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Appropriately
Pink The
recent drought has caused many Australians to take a closer look at living
in an arid environment. Olive Pink, a figure from the past, chose to
embrace rather than combat the natural dryness of the desert. Her legacy,
the botanic garden by the usually-dry Todd River in Alice Springs, offers
both relaxation and education for today’s visitors and future
generations. Upon
entering the front gate of the Olive Pink Botanic Garden, visitors
immediately sense serenity. Reaching the modest visitor centre and café
and reading the wall boards with information about Olive Pink and arid
Central Australia, they know why this place is so pure: Miss Pink would
have wanted it this way. Miss
Olive Pink is well known to many Australians as an exceptionally
determined woman who worked with Central Australian Aborigines and for
their rights. However, less
known are her efforts on behalf of botany and native plants in this arid
zone. Clarry
Smith, garden curator since 1990, says: “Most of the other botanic
gardens in Australia started with European and other exotic plants.
Miss Pink was one of the first people to recognize that local,
native plants were so important; not that they should be shown to the
exclusion of the exotic plants, but alongside them.” Today,
the reserve contains 300-400 different species of plants and trees,
specially planted over the years. In addition, there are also many
naturally-occurring plants and trees.
The hand-written labels of the past have been replaced with
engraved aluminum plaques, showing the scientific and common names. The
garden is filled with River Red Gums and boasts other trees such as the
Mulga and the Ironwood. Grasses are also featured throughout the landscape
and include Kangaroo, Lemon-scented, Purple Plumed, Queensland Bluegrass
and many others. Surrounding
the quiet waterhole are the rare Palm Valley Palms, which are only
sparsely located throughout Central Australia.
Flowers found in the garden include the Sandover Lily, many types
of native Fuchsias and the beautiful Desert Rose. The garden also contains
many rare species, such as the Desert Bottlebrush, Waddy Wood Tree and the
fruit-producing Quandong Tree. This
botanic reserve is home to native animals, including the Black Footed Rock
Wallaby and the Hill Kangaroo, as well as many birds and insects.
These creatures feel at home in the native landscape of the garden. Mr.
Smith says the garden aims to cultivate awareness by collecting a great
range of native plants in one place for people to see and appreciate. He
notes: “Native
plants are well adapted to this climate and some are adapted to the
salinity that is such a problem in Australia.
Many of these native plants would even be on the front line to
re-vegetate areas hurt by salinity.” He
suggests people consider the value of local, natural plants, grasses and
trees. Whether in Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, an Aboriginal community or
on a cattle station, he says,
there is natural vegetation specific to that area that can be grown,
valued and used to enhance the surroundings. “Miss
Pink worked very hard to ensure that the title for the land was correct
and in place. She did the
best she could to develop the gardens in her 20 years. Watering would have
been hard because there was a drought. She had to source seeds by writing
to other botanic gardens, local people and surrounding stations. She
worked very hard to just start this reserve,” Mr. Smith says.
Assisted by full-blood Aboriginal gardeners, Miss Pink worked on
cultivating the land for the preservation and display of native plants. In
old age, she tilled a large garden around her sparse little home and
planted many trees but was unable to work on much of the land in the rest
of the reserve. After
her death at the age of 91, the garden was renamed the Olive Pink Flora
Reserve and its management passed to
the Forestry Branch of the Northern Territory Administration. In
the late 1970s, the Olive Pink Board of Trustees, a seven-member body of prominent members of the Alice Springs community
and representatives from the Conservatorium Commission of the NT, was
established and has since managed and maintained the garden. Compared
with the previous year, the number of visitors to the garden in 2002
nearly doubled to 20,000. Born
from the vision of one woman and upheld since by many volunteers, the
Olive Pink Botanic Garden continues to grow.
Mr. Smith reflects: “Miss Pink wasn’t a lady of means. All she was able to do was begin the work and project how she
thought the place should go. But
I think that today the garden is very, very close to what she envisioned.
I think she would be proud.”
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