From the Lord Mayor's Office
Watering the potential of our Botanic Garden
A beautiful spring morning in the Wollongong Botanic Garden was the perfect way to celebrate our community’s inspirational women.
On Wednesday 19 November, I was joined by an amazing group of women to celebrate one year of the ‘Inspirational Women’ Rose.
I'm honoured to be joined again this year by local Rotarian Dorothy 'Dot' Hennessy OAM and Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley who was part of the inspiration for this annual event.
In 2024, Dot introduced the rose as an ode to the inspirational women in our community whose contributions make Wollongong a special place to live and visit.
We dedicated the first anniversary to the aspiring and advancing young females at Wollongong City Council who are part of the Cadet, Apprenticeship and Traineeship (CATs) program.
More than 40% of Council’s CATs are female and work across a broad range of divisions – from libraries to civil engineering, city planning to business administration – and they’re all making their mark.
We also had three of Council’s female Directors present, Joanne Page (Infrastructure and Works), Renee Campbell (Corporate Services) and Kerry Hunt (Community Services) with Linda Davis (Environment and Planning) sending her apologies.
It was a wonderful display of women flourishing at different stages of their careers and a reminder of the role we play in uplifting each other to do good.
Upon my visit, I was also able to congratulate the Botanic Garden staff on the Wollongong Botanic Garden Masterplan being green lit at last Monday 17 November’s Council meeting. A special mention to the Botanic Garden’s Curator Felicity Skoberne whom was one of the initial inspirations for Dot’s rose.
It is a great achievement for Council to get this plan to this stage. It sets out an aspiring 10-year plan filled with many ambitious and exciting projects and programs. Aligned to this, the Gleniffer Brae Conservation Management Plan has also been endorsed by Heritage NSW.
Council’s passionate staff take great care of the Botanic Garden, as well as playing an important role in conservation for future generations. This includes preserving several rare, threatened and endangered species.
From managing different collections to offering regular education programs, they make every visitor’s experience a memorable one. I’m keen to see how this plan can support their important work into the future.
Our community made their voice count during the exhibition to help inform the final Masterplan. The most popular feedback was for a café – and I do agree on this one – I’m already looking forward to when I can have scones and tea after a delightful walk through the Garden!
