FEATURE GARDENS
Rockhampton Botanic Gardens – open for business science Michael Elgey, Curator of Rockhampton Botanic Gardens and Kershaw Gardens, and BGANZ Queensland Council member
Rockhampton Botanic Gardens is the second oldest botanic garden in Queensland and recently celebrated its 151st birthday. There have only been seven curators over that time, however, with me taking on the role in late 2018 as the seventh. During the early
Michael Elgey
establishment and development of the gardens, under the first three curators, there is evidence that exchange of material and living collections occurred with several herbaria and botanic gardens in Australia and overseas. Due to financial constraints, at no time in the history of the gardens had there been dedicated personnel assigned to a scientific research position, but the gardens did pride themselves on collaboration with other institutions and the already mentioned specimen and collection exchange. From working with collections within the National Herbarium of New South Wales and with living collections at both the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney and in my current role at Rockhampton Botanic Gardens, I have developed a broad and appreciative understanding of how the botanical collections held within these institutions significantly contribute to the progression of botanical science. Yet these institutions cannot work in isolation and can benefit from the exchange of knowledge, data and material within regional botanical collections. Rockhampton Botanic Gardens is openly assisting and contributing to botanical science research programs from material contained within our collections and across our local flora. At present, Rockhampton Botanic Gardens does not have a comprehensive database of our collections, but this is something we aim to rectify in the not-so-distant future. In the meantime, I would like to share a bit more of the history of Rockhampton Botanic Gardens, its collections, previous curators and plans moving forward.
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THE BOTANIC GARDENer | ISS 56 WINTER 2021
