There are so many great things you could do with this space. Instead of a hedge (which may take a while to grow, and will take much pruning) you could put in a climbing wall and plant some beautiful creeper vines or flowers - even climbing fruits like figs or passionfruit. For the garden bed section it depends on the style you may be wanting to achieve. Some ideas are below: Zen Garden styling: keep the mango tree and landscape with some rocks, smaller grasses/shrubs and a nice seat or water feature could compliment your house nicely, and add a lovely touch to the front area. Get Shrubby: plant an array of hardy shrubs around the mango tree so help emphasis the mango tree and keep the area low maintenance. Native Australian plants are great and love the sun if this area is very sunny! Don't forget to keep the weeds at bay!! This can be easily done with weedmats underneath stones or mulch, or even with synthetic grass around the base of the plants. Hope this helps! Can't wait to see the finished product.

It's tiny so lends itself to containment and simplicity. I'd shift your mango tree to be a few feet to the front right so it could shade you and hide the view of the boxes. They grow pretty big don't they? The Perth Bricklaying's idea of brick planter boxes is good and I'd surround the sides and front with them. You could have a lower growing hedge all round. Hopefully your neighbour would like a little backdrop to their bit instead of the slabs. By shading from the front you will create less sun and heat for anything growing inside the wall, like the groundcover, and some flowers in pots in the outer corners perhaps. which would be nice to look out on, and obviously watering is the key to their survival. :)

If you are planning to move in a few years, leave the decision whether to paint the bricks to the next owner - they may not wish to have the regular job of re-painting! The awnings , as already mentioned, may be there for a very good reason - wait until mid summer before you decide to ditch them totally, it would be good to get them working properly again to get the sunshine into the house in winter . Central West NSW is a hard place for plants - hot and dry in summer, frosty in winter. Chinese Star Jasmine is an excellent choice along the side fence, but will need watering when young, especially if that fence is exposed to sunlight the whole day in summer. It will grow and become quite heavy, make sure the fence is up to it. You could plant some deciduous trees in the front lawn to give shade in summer to those front windows - crepe myrtles are tough enough, Chinese pistachios are good - anything will need watering to establish, but once they are growing well you can gradually toughen them up by decreasing the watering; the deciduous trees will lose their leaves in winter and still let the sunlight come pouring in to the house. Grass will struggle under their branches once the trees start to spread, so plan to create garden beds underneath them early on. You could underplant with bulbs - tulips will love the cold winter, daffodils and jonquils will love the winter sunshine when the leaves are bare. You will need to know the path of the sun in midsummer and in midwinter to work out the best position for trees, so take pictures of where the sunlight and shadows fall in the different seasons to refer back to when planting. Roses also love a hot dry climate, but you may not wish to get involved with rose pruning and thorns etc! Talk to your local nursery person, they will be able to give you good local advice and recommendations - if you have an idea of what you need the front to do that will help - do you need lawn for kids , are you happy to kiss the lawn goodbye etc. Wander around your neighbourhood in the different seasons, and if you see something that catches your eye, either talk to the house owner or take a picture and visit the nursery again! Most people are thrilled to be asked questions about their garden, and will prove to be mines of useful information. See if there are any open gardens open to the public in spring / summer - these are often really spectacular, and the grand country gardens are wonderful for ideas , which can be modified for a smaller area and budget.

I love Irene's photos and the suggestion to build a wall inside the boundary to square off the front angle, with plantings in front of it. This would be a brave move (I would probably get a landscape designer in for this if you go this way). Otherwise (I haven't read the previous comments, apologies in case I repeat or contradict), I would plant a fuller medium sized tree in the front right side (the deepest part), though centred, not in the point itself! Something like a full Manchurian Pear (though be committed to pruning it to keep it from growing too large, they don't grow too fast, it should be manageable - otherwise try a pretty Snow Pear (my favourite!) or a Bradford for a more compact but pretty shape - you can even pleach (ie take off the lower branches to keep the first metre of trunk nice and bare for a more sculptural look), or if you want something that will keep more compact without too much trouble, a beautiful crepe myrtle (Ilove the white Natchez variety) makes a lovely sculptural feature tree. You can underplant this with a square garden bed with star jasmine (just keep it trimmed to shape) and they look amazing with some under lighting at night (easy DIY kits available these days). Then along the right fence line I would add plantings to keep it private and looking lovely, again I would go Chanticleer ornamental pear (or Capital are even more narrow but I don't love them, though they're very popular). Again you can underplant with hardy, quick growing and low maintenance star jasmine. Then along the driveway on the right side, plant something lower and along the left side (if you have soil here), plant Sweet Viburnum (I love this, we've planted the Dense Fence variety), again, quick growing, beautiful foliage and low maintenance.