17 September 2013
MEDIA RELEASE
$1.25 MILLION TO BENEFIT SCIENCE AND CHILDREN AT ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS
This week Professor Tim Entwisle celebrated six months in the job as Director and Chief
Executive of Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens with a significant funding boost of $1.25 million
to the Gardens’ science program and to its much loved Children’s Garden.
Of the new funds, almost $1 million was raised by the Gardens through private donations to the
Pauline Ladiges Plant Systematics Research Fellowship, a joint endowment funded by the Royal
Botanic Gardens Foundation and The University of Melbourne’s School of Botany Foundation
who will match the funds raised by the Royal Botanic Gardens.
The inaugural Fellow, Dr Tanja Schuster, will strengthen the Royal Botanic Gardens’ plant
science and biodiversity team, tackling what is often called the ‘taxonomic impediment’. As
evidenced by the recent discovery of a new genus and family of algae (named Entwisleia after
Prof Entwisle), there are huge gaps in our knowledge of the Australian flora and fauna.
“By employing more taxonomists such as Dr Schuster, we can not only make startling
discoveries about our natural world but also deliver to the Government and community groups
the information they need to manage our environment in a time of accelerated climate change.”
Prof. Entwisle said.
A further $265,000 has been generously donated by The Ian Potter Foundation for an expansion
of the ever-popular Ian Potter Foundation Children’s Garden in time for its 10th anniversary in
2014. The Children’s Garden has just recorded its best yearly attendance ever with more than
248,000 visitors up to June 2013.
Prof Entwisle joined the Gardens in March 2013, part way through a record-breaking attendance
year for the entire Royal Botanic Gardens, with more than 2 million people visiting both sites.
“The record numbers were helped by the flowering of the rare Titan Arum (Amorphophallus
titanum) at Christmas, drawing more than 20,000 eager visitors to Gardens - and many
thousands more to our social media sites. The opening of the final stage of the Australian
Garden in October 2012 was also a big draw card, with numbers for Cranbourne Gardens up by
35 per cent from last year.”
“The first six months have been an exciting time for me, ramping up our public profile and starting
a conversation with Melbourne about what they expect from their botanic garden” Prof Entwisle
said. “To have the ringing endorsement of more visitors than ever and now this extremely
generous support from donors and The Ian Potter Foundation, it’s clear we are already doing
something right”.
As a taste of things to come, the last six months have also seen the installation of photovoltaic
cells on seven of the buildings at Melbourne Gardens to offset the running of the Gardens’ water
recycling program, 80 commemorative labels on trees planted by significant public figures over
the last 166 years, and preparations for punting to start on the Ornamental Lake in late spring.
The next six months promises even more with a major upgrade of Fern Gully in the Melbourne
Gardens, a new music event in early October and by year’s end a new vision for the Royal
Media enquiries: Katie O’Brien (03) 9252 2470 or 0409 507 485
www.rbg.vic.gov.au
17 September 2013
MEDIA RELEASE
Botanic Gardens to set it up for the next two decades. “You can be sure science and children will
be part of that vision!” Prof Entwisle said.
BACKGROUND
Record numbers
In all, 2,006,670 visitors (1,810,687 at RBG Melbourne and 195,983 at RBG Cranbourne) visited
the Gardens including 155,177 at the Australian Garden, 248,180 at The Ian Potter Foundation
Children’s Garden, and 28,380 students at both sites.
Pauline Ladiges Plant Systematics Research Fellowship
The Pauline Ladiges Plant Systematics Research Fellowship is a joint fellowship between the
Gardens and the School of Botany at The University of Melbourne. It was named in honour of
Professor Pauline Ladiges AO FAA, who retired in 2010 after 18 years as Head of Botany at The
University of Melbourne and is currently an Honorary Associate of the Royal Botanic Gardens.
Dr Tanja Schuster joins the Herbarium this week as the inaugural Fellow. Dr Schuster is a
systematist working on the plant families Polygonaceae and Polygalaceae (her PhD was on
Muehelenbeckia, a well-known genus in Australia). Systematics is the science of discovering and
naming (taxonomy) the diversity of species and interpreting that diversity in an evolutionary
framework.
Children’s Garden expansion
Since opening in 2004, the Children’s Garden has become a much-loved iconic play space for
Melburnians. Its unique, child-focussed design has inspired other nature-based play spaces
around Victoria and it has also become internationally recognised as a leading example of a
children’s garden that nurtures children’s interaction with nature. The funds donated by the Ian
Potter Foundation will build a new education area called the ‘Gathering Space’ which includes a
small passive water feature nestled under a Banana Forest with extra seating and shade trees
for school groups. The funding will also be directed toward a new interactive art installation and
enhancements to water management as well as existing facilities.
– ENDS –
Media enquiries: Katie O’Brien (03) 9252 2470 or 0409 507 485
www.rbg.vic.gov.au