Featuring speakers from The Palmetum and Queens Garden, Townsville, QLD, and Inala Jurassic Garden, Bruny Island, TAS
MEMBER ONLY EVENT
The recording of this forum is available to members in the Resources section.
Presenters
Harry Hay
Harry is Crew Leader Maintenance of The Palmetum, a 17-hectare botanic garden displaying one of the largest and most diverse public collections of palms in the world. A 1998 Bicentennial Project, this internationally recognised attraction was supported and planned by the Townsville community and organised through the Townsville City Council Parks Services.
Naomi Shoobridge
Naomi is Crew Leader Maintenance of Queens Gardens. Initiated in 1870, Queens Gardens is the oldest botanic garden in Townsville and is heritage listed. Now covering 4 hectares, reduced from an original 40 hectares, it is considered a fine example of a tropical colonial garden of that era.
Dr Tonia Cochran, OAM
Tonia has a lifelong interest in natural history which has led to an interesting and varied career.
She is founder, curator and collections manager of Inala Jurassic Garden, a BGCI-accredited botanic
garden which opened in 2014 and houses a living collection of ancient plant taxa, many of which are
threatened in the wild. She collaborates on conservation projects with other botanic gardens around
the world, including Kew Gardens and Bedgebury Pinetum in the UK and the Royal Botanic Garden,
Sydney and Australian National Botanic Garden Canberra. She is also a Global Conservation Consortium-Nothofagus species steward (for N. cunninghamii).
Tonia has a double major in Botany and Zoology and Honours and PhD degrees in Zoology at the
University of Melbourne, Victoria. She is also owner and managing director of Inala Nature Tours, a
birding and natural history tour company based in Tasmania, Australia which she founded over 30
years ago. The business has now expanded to offer tours around Australia and selected destinations
around the world, employs around 50 people and is also the Australian ground agent for several
other high-profile international birding and wildlife tour companies. Prior to founding Inala
Nature Tours, Tonia worked as a marine biologist at the Australian Antarctic Division and
participated in Marine Science Expeditions to Antarctica.
Tonia is passionate about conservation and is a member of the national recovery team for
several endangered Australian bird species. She is also founding Chair of the Inala Nature
Foundation, which contributes to conservation of natural habitat and threatened flora and fauna.
She was recently awarded an Order of Australia medal for her contribution to conservation and the
environment. She owns and lives on a 1,500-acre conservation-covenanted property on Bruny
Island, Tasmania and has just purchased another property near Hobart to protect endangered
species.
