Science with the WOW factor

The Australian PlantBank at The Australian Botanic Gardens Mt Annan (I Willis)

 

The new Australian PlantBank at The Australian Botanic Gardens Mt Annan

The brand new shiny science facility that was recently opened at The Australian Botanic Garden at Mt Annan certainly has the wow factor a plenty. Lots of stainless steel, concrete and glass gives the new laboratory the smik slick look. The world class leader in the collection and preservation of Australian native flora provides an example of how science can be done in this country. With the combination of leading edge research, technical expertise and community engagement this facility is a model for other science infrastructure in Australia.



Exterior of PlantBank (I Willis)

The general public certainly gave the new building the wow seal of approval on the tours of the state of the art laboratories and seed bank. The public have the opportunity to take guided tours of the building. There are conference rooms, meetings rooms and educational facilities for kindergarten through high school and university to post-graduate and the general community.


John leading a group of visitors (I Willis)

On the recent open day tours were led by John Siemon, the enthusiastic project manager, his staff, and volunteers from the Friends of the Botanic Gardens. John's energy and passion for the facility provided a cut-through commentary of the role of the PlantBank, while not dumbing down the technical aspects of plant science. He provided a refreshing clarity to the science while engaging the members of the general public who peppered him with questions about the Wollemi Pine to agar.


The PlantBank building provides an architectural statement about the endangered Cumberland Woodland that surrounds the facility. The building is designed not only to protect the plant vaults, but to be fire resistant. It is a post-modern statement in concrete, stainless steel and glass. The striking lines of the building provide a symbosis with its environment and is an aesthetic extension of the woodland that surrounds it. The building emerges out of the woodland, like the majestic red gums around it, as you approach either on foot. The building makes a statement, an announcement, to the visitor that matches its confidence. The architects BVN Donovan Hill have, according to the website, used a

metaphor to communicate that broad conceptual idea that 'PlantBank is positioned globally as a symbol of the preservation of the natural cycle from the germination of seed to the propagation of forests'. It does so from the large scale siting strategy through to the selection of materials and detailing.

Diversity Wall located near the reception desk of PlantBank (I Willis)

This is supported by the warmth of the timber interior veneers of mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) that contrast with the clinical efficiency of the glass and stainless steel.


The Macarthur region has certainly gained a magnificent addition to the gardens, which are the most visited tourist attraction in the area. Visitors with be able to take guided tours (at a cost) or self-guided tours when the PlantBank is open to the general public.

The PlantBank is a globally important facility in the Macarthur region and illustrates the global significance of Australian science. According the PlantBank website, the:

PlantBank incorporates modern world-class research laboratories, seed storage facilities, climate controlled glasshouse infrastructure and specialised teaching laboratories. The facilities at PlantBank complement those associated with the National Herbarium of New South Wales at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. PlantBank can accommodate 50 research staff, students and local and international collaborative researchers at any one time. The interactive educational space can host several hundred students and visitors simultaneously. PlantBank will become a leading institution for education in plant science, invigorating the visitor experience through interactions with research findings and scientists giving valuable information on the important role of plants in our lives.

Eerieness of the 'Blue Room' (I Willis)

 Visitors can take in the eerieness of the 'blue room' adjacent to the cryo-storage areas where some plants are stored at -196^°C. These are next to the seed vault freezer where dried seeds are kept at

-20°C. Inspect the seedling that has grown from a 100 year old seed. Amazing considering the conditions it was kept in. At the Diversity Wall view the an example of the worlds largest seed pod from the Seychelles. What does it remind you of? 

When are you going to visit this exciting addition to Australia's cutting edge scientific facility at The Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan? 

Read more @   The Australian PlantBank at The Australian Botanic Garden Mt Annan

 

Cumberland Plain Woodland, Sydney's natural heritage

Cumberland Plain Woodland (cc Wikimedia)

What good is Cumberland Plain Woodland you might ask?

The early settlers in the Sydney Basin might not have understood the ecology of the Cumberland Woodland but they knew good farming country when they saw it. John Macarthur understood the potential of the good grazing country on the Nepean River floodplain.

The cows that escaped from the Sydney penal settlement found their nirvana in Cumberland Woodland managed by the Dharawal people in the Cowpastures.

Elizabeth Macarthur Onslow saw the importance of the Cumberland Woodland in 1905 when she insisted the mature specimens with the bounds of Macarthur Park be preserved when she gifted the park to Camden township.

It is clearly shown in the Appin district on Sydney's rural-urban fringe, where the Woodland comes up against the Sydney sandstone communities.

Just east of Appin the colonial settlements of the early 1800s stopped. Why? Sydney sandstone is terrible farmland. Better to use the clay soils of the Cumberland Woodland.

There are the clay soils of the Cumberland Woodland between Appin and Campbelltown and a host of land grants handed out to would-be yeoman farmers from about 1813.

These colonial land grants created a pseudo-European cultural landscape of smallholder farms on the colonial frontier. There was a conflict between the Dharawal and the Europeans that resulted in the Appin Massacre of 1816.

There are surviving remnant patches of Woodland at Beulah, a Hume family property, now owned by the Sydney Living Museum and at Noorumba Reserve at Rosemeadow.

One important stand that has had recovery work is at The Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan.

Cumberland Woodland (ABG)

Cumberland Plain Woodland in Serious Trouble



Cumberland Woodland Mt Annan (cc Blogger/A Koskela)

Extent

The Cumberland Woodland is found on clay soils derived from Wianamatta Group geology of Sydney's Cumberland Plain. Where once it covered over 100,000 hectares it is a mere skerrick of its former glory.

Today Cumberland Woodland barely covers 6,000 hectares of Sydney's Cumberland Plain. That is less than 6 per cent of the original area.

The Woodland is indigenous to the Camden, Campbelltown and Wollondilly Local Government Areas and the catchments within them including the Nepean River and South Creek.

Critically Endangered

In New South Wales under the Threatened Species Conservation Act the Woodland proposed to be listed as critically endangered. The Woodland is highly fragmented across the Cumberland Plain.

Threats

The Woodland is under threat from clearing, fire and grazing associated with urban development, industry and farming. Invasive weed infestation is a major problem in remnant Woodland.

One common weed is African Olive which escaped from the gentry estates of the Camden district in the 1820s where it was introduced as a hedging plant and rootstock for olives.

 

Common Species

Grey Box, Forest Red Gum, Narrow-leafed Ironbark, Grey Ironbark, Narrow-leaved Stringybark, Spotted Gum and Black Wattle.

 Best Viewing

The best viewing in the local area is at The Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan.

More reading

NPWS, Cumberland Plain Woodland Fact Sheet, Endangered Ecological Community Information,  2004.

Originally posted 1 September 2013. Updated 8 August 2020.