It's been described as one of the most beautiful university campuses in the world, and this week The Illawarra Flame had the privilege of catching up with the man who can take much of the credit for creating the leafy, bush-like feel of our University of Wollongong (UOW).

Leon Fuller was a young man and just starting out in his horticultural career when he won his dream job.

It was 1975, and the UOW had just been incorporated by the NSW Parliament as an independent institution.

Leon was working as a parks supervisor at Lane Cove Council when he saw the position advertised for landscape manager at UOW.

"At that time I only had one year's experience, so I thought I wouldn't get the job," Leon said. "But I had the right qualifications, and I was interested in growing indigenous plants from this region, and that's what they wanted."

Having been born in Coledale and grown up in Thirroul, Leon was pleased to be back in the Illawarra. He was 28, and it was a crazy busy time in his life.

"I had a lot of energy in those days. I was writing a book (Wollongong Native Trees), raising four kids, sailing and starting a new job."

At UOW in those important, formative years in the late 1970s, Leon's top priority, together with his team of gardeners, was getting as many plants and trees in the ground as possible; and it wasn't without its challenges.

The heart of the campus, where the duck pond is now, "was just a big, flat kikuyu paddock."

"The initial budget was miserable. They gave me $1000, and I said what am I supposed to do with that?"

Thankfully, some of the university's senior managers holding the purse strings shared Leon's vision and he received a $100,000 boost to his budget to be spent primarily on enhancing the central square's landscape.

"In those days that was a lot of money, and we were able to plant thousands of trees. That's why it is the way it is today," Leon said.

"This was right at the start of the big revolution towards the planting of native plants. People were starting to use them in big landscape projects."

In his spare time, Leon was exploring the local bushland, keen to identify which plant species would grow best on campus. His research was documented in his book and it informed the look and feel of the stunning UOW campus we see today.

"While we had landscape architects working with us to design the paths and retaining walls, I said 'hands off the plants'. People trusted me to get it right.

"It wasn't without resistance, but most people supported me and when they started seeing the results, that made a difference. Things were starting to look great by the time I left in 1981."

In those six years many thousands of trees had been planted. One of the last before Leon moved on was the magnificent sprawling fig tree which now provides such wonderful shade beside the central pond. That tree was among the many propagated and planted by Leon and his team.

By the time Leon left UOW the entire central area and the first row of buildings surrounding it had been fully planted and was looking fabulous

"I was very fortunate to have been given a free hand and it was good to have that support," Leon said.

So, coming back to the campus 50 years on, how does Leon feel walking through this green oasis? Has his vision been realised?

"I'm really pleased to be able to come here, to see this, and know it's done. If we hadn't, it would have been an opportunity lost."

Leon Fuller is also the co-founder of Growing Illawarra Natives. Read more about the website's recent fifth birthday celebration here