Adina Oosterwijk

Adina Oosterwijk at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney supports diverse community garden sites across Greater Sydney, as part of the award-winning Community Greening program.

Her primary responsibilities include collaborating with social housing providers, community groups, and education centres to build community gardens and green communal spaces that benefit vulnerable people. 

People, plants, and places are three of Adina’s favourite things, and she views every day she gets to spend outdoors – with her hands in the soil, bringing green vitality to common spaces – as a treat. Adina holds a Bachelor of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences, a Certificate III in Urban Horticulture, and a Permaculture Design Certificate. She received the Outstanding Student for Certificate III in Horticulture award and believes strongly in the role of horticultural therapy in healing and restoration. 

Adina also specialized in child development and nature-based education for people of all ages and she is passionate about using plants as a medium to bridge cultures and people of different backgrounds together around the shared joy of growing plants. She loves designing and supporting sustainable green spaces focused on building soil and creating optimal conditions for ecological diversity. 

A typical day for Adina involves visiting a garden in the morning and a garden in the afternoon, delivering workshops, coordinating working bees, and connecting with gardeners across Sydney. Her most cherished memory from work is planting fruit trees with a diverse group of women and writing the names of the trees in the many languages represented in the group. 

Her vision for the future of Botanic Gardens of Sydney is that it continues to play a vital role in safeguarding plants for our future and engaging people in this important work.