Michael Dawes was labouring away in a garden one day when the mobile phone rang.
From the other end of the phone came a voice: “You don’t know me but my name is Bill Roche and I want to create a garden.”
As someone who thrives on the unknown, the call provided just the right balance of intrigue and mystery to lure him in. Roche, with his wife Imelda and family heads the Roche Group of Companies, with an estimated worth of $250 million.
He continued: “I’ve just returned from overseas and I saw some of your work and I want you to come down here and create the biggest and the best garden in Australia.”
“I don’t quite know where to start, but will you help me?”
Visiting gardens such as Butchart Gardens on Victoria Island, Vancouver, Keukenhof in Amsterdam and Longwood outside Philadelphia, the Roche family had long held plans of creating a place where visitors could sit and marvel at the scenery, in gardens inspired by those from around the world.
During a visit to the Hunter Valley one Sunday in 1997 the family stumbled across a 32.4 hectare vineyard for sale and bought it.
Driven by a challenge and a desire to turn nothing into something, Michael is a landscaper who knows his stuff.
After a year of planning, he spent five years working to transform 25 hectares into what is now recognised as Australia’s largest garden.
“When we began planning in the Hunter, we started with no soil,” said Michael.
“That’s the thing about gardens. A lot of people think you need the right conditions, but at the end of the day you can grow a garden in rocks and even on concrete.”
“For me the challenge is to create something that not only looks good now, but will grow and shape the landscape over the next 20 or 30 years.”
“I’ll often go back incognito just to revisit the site and see how they’ve changed.”
Few people can say they go to work to feel relaxed, but on a warm Gold Coast winters day and surrounded by hectares of green open space, Michael is a picture of calm. Throughout his career the ‘office’ has ranged from golf courses to five star resorts.
Understandably he’s the typical outdoors type who would never have imagined being stuck behind a desk.
For the past 18 months his ‘office’ has comprised 162 hectares at the residential development Oyster Cove at Hope Island.
There, he is in charge of site works and everything green and growing.
But what few residents of this emerging community realise is the contribution he and his family have made in creating some of the best gardens in Australia and around the world.
As one of four generations of family who have left their legacy in landscapes, Michael not only takes pride in his work, but also that of his family, past and present.
His great grandfather, Charles Dawes, helped create Melbourne’s renowned Botanic Gardens, while his father Glen was among those who designed and planted Cascade Gardens. Gardening is in his blood.
Born in Yeppoon in 1956, he regards himself as a Gold Coaster, after the family moved here when he was two months old.
He grew up in a house at Surfers Paradise’s Acacia Avenue, attending St Vincents Primary, before completing his senior years at Aquinas College.
After finishing grade 12 and more interested in trucks and heavy machinery than gardens, he took up an apprenticeship as a Mechanical engineer, as much for ‘something to do’ after he finished school as a way to break a way to create his own identity away from his family.
However, after finishing his apprenticeship, Michael started working for his father almost immediately.
“I finished the four years but in the end looked at it and thought where is this going to take me?”
Together the pair created tropical landscapes for some of Australia’s best known resorts such as Hayman, Dunk, Hamilton and Bedarra, before a phone call from someone overseas in 1988 led him to Asia.
He worked on and off for seven years in Asia, spending time in Sumatra, Indonesia and India, before eventually returning to Australia. Among his largest international projects was the US$1.2 billion Bali Nirwana Resort.
Wanting to create something different, the owners gave Michael the job a $60 million contract which took several years to complete.
He estimates he has another three years work left at Oyster Cove before something else comes up. He says he is always looking for the whatever challenge comes his way.
His vision for a greener Gold Coast is one of the items on his ‘to do’ list, in between raising his four children with wife Caitlin. Asked whether his children will follow in his footsteps he is blunt in his reply:
“I wouldn’t encourage it. If they wanted to, that’s great, but I believe they need to make their own lives first.”
-- WEEKEND EXTRA