Tending the Gardens
Tending the Gardens
I recently saw that Gladstone’s own Tondoon Botanic Gardens will feature in Australian Geographic as one of Australia’s top ten regional botanic gardens. This year we’ll also celebrate the Gardens’ 30th birthday. The Gardens have come a long way from their humble beginnings, and there’s no doubt they are now an important and unique part of life in Gladstone.
It got me reflecting on the patience it takes to build and tend such a beautiful garden. In some ways it’s an act of faith, and vision. That vision is then only made real by careful planning and preparation, doing the hard spade work needed to get the ground ready, finding the right species and planting when the time is right. Then it takes the patience to wait for that vision to grow from the soil, and of course, care for the little ecosystem that emerges, nursing it through droughts and cyclones.
Resources projects are like that too. The vision for Yarwun Alumina refinery for example can be traced back over 40 years, to just after the establishment of the Weipa bauxite mine. It took decades to establish the facility we know today.
QER’s vision for development of a kerogen-based fuel industry is no different. We are grateful to have investors with vision and ‘the long view’ who believe that the rich transport fuel resource we have right here in Gladstone will one day be an important part of Queensland’s economy and way of life, and who are willing to keep investing in the ‘spadework’ needed to bring that vision to reality.
To all those responsible for the Tondoon Botanic Gardens, we congratulate you on the recognition you have received. We commend your vision and all the hard work you’ve put in to create one of our region’s most special places. We are excited to see how that vision will continue to thrive over the next 30 years.