Railton, Town of Topiary

"The Art of Trimming Shrubs into Fantastic Shapes"

In early 1999, local business owners Stephen Rand (Bluey) and Neil Hurley were chatting about how to bring tourism to Railton.    Bluey was telling Neil about the old topiary shapes that used to be on side of the road to Hobart and how as children it was a highlight of the long journey.   They discussed how it would be a good idea to do in the town and Neil suggested the name "Town of Topiary" with the idea of filling the town with unusual character topiary.   From this beginning the idea grew, and they planned and planted their own topiaries - Neil planted Railton's first character topiary at his shop "Looking Glass Cottage" in October 1999 - A horse and farmer working an old plough - a living monument to the pioneering farmers of the district. The next topiaries followed shortly after - "Ned Kelly" in Dowbiggin Street and Bluey's "crocodile" outside the service station "Railton Motor and Tyre".  

During the period that his topiary had been under development at his shop Neil took the idea to other businesses and interested community members and tourists with terrific feedback and encouragement, taking his idea of topiary service men and women to be placed at the cenotaph in town to the local R&SLA, and they approved the project.   The topiary memorial is a one of a kind at the Railton Cenotaph.

A group of interested residents and business owners decided to form their own working party to promote the theme within the local community, with the aim of communicating the idea to local residents, and gaining increased community and council interest and support for the theme.   The Railton Topiary Group was formed and have been working ever since with endless enthusiasm to encourage more topiary to be planted, assisting people to re-shape existing hedges into shapes and assisting with advice on frames and plants.   With assistance from Cement Australia the topiary map was produced by the Topiary Group and remains a free guide available to visitors to the town due to the ongoing support of Cement Australia.

The original members of the topiary group (Neil & Erin Hurley, Rodney & Wendy McCarthy, Zachary & Ethan McCarthy, Ruth Beaumont, Lars Weustenfeld, Les & Denise Nicholas, Doug and Joy Cope, Marie Parker) nurtured and promoted the idea until it has found it's own place within Tasmania's tourism attractions with over 100 individual topiary in the town - many forming their own story or scene.

Neil Hurley with one of his topiary wallaby creations "Cradle Mountain National Paddock 

Today

Railton is a short drive from Devonport via Latrobe, a part of Tasmania's "Outdoor Art Gallery" - and here you will find Tasmania's hidden secret - more than 100 living sculptures of character topiary waiting to be discovered.   The wonderful thing about Railton's topiary is that it is a free activity - and interesting to all ages!   It costs you nothing but your time to stroll around the topiary exhibits   - you can't say that everywhere you go!   It is a fantastic project and you will see topiary in all stages of growth along the topiary trail.  

Recently The Apex Club of Latrobe funded the production of the ad with funds raised through the Apex Railtown Expo held at Devonport showgrounds in February.   The ongoing airing of the ad is a joint funding project of all the groups (Businesses & Topiary Group, RADDAi, and Apex Club of Latrobe).   It is envisaged that the ad will be aired for a month a time, and will be on for a full 4 months of the year on Southern Cross.  

Print the topiary trail map from this site- free topiary trail maps are also available at shops in town and have been developed by the Topiary Group with tremendous support from local business.   The whole promotional information package that is developing to promote Railton's topiary including the television advertising campaign is a terrific achievement for these community groups working in cooperation.  

Not many towns have the opportunity to promote their attractions with television advertising and this is a terrific achievement for the small historic town of Railton which has been bypassed by major roads over the years.

Discover the magic of topiary "The Art of Shaping Shrubs into Fantastic Shapes" at Railton, Tasmania's "Town of Topiary".