Meet our volunteers

Volunteer Tour Guides since 2003

"Shortly after we retired to Berambing we decided to volunteer. Ros is a local and knew the property and the surrounding area as a child. Throughout our working life we and our family regularly came back and enjoyed activities in the area.

"Volunteering at Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah has had numerous benefits for us including meeting lots of people from different localities here in Australia and from around the world; meeting and getting to know staff; experiencing the wonders of the Garden which are quite different from season to season and even from week to week; seeing plants for the first time even though they have been growing in the Gardens for a number of years; understanding the historical significance of Mount Tomah for both Indigenous Australians and white settlement; and the opportunity to participate in the Gardens other activities."

Volunteers since 2006 and 2018

Volunteering at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney has been a way for us to share our passion for plants and especially orchids, with visitors, staff and fellow volunteers.

We both have a keen interest in Orchids. We belong to a number of orchid societies, are orchid judges in Australia and internationally and have travelled extensively around the world seeking orchids in the wild and visiting orchid collections. 

I started volunteering at the Garden in 2018 prior to my retirement from work. At that time, I was looking for voluntary work as something to keep me occupied during my retirement with something that was meaningful and provided ongoing interaction with others, such as the Garden's staff.

Jane started volunteering in 2006 in the Herbarium Mounting Room, mounting or remounting dried plant specimens on paper. These specimens are vital for scientific research and there are over 1.6 million in our Herbarium. In 2014, she applied to become a Volunteer Guide and has been leading guided walks for visitors and answering questions at our Visitor Centre ever since. Jane also volunteers in the Garden’s library, scanning the original illustration of Alex Dockrill’s orchids.

A large part of both Jane’s and my leisure and social time has been centred around our orchid collection and volunteering at the Royal Botanic Garden, helping with their orchid collection, orchid illustrations and extending our knowledge of plants fitted very well with our interests.