurch district. A major part of his responsibility was landscape design for new state housing developments. This strengthened his interest in landscape design and environmental planning and he became a voracious reader of professional journals.
A trip to the proposed site of the Benmore dam with the district commissioner of works sharpened his appreciation of landscape design. Realising the scope and significance of the job ahead, he began frequent visits to the site, two years before a project engineer was appointed. He then worked with a succession of project engineers. They were sympathetic to his aims. The result represented a turning point in major construction schemes, as landscape architects were no longer required just to tidy up the mess after building was completed, but became involved in the planning.
Malcolm worked closely with people in charge throughout the construction period. He later took this approach to North Island roading and highway projects. This brought pressure on him to move to ministry headquarters in Wellington, which he resisted for family reasons and love of Christchurch. This did not prevent his promotion to inspecting landscape architect for the ministry’s town and country planning division, responsible for overseeing landscape design standards and supervision of ministry nurseries.
His pioneering work was recognised with the award of honorary associate of the UK Institute of Landscape Architects, in 1972. He was the only New Zealander to receive this honour. He was granted a study tour of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Europe that year and was instrumental in establishment of the landscape architecture course at Lincoln University.
He was a foundation member of the ILA and one of its first fellows, and was appointed a fellow of the Royal Institute of Horticulture. He was awarded the MBE on his retirement.
Malcolm leased an orchard at Styx in 1953 and later bought land nearby. Son Peter says the family all learned orcharding and marketing skills from this venture.
Family life was ‘integral’ to him and he juggled work, study and orchard management around it, Peter says. His Christian faith was central to him and he lived in a spirit of generosity and kindness. Ethel died in 1990 but he stayed in their Fendalton home until the recent earthquakes, when he moved into a rest home.
George Brington Malcolm, born Richmond, November 27, 1917; died Christchurch, January 29, 2012. Pre-deceased by wife Ethel; survived by daughter Keren, sons Arthur, Peter and Alistair, 13 grandchildren and 25 greatgrandchildren.
1972 New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects (NZILA)
https://www.nzila.co.nz/about/history
The NZILA was formed in November 1972. The initial executive, elected in 1973, included president Tony Jackman, Frank Boffa, Charlie Challenger, George Malcolm, Neil Aitken, and Robin Gay.
https://www.nzila.co.nz/about/life-members
Life membership may be awarded to “a person who in the opinion of the Committee has made a unique and outstanding contribution to the advancement of the profession in New Zealand, provided that a person should not be elected to this grade of membership unless he/she is, or has been, qualified to be recognised as a Fellow of the Institute.”
In Memoriam: George Malcolm
NZILA provides an education policy and an accreditation process to review education programme providers. Lincoln University started an undergraduate course in landscape architecture in 1988, followed in 1995 by Unitec. The third NZILA accredited provider is Victoria University of Wellington.
The institute holds biennial awards. There are three Supreme Awards, selected from the winners of the general awards: the George Malcolm Award for “the most outstanding achievement in landscape design”, the Charlie Challenger Award for “the most outstanding achievement in landscape planning”, and the Te Karanga o te Tui, for “the most outstanding achievement in demonstration of the Te Aranga principles”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Institute_of_Landscape_Architects
1981 AHRIH Awards
Associate of Honour of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture (AHRIH)
Awarded to persons who have given distinguished service to horticulture in New Zealand.
This is a select group because the RNZIH rules state that no more than 60 people can hold the award, and no more than three awards are given per year.
https://www.rnzih.org.nz/pages/AHRIH_Recipients.htm#gsc.tab=0
1981, Mr George Brington Malcolm
RNZIH Annual Journal: No. 9, 1981
Citations for the award of Associate of Honour 1981
https://www.rnzih.org.nz/RNZIH_Journal/RNZIH_Annual_Journal_1981_9.pdf
Page 82 & 83, Mr G.B. Malcolm
In 1948 he accepted a position with the Housing Division, Ministry of Works, Christchurch, and was responsible for the horticultural and landscape work throughout the Canterbury district and at that time established a departmental nursery at Christchurch. Several years later he was appointed to the position of landscape officer for the South Island engaged on national works projects and during this period he provided periodic services to head office, Wellington.
In 1962, he was appointed to the position of senior landscape officer, Ministry of Works (based in Christchurch) in charge of the landscape section for New Zealand, and during this period a substantial landscape section was established, including new nurseries, and landscape architecture began to be recognised as an integral part of national works.
In 1974, with the amalgamation of the landscape architecture section with the environmental design section, town and country planning, George Malcolm was appointed to the position of Inspecting Landscape Architect (based in Christchurch), but with national responsibilities connected with environmental planning and design, technical responsibilities for all nurseries and holding grounds throughout New Zealand as well as heading the Christchurch environmental design team which operates on a regional basis covering national projects in the South Island. He also has responsibility for the Christchurch nursery which produces 100,000 trees and shrubs annually for national works and other projects throughout the South Island.
George Malcolm for many years (largely singlehanded) pioneered landscape architecture within the Ministry of Works and Development.
George Malcolm, during his long service to the N.Z. Government, has done a great deal to improve the N.Z. environment and promote the profession of horticulture in this country. He has been responsible for planting many millions of trees, both native and exotic.
