DEDICATION to protecting his beloved flora has reaped some rewards for Tamworth’s Bill Hardin, who was presented with the Australian Plant Society 2015 Conservation Award last weekend.
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But the bigger reward, according to the veteran conservationist, is watching his rare and threatened species garden plot at Tamworth’s botanical gardens flourish.
“I’ve always been interested in saving lots of flora that is becoming rare and endangered. And not only flora, I’m also interested in threatened animal specials – I was also a member of WIRES for some time,” he said.
Mr Hardin was presented with his award by Australian Plant Society Tamworth Group vice-president Martin O’Rourke during a garden walk at Loomberah at the weekend.
For some years now, Mr Hardin has been travelling throughout the North West, northern tablelands and western plains districts, gathering seeds and cuttings of various species.
“We get a list of endangered species throughout this area from the National Parks and Wildlife Service. We propagate them and get them going in the plot at the botanic gardens. The drought over recent years has made it a bit difficult, but they’re looking good now,” he said.
While the garden plot has many varied species, probably the most notable in Mr Hardin’s eyes is the asteralasia.
“It’s only found in the Dungowan area, and is commonly known as the Dungowan star. There aren’t many left in the wild,” he said.
Mr Hardin, who’s also a life member of the Australian Plant Society, is hoping the garden will “be ongoing forever”, but, due to ill health, has handed over the running reins to vice-president Martin O’Rourke.
In nominating him, the Tamworth branch outlined Mr Hardin’s considerable achievements for the branch, Mr O’Rourke said.
“Bill has been the inspiration and driving force behind the Tamworth Threatened Species Project at the Tamworth Botanical Gardens,” he said.
“The aim of the group was to preserve threatened species from the NSW northern tablelands, the north-western slopes and the North West plains. This was to be achieved by establishing a place where threatened plant species can be grown in a safe environment that can hopefully create a genetic pool of plants away from the site where the threatened species occur naturally.”
