As part of the Volunteer team at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney Paul designs and leads bespoke tours for visitors and specialist groups.
With over 25 + years working as a horticulturist curating diverse collections such as: palms, camellias, begonias, succulents and Australian rainforest plants. He also instigated and helped develop the Cadi Jam Ora – First Encounters garden and Spring Walk and Palm Grove restoration programs. Paul has a honours degree in history and a special interest in the history of botanic gardens and Australian garden history.
What is your favourite thing about your job? Working with plants and passionate people and being the conduit between the two. Helping our volunteers understand the unique stories our plants and gardens can tell and watching the reaction of visitors when they hear these stories.
What motivates you at Royal Botanic Garden Sydney? Helping people understand that plants are central to their lives, that plants are interesting, exciting, engaging and the more time you spend with plants the happier you are likely to be.
How long have you been at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney and what is your history with the organisation? I started as a horticultural apprentice in 1993 and have been at RBGS ever since. Working until 2015 in horticulture and since then with volunteer programs. I have received two Foundation and Friends scholarships. One to research Children’s Gardens in the USA and one to work on the Palm collections at Fairchild Tropical Garden and the Montgomery Botanical Estate in Florida, USA.
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