ACT Monaro Riverina Branch: AGM and talk – Gardening ancestors: people, plants & memories

AGM – 5.30pm.

Talk: Gardening ancestors: people, plants & memories – 6pm.

Speaker: Dr Greg Johnson

Each of us has stories and memories that underpin our gardening interests.

In his talk Greg Johnson will describe some of the horticultural ancestral echoes that resonate in his life. He spent three weeks in Scotland in May – June 2024 exploring traces of three generations of the Roy family, gardeners in Aberdeen Scotland (1760s to 1870s), from whom his maternal grandmother, Maggie Mann nee Roy (1899 -1980), was descended.

He’ll also tell us about the gardening connections of his maternal great-great grandfather, John Mann (1834-1888), a Chinese indentured shepherd and bushman, who later became a gardener and fruiterer in Maryborough, Queensland.

And finally, he’ll talk about being a plant pathologist.

Greg was a member of our Branch Committee for nine years and he has previously given Branch talks on Australian Garden Writing and Our Garden in a Year of Calamities about his own garden during COVID lockdowns.  He joined the AGHS in 2010, as he wanted to attend the society conference in Maryborough, Queensland where he and many of his ancestors had lived since the 1850s.

His childhood interest in gardening led to the study of agricultural science at the University of Queensland and a career in plant pathology.  He was President (2013-2018) and Secretary General (2006-2013) of the International Society for Plant Pathology.

There is an excellent recent oral history of Greg in the AGHS national oral history collection.

Venue: The Pavilion, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture, 52 Blackall St, Barton

Cost: Free but booking essential for catering purposes at Trybooking.

Inquiries: Nancy Clarke clarkenancy624@gmail.com