Have you ever wondered why many of our older style homes have lawns? Why we demark sections of green grass around our houses? These, hopefully, verdant parcels require maintenance to keep them looking good. Watering in dry climates and seasons, mowing when things are growing, and maybe even weeding for those truly dedicated to their lawn’s appearance. I have been walking over a cross section of back and front yards of Aussie homes in a variety of suburbs of late. In all probability, I have entered and trod upon some many hundred’s during a 3 month period, as part of my government job. So, Lords and Ladies of lawns here are my observations.
Why We Have Lawns?
Firstly, in answer to that questions of why we have this cultural affinity with lawns around our homes? Well, it all stems back from the French/English aristocracies.
“Stone Age hunter-gatherers did not cultivate grass at the entrance to their caves. No green meadows welcomed the visitors to the Athenian Acropolis, the Roman Capitol, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem or the Forbidden City in Beijing. The idea of nurturing a lawn at the entrance to private residences and public buildings was born in the castles of French and English aristocrats in the late Middle Ages. In the early modern age this habit struck deep roots, and became the trademark of nobility..”
- (Yuval Harari in Homo Deus)
The later outward spread of wealth in western nations, which produced the burgeoning middle classes, saw little lawns popping up around our more modest dwellings. Thus, our cultural attachment to green grass and lawns within the household compound was forged. It became a sign of wealth and status that we all wanted to show off to our neighbours. Real estate agents would emphasise it remains a property price boosting feature to this day. A well maintained front garden with neat lawns is an immediate visual plus – first impressions and all that.
Lordling Lawns Out Of Control
What about when growing grass via abundant rain and sunshine produces too much of a good thing? I was traversing a mixture of large and smaller residential properties at the northern extremities of Brisbane. Here the key ingredients for growing grass are in rich supply, mostly, all year round. Indeed, I entered yards where seeing your boots and lower body was challenged by the rampant grass and weeds. The neglect of these lordling lawns was all too common, I am afraid. It seemed, that many householders were too busy or unable for other reasons to cut their grass. The expanses of lush green grass had become not a boon but a bane. Why is this so, I wondered?
When Grass Grows Too High
Of course, we are in the midst of a cost of living crisis at the moment. Many home owners are struggling to meet their increased mortgage payments. Some folks are doing several jobs to meet their steep economic needs. Time is money, perhaps. Everything is more expensive these days, including getting your lawn mowed professionally. Once you leave a lawn like this for too long, in this climate, regaining control becomes a big job. Slashing rather than just mowing enters the picture. Nature can quickly reassert itself over the temporarily urbanised space. Renters are another story altogether and their tenuous grip on their homes rarely encourages yard maintenance without some threat of punitive damages by owners and property managers. Housing commission homes fall into a further category of hopelessness and neglect. Some properties I walked onto were virtually inaccessible by dint of their overgrown yards. I was reminded of early explorers in the Amazon and did come across a very large python on one foray.
Let’s Talk About Dog Shit
Another indispensable element when covering lawns are the land mines. This polite euphemism for dog shit is everywhere you wish to lay your tread upon. Dog ownership is big in the northern Brisbane suburbs and their bodily functions litter the lawn with turds in various stages of decay. One of the pitfalls of this type of work is inadvertently taking freshly laid excrement squished into the grooves of your steel capped boot back into the cabin of your vehicle. Suddenly, enclosed in a vacuum space the ripe stench overwhelms all olfactory senses of those sharing the ute with you. This a bad day moment for modestly paid government workers going about their job in the suburbs. “WTF!!! Who stepped in the shit?” Reverberates around the cabin with no shortage of vehement passion.
Protecting Private Property
It is worth talking about dogs and the predilection for them in the suburbs. 90% of these dogs are locked up alone at home behind gates. In fact, there might be two or more of them on the bigger properties. Security comes to the fore, as, perhaps, the primary reason for their presence at these residential properties. I witnessed, during my sojourns onto these properties, plenty of steel fences and chained up gates with padlocks. Together with aggressively barking dogs the message was loud and clear – protection of private property is paramount to these home owners and residents. From my conversations with property owners I reckon that there is a presumption that this kind of theft is prevalent in their area, hence the security concerns. Lords and ladies of lawns are armed with barking dogs and locked up gates and fences.
The Facts & Figures
The population of Brisbane in 2024 is around 2.534 million. The data for the number of households is dated to 2021 and at 1.017 million – so that figure has increased. The police crime figures are even more dated to 2016/17, which is an indictment on whoever is responsible to begin with on that score, the unlawful entry into dwellings figure is listed at 23, 490. https://www.police.qld.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-01/AnnualStatisticalReview_2016-17.pdf Factoring in growth based on population increases we could estimate that it could now be around 33, 000. Even if we bumped that figure up to 50, 000 to include unreported incidents, it still remains around or below 4%. The RACQ only had 33 home theft claims in the Moreton Bay region in 2023. https://www.racq.com.au/latest-news/news/2024/02/queensland-home-theft-hotspots-revealed Now, nobody likes to experience a home break in and theft but the media can give the false impression that crimes of this sort are much more common than they actually are. Especially around the reporting of youth crime in Queensland – I call it crime porn for oldies. Channel 7 has a strong click bait presence on YouTube around this issue stirring up anxiety among older viewers. Crime and punishment is a perennially politicised hot button in Queensland.
I Took A Look Into The Backyards Of Some Brisbane Residents
I found that there was so much dog shit on the lawns of many homes in Moreton Bay that they become no go zones for those living there. Very few householders make it a habit to pick up the land mines on their lawns from my sample survey in the hundreds of yards visited. Private property concerns have delivered big steel fences, dog shit laden backyards, gates locked with rusted chains and padlocks making them largely inaccessible. Are folks becoming virtual prisoners in their own homes out of paranoid fears about break ins and home invasions fanned by the irresponsible media? Home ownership is the great Australian dream and is it now a nightmare for many trying to make it work?
The Future Of Aussie Lawns
As part of my job I recently visited the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and one of the rapidly growing new estates there. Here we see the demise of the Aussie lawn, with these homes standing cheek by jowl. Rooves overlap and any expanses of green grass are a thing of the past. These residences are all house and no yard. It is somewhat akin to the fashion for Brazilians but in the realm of our new domains. Greater medium density building is the order of the day in the current housing shortage crisis. So, will lawns enter the anachronistic category like men’s hats and walking canes? Is the backyard itself to be yesterday’s hero? Where will all the dogs poop? Will they all shrink and live inside like cats do? The future of Aussie lawns look bleak in the cities. Perhaps, it is a good thing for some who have not been coping with their lawns anyway? The middle class are fast becoming the new working poor and we are returning to architectural renditions of worker’s cottages and terrace houses. Our dreams of joining the aristocracy are fading faster than the dried dog shit on our overgrown lawns. Million dollar houses with no lawns are on the menu for next generation Australia.
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of House Therapy, Money Matters, & America Matters.
©HouseTherapy
