Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

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Rachael is an evolutionary botanist based at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and the University of Melbourne. In 2018 Rachael completed her PhD on the genus Eremophila, where she used genetic sequencing tools to generate the first molecular phylogeny (family tree) for the group. Since then, Rachael has worked with a diverse range of plant groups, but the research questions that drive her work typically combine DNA sequence data with plant morphology and species distributions to better understand the evolutionary history of a plant group or geographic region. Rachael loves being out in the bush, working collaboratively and using research to understand plants, animals and the environment around her.

Monash University

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Kay is a plant evolutionary biologist at Monash University with a long-standing interest in how plants adapt to changing environments. Her research focuses on climate adaptation, invasive species, and the genetic diversity of plant populations, using a combination of fieldwork, experiments, and genomic approaches. She is particularly interested in how this knowledge can be applied to conservation and restoration, including how we can better manage and use native plant diversity in a changing climate. Her work includes studies of Australian native species and grasses, and she enjoys connecting fundamental evolutionary biology with practical outcomes for biodiversity and land management.

Charles Darwin University

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Dr Steve Morton is an Honorary Professorial Fellow with Charles Darwin University in Alice Springs. He is an ecologist who studied at the Universities of Melbourne, California (Irvine) and Sydney. He joined CSIRO in Alice Springs in 1984 to work in the desert environment that has long been his focus. From 2000 to 2010, based in Canberra and Melbourne, he helped lead CSIRO as Chief of Division and Executive Team member. He was responsible during his CSIRO executive career, consecutively, for environment and natural resources, energy, and manufacturing, materials and minerals, as well as stimulating engagement with Indigenous Australians. On retirement from CSIRO, he returned to his original scientific domain, and through work on numerous boards and advisory bodies has used his experience to assist conservation and natural resource management. His recent books are Desert Lake: Art, Science and Stories from Paruku (2013), Ten Commitments Revisited: Securing Australia’s Future Environment (2014), Biodiversity: Science and Solutions for Australia (2014), and Australian Deserts: Ecology and Landscapes (2022).

Charles Darwin University

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Dr Margaret Friedel PSM has been an Adjunct Professor in the Research Institute for Environment & Livelihoods at Charles Darwin University in Alice Springs since 2013. She joined CSIRO Alice Springs in 1974 to research the ecology and management of arid rangelands and since then has explored aspects of range assessment, rehabilitation, tourism, land use planning, policy development and invasive plants. Having retired in 2010, she was appointed an Honorary Fellow with CSIRO Land & Water to 2019 and was made a Fellow of the Australian Rangeland Society in 2017. Marg enjoys writing about rangeland management and engaging with fellow natural history enthusiasts. In recent years she has written about the history of plant invasions – particularly buffel grass – in arid Australia, CSIRO’s 64 years of rangeland research in central Australia and beyond, and the life of Australia’s ‘father of rangelands research’, Ray Perry.

Australian Plants Society of SA

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Hans is currently Vice President of the Australian Plants Society of SA, after having served as President for the last two years. Born in Switzerland, Hans migrated to Canberra for a two-year job and fell in love with Australian plants and the wide open spaces, especially the Outback, which he still traverses as often as possible. In the Adelaide Hills he has established a large garden with a wide variety of native plants on his 10-acre property. As an academic researcher in chemistry he investigated antibacterial and antifungal chemicals extracted from Eremophila species. Now retired, he loves propagating plants, including grafting those that don’t like the local soils.

Bush BBQ, Victoria

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Jude Mayall is an industry advisor, author of The Outback Chef Cookbook and a respected guest speaker, educator and President of Qld Bushfoods.

Her talks and cooking demonstrations celebrate the power and beauty of Australian native bush flavours, embracing their deep cultural roots and highlighting their growing importance in shaping dishes that are distinctly Australian

With over two decades of experience, Jude has collaborated with chefs, cook’s, distillers and organisations as a consultant and demonstrator, showing how native ingredients can be incorporated into everyday cooking and commercial products.

Her work has taken her from outback mine sites to classrooms and culinary colleges, always with a focus on education, sustainability and flavour.

She has worked with Indigenous students at Tiwi College on heathy eating programs, collaborated with the community in Maningrida, Arnhem Land to develop a spice mix and taught the teachers at the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program.

Jude is also a regular educator at William Angliss college in Melbourne where she continues to inspire the next generation of chefs.

Alice Springs Landcare

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Sue Morrish is an active volunteer and site co-ordinator with Alice Springs Landcare. Since 2009 she and Rosalie Breen (along with many other volunteers) have removed buffel from the Spencer Valley area east of Spencer Hill, on the Eastside of Alice Springs.

In the process she has learnt (and sometimes immediately forgotten) a lot of plant names, and helped Rosalie to compile a species list of plants for that area, with support from the NT Herbarium, most recently with Senior Botanist David Albrecht. It has doubled from the first drafts around 100 species to the current draft which has over 230.

