Noah's Arc Project

About the project:

Inala Jurassic Garden as a repository for irreplaceable plant specimens from around the world: The ‘Noah’s Ark’ Concept. 

When Tonia started collecting plant species with Gondwanan connections for the IJG, she didn’t fully appreciate that she would become custodian of some extremely rare and irreplaceable specimens. Situated on an island which tempers the extremes of heat and cold, in an area of Tasmania that has relatively high rainfall consistent with that Gondwanan species have been thriving for millions of years predisposes the IJG to suitable growing conditions for many of these species. To ensure maximum success, the natural habitat of each species acquired for the garden was researched carefully and replicated where possible within microhabitats in the garden. The southern Cupressaceae were planted on the drier sunny banks, while water loving members of the Gunneraceae and Restionaceae were planted in permanently wet areas near waterholes. The species were planted in family groups for direct comparison by visitors and to more carefully manage their requirements, operating on the general principle that related species from different parts of the world would respond to similar cultivation methods. 

While the garden’s original aim was predominantly to showcase similarities between closely related Gondwanan species from around the globe, it became apparent that many of these species, some of whom had lineages dating back almost 300 million years, were under threat in their natural environment, predominantly through the effects of climate change and anthropomorphic changes in the environment. The focus of the garden quickly changed to one of conservation and preservation, and the ‘Noah’s Ark’ concept was born, where IJG became a repository of insurance specimens of many species under threat in the wild.  

Australia has amongst the toughest biosecurity laws in the world, and those of Tasmania are even stricter. This means that plants that were imported by nurserymen and plant collectors like Ken Gillanders over 50 years ago, are no longer able to be imported easily and specimens that were imported from Chile, New Zealand, South Africa and China are not easily replaceable.   

In 2022, Tonia was contacted by Blake Kuiper, a horticulturalist at the Australian National Botanic Gardens (ANBG), requesting plant specimens for a new Gondwanan Garden that they were developing. The team were finding it hard to source specimens within Australia and IJG has become the main source of plants for this project. Since, then, IJG has provided advice and specimens to several gardens, including the Ngurrak Prehistoric Gardens at Mansfield Autism Campus, Macedon Ranges Shire Council, Victoria and some specialist private plant collectors, predominantly from NSW. The following institutions are also recipients of Widdringtonia species from IJG, and are now part of the Australian W. whytei metacollection project, having been gifted seedlings of this species from IJG: 

• Australian National Botanic Garden Canberra. 

• Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, NSW. 

• Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah, NSW, 

• Albury Botanic Gardens, NSW. 

• Mayfield Gardens, Oberon NSW. 

• Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Victoria 

• Dandenong Ranges Botanic Garden, Victoria. 

• Geelong Botanic Gardens, Victoria. 

• Mount Lofty Botanic Gardens South Australia. 

• The Tasmanian Arboretum, Tasmania. 

We are continuing to propagate specimens here as ex-situ insurance specimens to mitigate against loss of species within the IJG and within Australia. We are proud to be part of a collaboration whose main mission is to protect and conserve this important plant material within Australia for the long term. 

Special thanks to the following: 

• Peter Maddox, John Gibson, Jonno Esling, Harry Lush, Phill Parsons and Trish Richers for the acquisition of special rare specimens from their private collections and nurseries. 

• Dan Luscombe, Collection Manager, Bedgebury National Pinetum and Forest, Kent, England for entrusting CITES listed, Critically Endangered Widdringtonia whytei seed to IJG as part of a collaboration funded by BGCI/ArbNet. 

• The TroMPS team for entrusting valuable propagation material to IJG. 

• Damian Wrigley, Manager, Living Collections & Conservation at Botanic Gardens of Sydney, NSW and Maureen Phelan Science Technician Coordinator Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan, NSW for entrusting us with 6 precious, genetically-different Wollemi Pines as part of the Global Wollemi Metacollection Project.   

• Jonno Esling for his tireless propagation of ex-situ insurance specimens for the IJG and to distribute to other institutions around Australia, to ensure that they are not lost.