Parramatta Hills - 50th Anniversary lunch

A celebratory lunch will be held for past and present members.The event is free but the venue and the budget mean that numbers are limited.

Enquiries to Secretary Jennifer Farrer at apsparrahills@gmail.com.

Fifty years ago Pauline de Vana worked hard to establish a Group of the Society for Growing Australian Plants, as the Australian Plants Society was then known, in The Hills. The first meeting in August was attended by 41 people. As a result, a very enthusiastic group was formed which immediately began to organize and participate in the activities which the Group still undertakes today – garden visits, bushwalks, workshops in propagating and growing Australian plants, plant sales, trips away to see public and private native gardens and special bushland reserves, advocating for conservation of threatened and endangered species and meetings with invited speakers to learn more about Australian plants and plant communities.

Publication commenced of a newsletter called Calgaroo, the Aboriginal name for Eucalyptus parramattensis.

Some of the highlights of the Group’s 50 years have included the 1984 Wildflower Spectacular at Castle Hill Showground, the study of the regrowth at Porters Road bushland after the disastrous 1991 fire there and the publication of Indigenous Plants of the Parramatta and Hills District : a list of plant for the gardens of the area which combined the knowledge of three of our experts, John Evans, Ross Doig and Ted Newman.