Jude Wright is the Herbarium Volunteer Coordinator at the Botanic Gardens of Sydney.
Based at the National Herbarium of New South Wales located at Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan, Jude brings expertise in herbarium specimen care and volunteer management to her role.
Since 2008, Jude has coordinated and run the Volunteer Specimen Mounting Program with a job-sharing colleague and has been in the role full-time since 2023. With specific skills in the care, arrangement, mounting, and restoration of herbarium specimens, Jude oversees four teams of skilled and dedicated volunteers, and ensures safe handling and high standards of curatorial procedure. Recruiting, training, and working closely with volunteers are also key aspects of her role, fostering committed and productive teams.
A typical day for Jude is enjoyable and productive, training and conversing with volunteers while working on herbarium specimens can be social but also mindful and immersive. Working with a wide range of specimens, Jude meticulously prepares them for mounting, and transfers their historic field notes and labels onto archival boards – tasks that bring her satisfaction and give her a chance to reflect on the specimens’ history and transformation. She considers it a privilege to care for such a significant research collection and takes pride in the work she produces.
Having grown up in nature, Jude's love for the natural world influenced her pursuit of a career in the industry, and she never tires of using her lunch breaks to explore the Gardens. Although her catalogue of favourite plants is long, Banksia robur – the swamp banksia – is high on the list. Her passions and interests outside work include gardening with native plants, gardening for native bees, exploring wild places with her family, hiking, and macro photography. Amongst her most memorable life experiences is her two months of volunteering in Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park, where the climate, flora, fauna, geology, and overall landscape left a lasting impression.
Jude encourages readers who are interested in volunteering with the Herbarium Specimen Mounting Program to reach out to her via the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan.
Jude encourages readers who are interested in volunteering with the Herbarium Specimen Mounting Program to reach out to her via the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan.