PRESIDENTS REPORT 2023
(JULY 2022 – JUNE 2023)
Over the past financial year three Newsletters were prepared in July and September 2022 and March 2023 and have been placed on the Friends website. No Newsletter was prepared in November mainly due to the absence of Spring into Gardening held in October.
Over the past year the Friends held three general meetings, July and November 2022 and March 2023. Again, due to the cancellation of Spring into Gardening the meeting usually held in September was cancelled. Our annual Christmas party was held on Sunday 4th December in the Gardens and well attended.
Spring into Gardening
The Victorian community has been largely living without any COVID restrictions for the past year. The last Spring into Gardening event was held in October 2019. On the 19th March 2023 a letter on behalf of the Friends of Victoria Gardens, was forwarded to Mr Rick Kwasek, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Cr Mike Scott (South Ward) highlighting the importance of the community event and citing it as an example of Stonnington Council’s commitment to “building a resilient, capable and inclusive community”. We expressed the strong support for the reinstatement of this event on 2023.
While no response has been received from the CEO [resent on 1 July], the following email was received from Cr Scott on 25 March;
“I did some digging after I sent you the below email to find out what the plans are for the 2023 Spring into Gardening event. Unfortunately, the event has been cancelled until further notice. I have been advised that numbers had been declining over the years (to my surprise) and costs to run the event increasing to the point of being unjustified. Council has a tight budget over the next few years and it seems there are other services and events also in question. I would advise that if our community want the event to go ahead, a campaign be built to ensure council is made aware of the community’s sentiment. I’m happy to chat with you regarding what that may look like”.
A later discussion with Dominic Mazza (Acting Manager, Climate, Sustainability and City Greening) also confirmed that Council’s Events Team had decided to cancel the event for 2023.
Victoria Gardens Volunteers (VGV)
Earlier this year several documents that had previously been prepared were revised to comply with new Council templates. The documents forwarded to Deb Nuemann (Environmental Officer) were:
In reply Deb asked if members would be flexible in agreeing to have working bees operate on weekdays (preferable Tues/Thurs, AM) for a duration of around 2 hours. She also suggested an option for working bees to be monthly or every 2 months as Council was happy to accommodate aligning working bees with particular planting/horticultural plans for the Victoria Gardens space (e.g. supporting annual displays for special events).
In a reply to Deb, the friends indicated that the preferred timing for a volunteer program is a Saturday morning as an objective of the volunteer program is to attract younger members, who would not be available midweek. Since April Deb has taken 12 months leave and her replacement is Annie Swann, aswann@stonnington.vic.gov.au
Further discussion with Council will be initiated after their response is discussed at the July general meeting.
Garden Inspection Walk
The annual Garden inspection walk was held on Tuesday 6 June 2023 with Council staff Dominic Mazza, Adam De Zoete, Shanan Matheson and Sara Raeside. Shanan is Council’s new arborist. Attending from the Friends were Dianne Wilde, Julie-Ann Hobbs, Gretchen Kaye, Sarah Jardine, Jill and John Hawker.
The main matters discussed during the inspection included;
Engaged Program
Earlier this year the Friends were contacted by Danielle Clarke from Council’s Social Support Program to arrange a tour of Victoria Gardens as part of their Engaged Program. This Program helps with social isolation and encourages exercise and community connection. On 6th June John Hawker lead a group of 13 members of the local community and Danielle Clarke through the Gardens. Significant plants, features and history of the Gardens were highlighted. This is the second year FOVG has hosted a walk for the Engaged Program.
Photograph Collection
In December 2022 the Friends commissioned photographer Michael Pham to take a collection of photographs of the Gardens. About 100 images were taken and will be used for the revised and upgraded website and on Instagram. These photographs will also form an important historic record of the Gardens.
Instagram
After much discussion at our March meeting about ways of raising our profile, it was decided to start a Friends of Victoria Gardens Instagram account at; https://www.instagram.com/friendsofvictoriagardens
Sarah Jardine now manages our account with regular postings of images supplied by
members to showcase the Garden. There are already 84 people following Friends of Victoria Gardens. We have also set up a Friends of Victoria Gardens Whats App group to facilitate the sharing of members photos for use on Instagram. Members may also share photos of the Gardens they have taken by sending them to our gmail account at info.fovg@gmail.com
Website
The Friends website is currently being reviewed and upgraded by Nick Hawker to present a new and easier site to navigate. Additional images will be added as well as an increased number of reports and documents recording the work of The Friends of Victoria Gardens and the Garden’s history.
Domestic Animal Management Plan (DAMP) 2022 – 2025
The Domestic Animal Management Plan 2022-2025 has now been approved. The Plan
establishes a policy and planning framework that will guide the delivery of Animal
Management Services for the next four years.
Domestic Animal Management Plan 2022-2025 (PDF, 5MB)
Domestic Animal Management Plan 2022-2025 SNAPSHOT (PDF, 6MB)
I would like to thank fellow members of the Friends Committee, Denise Saville, Secretary and Public Officer, and Treasurer Jill Hawker and Nick Hawker for the management of the Friends website. We very much appreciate Sarah Jardine’s initiative in setting up and managing our new Instagram account. Finally, many thanks to Nobby Seymour for generously hosting our meetings and for many years of valued commitment to the work of the Friends.
John Hawker
President
11 July 2023