Her day jobs in Alice Springs have ranged from working as a linguist at the Institute for Aboriginal Development in the 1990’s to her current role as a midwife in an Aboriginal women’s clinic, and she has never studied botany. But her Chem Cert is current!!

Acacia Study Group

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Bill Aitchison has been Leader of the Acacia Study Group since 2011, and has also been Editor of the Group’s Newsletter since 2007, during which time 64 Newsletters have been produced. His particular interest in Acacias was triggered by his involvement as a member of the Organising Committee for the 2006 FJC Rogers Biennial Seminar on Acacias, Knowing and Growing Australian Wattles. The year 2006 also coincided with his retirement from his job as a Consulting Actuary. He marks his decision to take early retirement as one of the best decisions he has made – it provided so much more opportunity to enjoy gardening, Australian plants and his association with our Society.

Bill and his wife Sue joined the Australian Plants Society Maroondah Group in 1987 and have both occupied various committee roles with that Group (Bill was President from 2001 to 2004). They are both Honorary Life members of the Group. They are also both Honorary Life Members of APS Victoria, for whom they have looked after the Society’s book sales function continuously since 2001.

They have a one acre property in Donvale (an outer eastern suburb of Melbourne) which features many species of Acacia and other native plants, and includes sections devoted to local indigenous plants. They try to provide habitat that is suitable for and welcoming to local wildlife. The garden has featured on the ABC’s Gardening Australia program and has also been open under the Open Gardens Victoria program.

Bill has spoken regularly at various meetings of Australian Plants Society and other groups, often on subjects relating to Acacias but also other topics as well.

APS Alice Springs President

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Suzanne has been the President of the Australian Plants Society Alice Springs for the past four years. Originally from NSW, she has lived for a total of 14 years in the NT where she enjoys the diversity of the environment in all its extremes as, no matter what the weather is doing, there are always native plants to discover and learn about. She has always been interested in plants and, no matter where she has lived, she has wandered around the bush and now describes herself as an 'enthusiastic amateur botanist'.

Australian Pea Flower Study Group

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Shirley has led the Australian Pea Flower Study Group since reviving the group at the Albany conference in 2019. Her love of Australian native plants began 30 years ago, after undertaking a horticultural course to learn about soils and nutrients and consequently joining Pine Rivers Branch of SGAP Queensland. She quickly became obsessed with the desire to know which family each species belongs to, and why. Shirley is intrigued by the diversity of pea-flowered plants and is especially interested in the genus Pultenaea, which has over 120 species.

In 2018, Shirley graduated from the University of New England with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in botany. During her studies, she was accepted to participate in the Volunteer Botanical Training Program at the Australian National Herbarium, where she contributed to the Australian National Botanic Gardens ‘Growing Native Plants’ web page with the horticultural values of the Swan River Pea, Gastrolobium celsianum.

Now permanently settled in Lake Macquarie, she is a member of both the Newcastle and Central Coast groups of APS NSW. When she is not out and about chasing pea flowers, she volunteers at Trees in Newcastle, a not-for-profit community environmental organisation. As a keen citizen scientist, Shirley contributes to the iNaturalist community with observations and identifications.

Eremophila Study Group

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Lyndal has led the Eremophila Study Group since 2015. She is a Life Member of ANPS Canberra Region Inc, having joined it in 1979 when first moving to Canberra for work. Her interest in Eremophila started in 1985 when she bought an Eremophila maculata 'Wendy', a plant which s1ll grows in her Queanbeyan garden. She has a life1me interest in na1ve plants, birds and general ecology, having graduated from Sydney Uni with an Honours degree in ornithology. This didn't provide access to paid employment at the 1me, so her natural history interests con1nued through early involvement with what was then called SGAP, Canberra Ornithologists' Group, Barren Grounds Nature Reserve and many surveys for the then Royal Australian Ornithologists' Union (using pen and paper!). She also held roles on ANPS Canberra's Council for a decade and was Federal Secretary of the then ASGAP in the 1980s. In the last 5 years she has become ac1ve in contribu1ng to both Canberra Nature Mapr and inaturalist and also joins ANPS NSW South East Region field trips with her husband Tom. In the last decade Lyndal and Tom have also discovered the joys of hun1ng Eremophila in the wild, par1cularly in Queensland and western NSW. She is glad that Tom really likes long distance driving.

Australian PlantBank, Botanic Gardens of Sydney

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Ganesha is a Plant Conservation Scientist at the Australian PlantBank and has over nine years of experience in seed ecology and ex situ seed conservation. She has long been passionate about the natural environment and biodiversity conservation. Her research interest in conservation began during her Honours research on the seed biology of invasive species in Sri Lanka. Ganesha later moved to Australia to undertake a PhD at the University of Wollongong, where she studied variation in seed dormancy and its ecological importance in fire-prone ecosystems. Following completion of her PhD, she joined the Australian PlantBank in 2018. Her current research focuses on understanding seed dormancy mechanisms (how to promote germination) and investigating seed storage behaviour in ex situ seedbanks. This work helps identify species suitable for long-term seedbank conservation and those that may require alternative storage strategies.

