The Illawarra Grevillea Park at Bulli is the region’s new Botanic Garden. On 12 August, Her Excellency, Margaret Beazley, the Governor of NSW unveiled the plaque renaming the park to the delight of guests and volunteers. Pupils from Bulli Public School were thrilled to be invited to help in the unveiling by the Governor, a memory that will no doubt stay with them forever.
For Ray Brown, founder and manager of the Park, it is the culmination of decades of effort and dedication. “I never thought that what we started 30 years ago would result in what we have here today. It is truly humbling.”
The ceremony was held in the new information centre in the Pamela Robinson picnic area. This new addition will help to educate the public on growing native plants and will complement the advice that the volunteers are always more than happy to pass onto visitors. In coming months additional information boards will be set up throughout the Botanic Garden.
Anyone who has visited the park will know it is unique. The collection of grevilleas and the scale of the gardens can be found nowhere else. Not only does it house many new and exciting plants, but also rare and endangered plants such as Grevillea caleyi, Banksia vincentia and Eremophila delisseri. The Park not only grows these rare plants, but also endeavours to make them available to the public to help ensure their survival into the future.
The Governor also opened a new sensory walk. This is housed in the rainforest and has been named after Australia’s foremost female botanical artist, Ellis Rowan. This is a place where visitors are encouraged to use their senses to experience nature. Crushing and smelling mint bush, looking up through the tree canopy, feeling different textures, and listening to the water and frogs is now mandatory! It was also important to make the sensory walk wheelchair accessible.
The Governor also launched a book, The Illawarra Grevillea Park Botanic Garden: A Photographic Portrait.
All in all, the opening was a wonderful day for the people of the Illawarra and all those involved over the years with the Botanic Garden.
Enjoy grevilleas in bloom
Spring Open Days will be on the first two weekends in September: Sat & Sun 3 & 4 and 10 & 11. Open from 10am to 4pm. Adults $7, children free; dogs on leash welcome. Visit Grevillea Park Rd, Bulli, illawarragrevilleapark.com.au