1982 ‘Landscapers Retire’
The Press, 19th November, Page 11
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19821119.2.83
Two landscape architects responsible for founding the profession in New Zealand will be honoured at a retirement dinner in Christchurch today.
Mr Malcolm joined the Ministry of Works and Development in Christchurch in the 1940s as a landscape officer. He has been involved in such projects as the Auckland and Dunedin motorways, the Wairakei-Taupo highway, and the Benmore and Manapouri-Te Anau hydro-electric developments.
Mr Malcolm is retiring as inspecting landscape architect for New Zealand.
1983 New Years Honors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_New_Year_Honours_(New_Zealand)
Member (MBE)
George Brington Malcolm – of Christchurch; inspecting landscape architect, Ministry of Works and Development, Christchurch, 1975–1982
1987 NZILA Awards Programme Established
https://www.landscapearchitecture.nz/landscape-architecture-aotearoa/2021/12/10/2022-awards-reminder
The NZILA awards programme began in 1987.
The inaugural George Malcolm winner was the Ministry of Works and Environmental Design Section for its Christchurch Girls’ High School project.
NZILA George Malcolm Supreme Award:
Recognises the most outstanding achievement in landscape design. A winner will only be selected from the winners of the relevant award categories and awarded if the entry attains this standard of excellence.
https://www.nzila.co.nz/awards/categories
2006 ‘The Founding of Landscape Architecture in New Zealand’ Project
https://livingheritage.lincoln.ac.nz/nodes/view/35136
‘The dawn is breaking’: Long before the DipLA course at Lincoln was set up, George Malcolm was advocating for landscape awareness and professional landscape architecture training in New Zealand. Although not a trained landscape architect, he worked as landscape officer in the Ministry of Works from 1948, moving into senior roles overseeing the Ministry’s landscape work until he retired in 1982.
As well lobbying for the DipLA to be set up, he made sure there were employment opportunities for the new graduates. He is commemorated in the NZILA George Malcolm award for design excellence.
George here describes how he lobbied for a tertiary course to be established.
https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22568946
Interview with George Malcolm: Early advocate of landscape architecture in the Ministry of Works. Foundation member of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects (NZILA). Influential in promoting the landscape architecture profession in government departments. Retired in 1982; the same year the NZILA George Malcolm award for design excellence was established.
2013 G.B Malcolm Scholarship Established
https://www.lincoln.ac.nz/study/scholarships/search-scholarships/g-b-malcolm-scholarship/
The G.B Malcolm Scholarship was established in 2013 as a result of a bequest from Mr Malcolm, to encourage and promote study in Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University.
One scholarship will be offered annually to a full time student studying a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture at Lincoln University.
2019 NZILA George Malcolm Supreme Award
Te Papa Ōtākaro/Avon River Park (ARP)
https://nzila.co.nz/showcase/te-papa-otakaro-avon-river-park
Judges Citation:
Te Papa Ōtākaro is not only the largest public realm project undertaken in Aotearoa New Zealand, it has also involved many landscape architecture practices and other collaborators, working within the complex context of the re-building of Christchurch.
Te Papa Ōtākaro has emerged as a significant and transformative urban landscape, maximising the opportunity provided by the earthquakes, to develop an exemplary interweaving of urban edge and river. Enhancing the cultural landscape of the city, as well as the ecological and social values, has provided Christchurch with a central core that holds the city together, and re-presents it with a new vision. At the same time as the Park has transformed the River precinct, it has also honoured the traditional heritage elements, such as the Bridge of Remembrance.
Te Papa Ōtākaro’s scale, collaborative process, cultural and ecological transformation, hard and soft landscape quality, and spatial qualities, are recognised in the award of supreme excellence, the George Malcolm Award.
2022 NZILA 50th – Landscape architecture pioneer George Malcolm
https://www.landscapearchitecture.nz/landscape-architecture-aotearoa/2022/3/31/nzila-50th-landscape-architecture-pioneer-george-malcolm
In 1970s New Zealand, landscape architecture was a little known and misunderstood profession. Lincoln College as it was then, was driving its development especially in terms of education and the public sector was the epicentre of employment for Lincoln’s new landscape architecture graduates.
The Ministry of Works, Housing Corporation, Department of Lands and Survey, Electricity Department, Forestry and Tourism Departments were key employers of landscape architects in this decade along with local councils. One man in particular played a key role in developing landscape architects and the wider profession and that was George Malcolm.
Many of the women involved in the early years of the landscape architecture profession here in Aotearoa credit George Malcolm with encouraging them.
Jan Woodhouse says he became a champion of women graduates by creating jobs for them as well as supporting them.
“He was the head of a family with strong christian values and he was also a man of the land. The values of care, protection and encouragement were brought to the office.”
George Malcolm died in 2012 but is remembered well by the many people he influenced in the landscape architecture profession here in Aotearoa.
Q. So after reading George Malcolm’s story/legacy, I didn’t understand why the ‘Emmett Street Trees’ previously classified as ‘Significant Trees’, but now in 2025 they are not?
A. See: ‘Significant Trees’