HISTORY of OPCAA

In 1983-84 the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne carried out a survey of plant cultivars growing in Victoria. As part of the survey a list was made of tree and shrub cultivars from Victorian Nursery Catalogues since 1855. This list contained dramatically more plants than are now available. Reasons for the decline include changes in fashion, difficulty of propagation, difficulty of cultivation, and disappearance of poor cultivars. However, a major factor is the loss of plants when a nursery closes down, a plant collector moves or dies or a garden changes hands. This haphazard selection of our current range of cultivated plants is unsatisfactory.

In England, the National Council for Conservation of Plants and Gardens (NCCPG) started the National Collections movement to bring together comprehensive reference collections of important groups of plants in order to conserve the wealth of cultivated plant material in existence and to make decisions about priorities for plant preservation.

Concerned about the loss of significant cultivated plants in Victoria, the Royal Botanic Gardens established an Ornamental Plant Collections Committee. The following organisations were invited to be represented on the Committee:

• Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne
  
• Victorian Nurserymen's Association
  
• Garden State Committee
  
• Victorian College of Agriculture and Horticulture: Burnley
  
• National Trust of Australia (Victoria)
  
• Royal Australian Institute of Parks and Recreation
  
• Australian Institute of Horticulture
  
• Australian Garden History Society
  
• Department of Planning and Environment: Heritage Unit
  
• Royal Horticultural Society
  
• