Latest News from the Friends

29 November, 2019
Welcome to the December Newsletter with all the latest from the Friends of Kings Park.

Find out about news and upcoming events at the Friends of Kings Park. Highlights include another successful Plant Sale, the upcoming Aboriginal Art Workshop and a volunteer opportunity with the Growing Friends. Not to mention recognising our long-standing members, our Book of the Month, a Climate Watch update and the perfect Christmas present for friends and family!

In this issue

November Plant Sale

Our final Plant Sale for the year was a wonderful success. Many people ventured out on the warm weekend to stock their gardens with beautiful natives and helped raise over $27,000 for the Friends!

Thank you to our amazing Nursery team who worked so hard to have so many plants ready for sale, and to our volunteers who worked tirelessly on the day to make the plant sale a success! We look forward to next year’s Plant Sales on these dates – mark your diaries:

  • Sunday 15th March 2020 9am – 12:30pm
  • Sunday 31st May 2020 9am – 12:30pm
  • Saturday 12th September 2020 9am – 4pm and Sunday 13th September 2020 9am – 12:30pm
  • Sunday 8th November 2020 9am – 12:30pm

The Friends of Kings Park would like to wish all our members a safe and happy holiday season. Our office will be closed from 20th December 2019 to 14th January 2020. We look forward to seeing you again in the New Year!

Aboriginal Art Workshop

An exclusive opportunity for our members to learn all about Aboriginal Art and Culture with Michelle Kickett. Learn more about Michelle here.

The Friends will be hosting a members only Aboriginal Art Workshop on Sunday 1st December, 1-4pm, at Wanju Marr. Learn all about Aboriginal Art and Culture from Michelle Kickett in our beautiful new volunteer facility,

Tickets available only through Trybooking, $50pp
Limited places available
Book your ticket by 25th November

Book your ticket to the Aboriginal Art Workshop

Growing Friends Volunteer Opportunity

The Growing Friends are looking for members who are fit and healthy, willing to work outdoors in all weather, are friendly, self-motivated, have high attention to detail, able to work in small groups and willing to get their hands dirty. Volunteers will be expected to attend at least two sessions a month. Only the Saturday morning/afternoon sessions are available. Interviews will take place on Saturday, 21 December 2019.

For this group, you must be a Friends of Kings Park member. If the position is of interest to you, the first step is to email the Volunteer Coordinator at [email protected] with your name, relevant experience and a brief description of how you could support the Growing Friends. Then the Volunteer Coordinator will send you further information.

Membership Acknowledgments

As we finish 2019 we’d like to acknowledge our long-standing members who have supported the Friends by being a member for 10, 15, 20 and an amazing 25 years!

The work of the Friends can’t be undertaken without the support of our members – you make it all possible.
THANK YOU!

25 years membership

David Purser
Lynette Purser
Peter Davies
Edwina Davies Ward

Staff:

Jenny Sutton

Timothy Yates
Anne Yates
Diana Atkinson
Martin Revell

20 years membership

Margaret Thomas
Ken Frankish
Elizabeth Frankish
Sally Edmonds
Betty Forbes
Barbara Baxendale

Jenny Hart
Win Lucas
Ethel Lucas
Kent Egerton-Warburton
Mary Egerton-Warburton

15 years membership

Jill Hughes
Muriel Bassanelli
Alexander Hew
Rosalind Hew
Vivian Morton
Dianne Morton
Carol Newton-Smith
Caroline Cohen
Valma Nelson
Jan Garthwaite
Leta Liwszyc
Vernon Martin

Oliver Mark
Sophie Mark
Steve Hopper
Bob Kelliher
Michael Ewing
Megan Ewing
Bill Grant
Moira Grant
Nan Broad
Helen Scott
Joan Buchner
Merilyn Burbidge

10 years membership

Hazel Morton
Jennifer Bryant
Margaret Inglis
Rita Tognini
Michael Alpers
Deborah Lehmann
Veronica Newbury
Ronda Beck
Regina Flugge
Miriam Fardon

Staff: 
Marcello Campisi
Praful Umaretiya
Trish Esslemont
James Barber
Marty Brotherson
Christina Carey

Peter Buckman
Margaret Buckman
Liz Farquhar
Jennifer Rose
Michael Pennington
Jennifer Byrne
Wendy Peace
David Mynott
Rose Chaney
James Leighton

The Friends would also like to acknowledge the following staff who should have been acknowledged last year. Apologies for the oversight!

