A brief reflection

These challenges included securing the gardens in an age of climate change, protecting their viewsheds from proposed developments on the boundaries, and conserving what the community loved most about the gardens, all while regenerating the gardens and revitalising the research and education programs.

Botanic gardens are institutions built on a foundation of plant collections that allow us to explore the plant world in a systematic way. The ideas developed have had a major influence on our relationship with the plants that are the basis of our past, present and future.

My directorship at the gardens was a culmination of years working as a botanist, ecologist, nursery manager (nationally and internationally) and as a senior manager in botanic gardens in Melbourne, Perth and Sydney.

My first few years were focused on planning and building partnerships. The Botanic Gardens of South Australia became the first institution outside the USA to be accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, something we can all be proud of.

With support from the State Government, by 2006 we were able to find partners and philanthropists to fund and deliver our plans for the future of the gardens.

Many of these achievements are illustrated here (below and right).

I see the biggest challenge for the future as maintaining public funding for an institution cherished by the community. While the market is viewed as the arbiter of value, and the officials describe costs of maintaining cultural institutions as ‘a burden on the taxpayer’, research indicates that taxpayers are comfortable with supporting public gardens.

The community’s and visitors’ love for, and trust in, their botanic gardens, their authority, and the value of their programs suggests they’ll remain resilient and an enduring part of our communities.

Stephen was instrumental in the City Crops program. This program explores growing enough of a crop to feed a family for a year. For example:

• In 2013 this included growing enough wheat to keep a family in bread for a year. The wheat was then milled and baked into bread.
• In 2014 it moved to beer, where enough barley was grown to keep a family in beer which was brewed by Botanic Ale in conjunction with Tim Cooper and Alistair Turnbull from Lobethal Bierhaus.
• In 2015 children planted and harvested a sweet corn crop in association with the RAHS for its 175th anniversary.
• In 2016 a lucerne crop was sown to support a cow to produce enough milk for a family for a year.

• An Australian Garden designed by Kate Cullity from TCL to illustrate how native plants can be used in courtyard gardens.
• An Eremophila Garden supported by the Australian Plants Society and the expertise of Dr Bob Chinnock — Australia’s Eremophila explorer and taxonomist.
• A Cactus & Succulent Garden complementing the historic Palm House’s Madagascan collection.
• The Garden of Health illustrating the importance of plants in Western, Aboriginal, Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine.
• Construction of the First Creek wetland aquifer storage and reuse project as an education resource and to provide water security for Adelaide Botanic Garden & Botanic Park.
• Construction of the Little Sprouts Kitchen Garden for early years children in 2015.

Mount Lofty Botanic Garden

• Purchase of the O’Leary Estate to enhance Mount Lofty Botanic Garden and to preclude adjacent development.
• Construction of a lakeside circuit trail and new visitor pavilion.