Facts and Froth with Jill Lowe
RILLS, GULLIES AND SOUNDS OF WATER
The babbling book, the gentle fountain, that trickling of water to dampen the city sounds, yet to allow for birdsong, is what many seek in creating a certain ambience in a garden, or courtyard. Of course for those living, sleeping, or dining within the sound and sight of the thundering, crashing sound of the surf or the lapping of lake waves, this quest is not usually uppermost. Inspiration and ideas to create a desired atmosphere can come from many sources, some from nature itself or else from grand or historical gardens, where one can observe clever and beautiful water features. Some such inspired water features are described here. Too, garden centers as well as landscape designers are filled with ideas to give that sensory rhythm. A rill is defined as a shallow channel cut into the earth by the erosive action of flowing water. Larger incised channels are known as gullies, even larger are ravines. Artificial rills are constructed to carry a water supply from a distant source: an aesthetic water feature. Looking first at natural rills and gullies, my mind immediately goes to Bundanoon in an area known as the Southern Highlands outside Sydney, NSW, Australia. Bundanoon is a word from the local aboriginal name meaning “place of deep gullies”. Pervading the bushland around Bundanoon are rills and gullies hewn into the rocky terrain. One such rill is at the bottom of the Fairy Bower Falls Walk in a rocky picnic area bisected by rills. Over the many years people have carved indentations into the rocky edges of the rill to allow for children to create “water wheels.” (simple contraptions of twigs and leaves to allow the water to turn them, delighting all.)