The Life and Death of the Australian Backyard
Hall, Anthony Clive
Book – 2010 (from the YPRL)

This is a detailed study of the loss of the Australian backyard. Probably a bit too detailed for most readers you can skip over the parts of least interest.

One thing I noted was that even though the UK has a higher dwellings to hectare ratio than Australia, thanks to no front setback and a small building foot print the backyards are larger.

Perhaps it’s the way Australia should go to keep all of the benefits of having a backyard.

Backyard Benefits

The author points out that there is a lot to lose when backyards are too small or non-existent:

• Less trees means less heat absorption
• Children have nowhere to exercise
• No where to relax in your own space
• Little or no space for a vegetable or flower garden
• Loss of biological diversity (through smaller gardens)

I think we have forgotten the benefits of a backyard over having a huge indoor living space.