When H.S. Riseley president of Rotary International challenged every Rotarian in the world to plant one tree, as part of a new commitment to the environment, our local clubs were keen to step up. Contributing to the 1.2 million new trees planted, Ginninderra Rotary Club and Belconnen Rotary Club joined forces on a brisk Saturday morning to plant 80 native trees at the Strathnairn Arts precinct.

“We wanted to go beyond our individual efforts in taking on this challenge and agreed that we could make a much greater impact by combining our collective efforts,” said Michael Malone and Wayne Jeffs, the presidents of the Ginninderra and Belconnen Rotary clubs respectively.

With the assistance of Ginninderry and Strathnairn Arts, the working team identified an area on site and selected from a list of tree species compatible with the area. The selection included polyanthemos and melliodora eucalyptus, iaspicula and hybrid lady grevilleas, correa hybrid dusky bells, and leptospermum morrisoniis.

After pegging out the location of the new trees with guidance from Michael Sainsbury, resident caretaker at Strathnairn Arts, Rotarians and their families got to work and completed the challenge.

“Planting so many trees in the one area makes a real difference in ways that single disparate trees wouldn’t have. For one, putting them all together gives each tree a greater chance of surviving to maturity. And by doing it this way there’s a community focus to these new trees, as they’ll one day grow into a great open nature space for the community to use and enjoy,” said Wayne Jeffs.

The planting session would of course not have been complete without a customary Rotary sausage sizzle which the community has come to know and enjoy.

We now look forward to seeing the trees flourish over the coming years!