hosted by Mackay Regional Botanic Gardens with the theme
Plan(e)t Priorities: Regional Realities
Mackay, 8 - 11 October 2009
The Congress aims to recognize the role and responsibilities of Botanic Gardens as a resource for the future preservation of species, and to support the global effort to retain significant and regionally important plant materials. A series of guest speakers, workshops, keynote presentations and discussion groups will explore these issues.
The Congress is expected to attract 200 people from across Australia, New Zealand and further afield. A call for papers has been made, with submissions due Friday 6 March.
Call for papers and posters
The call for papers closed Friday 6 March. Further information [pdf]
Grant Applications closed 1 June 2009.
Preliminary program now available
The preliminary program for the 2009 BGANZ congress is now available. It features 21 concurrent presentations across several streams and 5 keynote speakers addressing a range of topics around the theme Regional reality: plan(e)t priority.
View final program [pdf]
The selection of presentations and papers for the congress include the following:
- delivering living collections information online
- sustainable botanic gardens: myth or reality?
- rethinking botanic gardens in the face of climate change
- landscapes for leaning: a short illustrated history of human sustainability
- the role of seedbanks in a changing environment
- fight for your rights: the struggle to keep and grow botanic gardens native
- a national collection initiative for Australia: what can botanic gardens contribute
- the significance of regional botanic gardens and their role in climate change resilience
- getting the message across - creative ways to inspire the public
- more than a botanic garden - engaging a community to bring plants to life
- and many more...
Registration information and form [pdf]
Accommodation booking form [pdf]
Sponsorship Opportunities [pdf]
A taste of the tropics
As many delegates will be visiting this region for the first time, the Congress will offer delegates a true taste of the tropics. Our menu selections reflect some of the freshest local produce available, and our field trips will provide a wonderful introduction to the hinterland landscapes around Mackay. View more information about Mackay
Program Highlights
Tropical delights welcome reception, Thursday 8 October
You will be greeted on arrival with a cocktail or drink of choice as you move through the deck to look out over the gardens and lagoon. Meet fellow delegates, enjoy barbecued prawns and other tropical delights and relax in a casual atmosphere as we welcome you to the Congress. The cost of the welcome reception is included in the full Congress registration fee and a registration desk will be set up at the Botanic Gardens so you can register onsite.
Workshop looks at future of BGANZ
An open workshop/discussion session is planned during the BGANZ Congress to discuss the future of BGANZ and to find out what members want, where they want BGANZ to go and discuss what they are willing to do to help it get there. The results of an email survey of members and collation of comments/ suggestions from people not attending will also be presented. The workshop takes place on Friday 9 October at the Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre from 5.30 pm - 7.00 pm. There is no need to register separately for the workshop.
Eungella National Park Field Trip
Eungella National Park, Australia's largest rainforest national park, is located approximately 80 kilometres west of Mackay. The park protects many unusual plants and animals, including the Mackay tulip oak, the Eungella dayfrog and Eungella honeyeater. This isolated mountain refuge lies close to the boundary between subtropical and tropical rainforests and supports species from both vegetation types. The Broken River, which is home to platypus is lined with flowering bottlebrushes and tall river she-oaks. Much of the park is dissected by gorges.
Departing Mackay at 8.30 am sharp, this trip will make its way through the Pioneer Valley, with a number of stops pointing out significant vegetation communities and places of historical significance. The tour arrives at Broken River to be greeted by members of the Society for Growing Australian Plants Mackay Branch, who will act as guides to the rare and threatened plants which call Eungellla National Park home.
Delegates will have the opportunity for a short walk through the National Park before regrouping for the trip back to Mackay. Modest morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea will be provided for this trip and delegates are reminded to dress appropriately - long pants, sturdy walking shoes, sunscreen, broad-brimmed hat and insect repellent.
Liar liar, plants on fire! Managing the risk of fire in a botanic garden on the edge of suburbia | Chris Russell, Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne
The horrific fires of the 2009 Victorian summer have highlighted the immense forces that nature can unleash given the right mix of environmental factors. In south eastern Australia, the prevailing summer weather pattern sees high pressure systems moving slowly across the Tasman Sea, forcing hot dry winds from the north of the continent to the tinder box of fuels in the south east of the mainland. White Australians have lived with fire for decades, but even with the experience of the wildfire holocaust of Black Friday in 1939 and Ash Wednesday in 1983, we struggle to live with fire as a seasonal norm. The impact of climate change is predicted to increase the incidence of extreme fire weather days into the future. This presentation will explore how Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne has responded to these complex, and sometimes conflicting management challenges.
Fight for your Rights: the struggle to keep and grow Botanic Gardens Native | Brent Braddick, Tondoon Botanic Gardens Gladstone
Botanic Gardens are not well understood resources amongst the community. From surveys it is shown that people predominantly visit Botanic Gardens for recreation purposes. Further to the struggle for our cause is the lack of knowledge about Native Botanic Gardens or even worse local natives. In most cases people don’t recognise what value to the community they have from the native plants around them. This situation is not restricted to the community but also our management, council and even State Government. Because Tondoon Botanic Gardens is one of the best examples of collecting and preserving the unique vegetation of regional areas, I would like to use our story to encourage others in their determination for the cause. In this presentation, Brent will speak about the many aspects and roles of a local native Botanic Gardens and how to best achieve a truly valuable resource. In order to keep goals and aims true for the future and those who will come after us we must fight for our rights now.
Creating engaging places | Nev Connell, EDAW
Botanic gardens are recognised as playing an integral role in the preservation of our natural environment. One of the primary ways they do this, as recognised by the theme of this conference, is by raising awareness of a number of issues, including land degradation, global climate change, and the continued loss of ecosystems. For this role to be most effective, botanic gardens need to be considered as facilities that engage and embrace all members of the community, creating the maximum opportunity for strong and increasing awareness of these issues. This paper will examine the role of botanic gardens as ‘engaging places’ and detail the issues that need to be addressed in the planning, design and operation of these facilities to maximise the involvement and interest of the community at all levels. Discussion on the planning and design of botanic gardens will be a key focus of the paper, particularly their role in presenting the significance of our changing world to regional communities and as ‘grass roots’ or regional repositories of knowledge and representations of the local natural environment.
A national collection initiative for Australia – what can regional botanic gardens contribute? | Anne Duncan, Australian National Botanic Gardens
In November 2008 a Strategy and Action Plan for the Role of Botanic Gardens in Adapting to Climate Change was endorsed as a nationally significant initiative by the Commonwealth and State and Territory Ministers for Natural Resource Management. The Strategy has been adopted by BGANZ and provides a clear framework for gardens – identifying where they can contribute to a national response to climate change. With the increasing popularity of Regional gardens and the use of native species, they could be significant contributor to some of the strategy’s goals. One of the goals is “to deliver integrated and easily accessible information about Australian plants”. Bringing information on our collections together could create a virtual “national collection” which could contribute to ex-situ biodiversity conservation and be used to engage and raise awareness of the role of gardens and sustainable living. The idea of an “Australian National Collection”, will be explored in relation to regional botanic gardens and similar initiatives in other nations discussed.
Further information is available by contacting the Congress Secretariat, Wombat Creative on 07 5538 5109 or email bganz@wombatcreative.com.au or on the congress website www.wombatcreative.com.au/bganz.htm.
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