Adelaide University

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Ilaíne is a plant ecophysiologist interested in understanding the different mechanisms by which plants respond to climate change, particularly to the interactive effects of droughts, heatwaves and fires. Her research combines observational and experimental fieldwork, greenhouse and laboratory experiments, functional trait assessment, process-based modelling, meta-analysis, and outreach engagement with local communities, middle and high schools, and visitors of protected natural areas. Besides researching plants, Ilaíne also loved to paint them in her watercolors.

The University of Queensland

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Melinda is a horticultural researcher whose interests include the domestication of lesser-known Australian plants with ornamental potential.  Her early work involved developing production protocols for species of Ptilotus, Newcastelia and Calandrinia, as well as pollination biology studies to enhance plant breeding efforts.  She has lectured in plant physiology and horticulture production at The University of Queensland and is currently focused on overcoming seed germination barriers in the genus Eremophila for landscape restoration purposes.  When not at work, Melinda can be found re-wilding her home garden in the Lockyer Valley and enjoying the array of local wildlife that it supports.

Gulbali Institute

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Based at CSU’s Gulbali Institute, Dave’s an ecologist developing evidence-based strategies to boost biodiversity.  Originally from Melbourne, he completed his PhD in the USA, studying birds in Central American cloud forests, returning to Australia to teach ornithology and establish his research programme in regional NSW.  Mistletoe has long been a focus, revealing ecological interactions and landscape features critical to maintain diverse and functional ecosystems. He established the Australian Acoustic Observatory, demonstrated the role of mistletoe as a keystone resource, and discovered several new species on tropical mountains. He works with landholders, Indigenous partners and philanthropists to connect people to country.

Northern Territory Herbarium

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David has been working as an Herbarium-based botanist since1983. He has had stints at the Melbourne Herbarium and the Australian National Herbarium, and is currently based at the Alice Springs Herbarium, where he has worked for over 20 years. He is interested in a broad range of botanical topics including plant taxonomy, floras and other identification aids, vegetation survey and ecology, threatened species, weed ecology and vegetation management.  

Adelaide University

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Dr Kate Delaporte is part of the group of UoA researchers developing and strengthening understanding of First Nations food and botanicals and their future role in horticulture, food and medicine production, ecosystem conservation, and most recently, in building resilience into pastoral grazing systems.  She has a long history working with Australian flora such as Banksia and Eucalypts, and has extensive knowledge of research, development and the pathways to commericalisation of Australian plants. Kate has established strong connections with Uncle Yuandamarra from Red Centre Enterprises https://www.red-centre.com.au/. Yuandamarra Kiely is a respected Bundjalung and Yiman Elder, Medicine and Traditional Lore-man who helps Aboriginal communities across Australia. In her spare time, Kate is the Curator of the Waite Arboretum and Waite Conservation Reserve, and a senior lecturer at the Adelaide University in Horticulture

Adelaide University

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Rebecca is a PhD Candidate who is digging into the effects of livestock on soil ecological processes in Australia's arid rangelands. Her project utilises the TGB Osborn (Koonamore) Vegetation Reserve, a unique site that has been free from livestock for 100 years, as an ecological baseline to compare with neighbouring grazed land in South Australia's arid rangelands.

Rebecca is passionate about revitalising interest in this under-recognised site and demonstrating how grazing exclusion reserves have immense value for understanding arid ecosystem function, with benefits for both conservation and pastoral land management.

Huntington Botanical Gardens

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Kathy started at The Huntington as Assistant Botanist in July 1982 and became Botanist in January 1983, a position changed to Curator of Living Collections in 1985 and Senior Curator of Living Collections in 2024. She is responsible for overall curation of the non-succulent living plant collections including acquisition, development, landscape siting, tracking, mapping, and identification of plants. She has served on the boards of several horticultural organizations.

Kathy has traveled widely worldwide to see plants in their native habitats and has led several natural history tours. She has a particular love for Australian flora, fauna, natural history, and geology, and has travelled all over Australia on a dozen trips since 1980. In 2025 she visited the Kimberley, the Top End, and the Centre; this will be her third visit to the Centre.

Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation

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Albert is a plant science researcher specialising in plant biotechnology and tissue culture. His research background spans a variety of agricultural and conservation applications, including experience in cereals gene-editing and physiology, as well as the development of plant tissue culture platforms for recalcitrant grass species and woody perennials. His research addresses critical challenges in plant science, focusing on developing and applying innovative techniques to enhance crop improvement and conservation, particularly in the context of climate change and food security. Currently, he is leveraging his expertise in plant tissue culture to focus on native plant preservation, applying advanced laboratory techniques to support critical conservation efforts. He is also working with industry partners in developing low-emissions forage grass for cattle feed.