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 In
late 1999 a Centenary of Federation Grant of $15,000 was awarded to
The Friends of The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden, Port Augusta
Inc to enable new development work to be undertaken at the Garden.This is one of many projects being undertaken around Australia to commemorate the Centenary of Federation. The money has been utilised to develop sections of the AALBG where representative plantings featuring various botanical regions of the southern arid zone of Australia have been planted. These include the Flinders Ranges, Gawler Ranges, and West Coast and Mallee area of far western SA. A section featuring rare plants and another displaying clay pan vegetation is also being established. The work has been undertaken by the Senior Gardener and Apprentice Gardener with help from Friends volunteers, Skill Share workers, Council employees and some contract labour. Friends volunteers
have been on plant collecting expeditions to collect seed, cuttings
and plants for these new plantings. Plants have been propagated and
grown on at the Garden, the new planting areas prepared and drip irrigation
installed, plants planted, fertilized, mulched and labelled and gravel
paths established. Fertilizer was donated by WMC Hi-Fert. The areas
planted were cleared of competing growth to give new plants a chance
to establish, but existing low cover plants were retained to stabilise
soil and help protect new plantings. Within two to three years these
recently planted areas will take shape as new plantings grow and become
more obvious. A brochure describing
the work which has been achieved using this grant funding, and some
interpretive signage describing each of the new regional plantings
will soon be completed and these will feature the Centenary of Federation
logo. The grant funding
was the catalyst resulting in the development of these new areas at
the Garden. The new areas will be improved and further developed as
Council’s Garden budget and other funding allows. John Zwar November 2001
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