Burrendong Botanic Garden and Arboretum, near Wellington in Central NSW celebrated its 60th Anniversary last year. The last decade had been tough - the cessation of recurrent State Government funding resulting in chronic staffing shortages, the savage drought of 2017-2020, and COVID all took a major toll on the state of the living collections, and the viability of this iconic garden. With a severely depleted Board and Friends cohort, the future looked very bleak indeed. Until BBGA BEYOND60 – an ambitious plan to reinvigorate the Board and Friends membership, secure infrastructure and operational funding, and critically, review the BBGA Living Collections Plan.
A Living Collections Working Group has been established, led by John Arnott and comprising botanic gardens luminaries from the Australian National Botanic Gardens, the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney and BGANZ NSW along with key stakeholders, staff and board members. We are delighted to note that BBGA will be using the BGANZ Living Collections Toolkit to guide discussions and set in place living collection initiatives and directions for the future.
While the outcomes of the Living Collection Plan review are not known at the time of writing this abstract, they will be by the time of the Congress. And one thing is for sure - it will be nothing if not interesting. Presented by BBGA Beyond60 Project Manager, Rachel Mac Smith this presentation will provide a snapshot of what it was like for this much loved regional botanic garden to undertake planning for the future.