Townsville

Meetings

Our meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month in Oonoonba Community Hall, 2 Shannon St., Oonoonba commencing 7pm, where we have a regular programme of speakers, presentations and ‘show and tell’ to suit the native plant enthusiast.

We also conduct monthly outings, which vary from visits to local parks and gardens, to more ambitious outings such as the Burra Range, Paluma and Mt Zero. These locations encompass a wide variety of environments and plants, which reflect the enormous diversity of the Australian flora.

Please visit our website, where some of these destinations are featured.

Members

Most of our members are keen propagators of local plants and our gardens generally boast a wealth of drought-proof plants that can survive our often-extended dry season. The ‘show and tell’ segment of our meeting is proof that not only we do we have a magnificent range, but also a keen sense of competition!

We publish a monthly newsletter for members, ‘The Native Gardener’.

Contact

For more details on current events please contact John Elliott at townsville@npq.org.au

Projects

In 1972, our first book ‘Native Plants for the Townsville area’ was published by a group of early members, and this tradition of publishing has continued, with our most successful book being ‘Across the Top; Gardening with Australian Plants’ by Keith Townsend.

Other titles available for sale from our branch are 'Field Guide to Plants of the Dry Tropics' and ‘Plants of the Burra Range’, a new (2021) publication by Betsy Jackes, a well illustrated guide to this wilderness on our doorstep. Available from us by using the contact details above.

History

Founded in 1970, Townsville Branch is the oldest regional Native Plants Queensland branch. It provides a focal point for people interested in propagating, growing and appreciating our unique native flora.

We recently celebrated our 50th Anniversary and were very happy to share this with some of our longest serving members, John Donohue, Betsy Jackes, and Don Glasgow, all of whom joined in 1970, and are still active participants. Still learning!