Congratulations to HMAA member Sue McDougall, who was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours List. Deryn Thorpe explains why it was very much deserved.
Sue McDougall is a horticulturist, landscape architect and the Director of the Western Australian Botanic Garden (WABG), working in conservation horticulture and advocating for native flora through media, events, and education.
The Award recognised Sue’s longstanding service to horticulture through media roles. Sue is well-known for sharing her gardening expertise in print, radio and television and has been a popular presence on Perth talkback garden radio for more than 30 years, inspiring thousands of home gardeners, landscape professionals, and local governments.
She was made director of Kings Park in late 2021 and has led a diverse team of expert horticulturists across the nursery, gardens, seed conservation and arboriculture, and been the face of the park in proactive media engagement advocating for native flora, resilient landscapes and the botanic garden as a centre for research and conservation.
Since taking up her role at Kings Park, she has been instrumental in growing public engagement with the park through workshops, education, events and promoting the park activities in the local and national media.
She also was a driving force, together with Kings Park Science, in the formulation and implementation of Kings Park’s first Ex-Situ Conservation Strategy – a 20-year framework to guide the development, management, and use of collections for scientific research, public education and conservation.
Sue has also played a key role in proactive education through the media on environmental challenges including dieback, climate change, and the polyphagous shot hole borer.
