The Friends of Geelong Botanic Gardens are celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2025 and they kicked off the year’s Ruby Jubilee festivities on a perfect autumn day with a visit to the Gardens by Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC, Governor of Victoria.
The Governor’s party was greeted by Mayor Stretch Kontelj and Friends’ representatives Jan Cheyne and Luanne Thornton, strolling through the 21st Century Garden to the Visitors’ Centre for the formalities.
Guests were welcomed with musical entertainment from the Sweethearts soul group from Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College with refreshments provided by the Davidson restaurant at the Gordon TAFE. The menu consisted of canapes featuring botanical ingredients including BBQ duck wrapped in wattles-seed crepes with cucumber and iceberg lettuce, Potato and bush spinach tortilla with onion soubise, Mountain pepper cured salmon with cream cheese on brioche and a sweet treat of carrot cake with lemon myrtle icing along with sparkling wine for the celebratory toast from award-winning local winery Oakdene on the Bellarine Peninsula.
Since its inception in 1985, led by the first president and HMAA member, the late George Jones, the Friends have contributed to the Gardens in various ways, with volunteers providing hours of hands-on activities. A Guides Group share their horticultural knowledge by conducting regular guided walks and the Growing Friends who run the Friends Nursery in collaboration with GBG staff, propagating plants sourced from the GBG and selling them to the public as a fundraising exercise for the GBG.
The Perennial Borderteam (a sub- group of the Growing Friends) was also established to assist GBG staff by planting and maintaining the colourful perennial border in consultation with GBG staff while more recently a Volunteer Weeding Teamwork with the GBG staff to eliminate unwanted plants in the Gardens.
The School of Botanical Art,which is run by the Friends, employs professional art tutors to offer Botanical Art painting and drawing classes to the public as a fundraiser, and highlights the GBG by using its plants as their subject matter. The School is a centre of excellence with exceptional students and staff, is recognised nationally and overseas and holds Inspired by Nature Art Exhibitions to further promote botanic art and the GBG.
Founding member of the Friends Jayne Salmon AOM presented the Governor with a framed botanic painting of an heirloom tomato by internationally acclaimed botanical artist Deb Chirnside together with a copy of Kangaroo Grassland to Geelong botanic Gardens and Eastern Park a chronological pictorial history written Ian Rogers by former Director of the Geelong Botanic Gardens from 1981-2000.
Other achievements over the years included establishing the Friends’ Tea housethat was managed by the Friends for nineteen years and run by a team of volunteers on a rostered basis, and Music in the Gardensintroduced by the Friends in 1999 and which successfully continued for thirteen years.
A Volunteer Library teammaintains the Friends collection of botanical books, journals, historical records and other educational materials related to the GBG while the Friends Officeis staffed by two paid employees who provide a broad range of secretarial services to support the Friends as individual members, sub-groups and the Friends Committee of Management.
Following the speech formalities the Governor was invited to plant a tree in the Gardens and as an historic Glastonbury Thorn (Crataegus monogyna ‘Biflora’) that was previously lost to weather, seemed the obvious choice replacement with the Governor embracing the task at hand, enthusiastically back-filling, mulching and watering in the new specimen.
Rounding off the Governor’s visit was a walk through the Gardens led by Friends’ Guide Norma Shepherd together with the Mayor Stretch Kontelj, Councillor Anthony Aitken, and Friend’s organizing committee member Luanne Thornton where they admired the colourful displays of the roses, perennial border and other significant sites including the historic fountains, Geelong’s first Customs House. Historic trees observed included the Dragon Blood tree and the Ginkgo biloba with its aerial roots, planted by the Gardens first curator Daniel Bunce in 1859, and who in 1867 also planted the towering Chilean Wine palm (Jubaea chilensis), both of which were fruiting at the time of the Governor’s visit – Jubaea is the emblem of the Gardens and also the title of the quarterly newsletter of the Friends of Geelong Botanic Gardens.
The Friends’ 40th anniversary celebrations will continue throughout the year with a Winter lunch and guest speaker Caroline Davies from the Mediterranean Plant Society, and towards the end of the year a large gathering for Friends both past and present.
Gail Thomas