25 years
Grady Brand
Eric Bunn
Keran Keys
Peter Nguyen
Luke Sweedman

15 years
Ian Biddle
Neil Pearse
10 years
Ben Miller
Charlotte Vaughan

Membership Database – Request for Quote

The Friends of Kings Park has recently published an open tender for the provision of a customer management database. If you, or someone you know, has a company that would like to put in a quote for this work we would love to hear from you.

We have grown out of our existing database and are looking for a friendly and competent service provider, to help us manage all the aspects of what we do – specifically membership, payments, donations, communications, and recording volunteer hours.

The full documentation is available at Tenderlink and Australian Tenders, or by request from the Friends office ([email protected]).

The closing date for the submission of quotes is Thursday 5 December.

Friends Calendar – selling fast!

The Friends of Kings Park 2020 calendar is selling fast at Aspects. Don’t miss out on your copy!

With beautiful, high-quality photographs the calendar would make great Christmas gift for friends who appreciate Western Australia’s beautiful and unique wildflowers. And all proceeds from the sale of the calendar go straight to the Friends, to support important projects within Kings Park.

Show your Friends membership card in-store at Aspects to receive a 15% discount off the retail price. It is also available through the Friends office, click below to download an order form or visit the Aspects website to order online.

Don’t miss out – make sure you purchase your copy soon!

Download the Calendar order form here

Book of the Month

A Jewel in the Crown of a Global Biodiversity Hotspot – Hans Lamber (ed)

South-western Australia is region of exquisite landscapes and unique plants, animals and fungi. It was recognised in 2000 as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, based on its highly diverse, endemic and threatened flora.

The Greater Perth region is particularly well-known for its species richness and endemism, being home to numerous Declared Rare Flora (DRF) and Priority species as well as Threatened Ecological Communities (TEC). The area of the proposed Yule Brook Regional Park is a veritable epicentre of biodiversity but is under real threat from encroaching development.

To be able to conserve threatened plant species, the numerous animal and fungi that depend upon them and the habitats they live in, we need to understand their functioning both in the past and present.

‘A Jewel in the Crown of a Global Biodiversity Hotspot’ has been assembled using current research and understanding about the geology, hydrology, soils, flora, fauna, fungi, archaeology, history and other aspects relevant for the establishment of a first-class Regional Park.

Those who worked to complete this book represent a much larger group determined that the region will be enhanced and protected as a Regional Park. Current development does not acknowledge the complex hydrology of the area or provide the substantial buffer zones required, We need Yule Brook Regional Park now to preserve this rich and rare place for the future before it is too late.

Edited by Hans Lambers with cover illustration by Philippa Nikulinsky.

Find the book online at Aspects

Climate Watch

Bushland Nature Trail Group Walk Wednesday 20/11/19
On a mild late spring morning saw seven ClimateWatchers (one new to Group) happily engaged in gathering valuable phenophases data on trail’s native plants.

Eight of the nine nominated plants/trees on this trail are not flowering. Only the Slender Banksia (Banksia attenuata) has started flowering. Conditions are dry but they are doing well.

That was our last ClimateWatch walk for the year. We like to thank everyone who had attended our walks and getting involved in this worthwhile project throughout 2019. Your efforts are greatly valued and appreciated. We hope you had enjoyed it too and will continue to support the project in the new year.

Happy ClimateWatching!

What’s on in December

VMG Dig it with Coffee: Native Gardens Advice
Wednesday 4 Dec
Between 10 and 11.30 am at Zamia Café
Bookings essential: call the Kings Park Master Gardeners on 9480 3672, email [email protected] or visit Kings Park Events Calendar: Dig it with Coffee

Bushland Carers
Check the Bushland Carers 2019 Volunteer Program Calendar, under the Volunteering page on our website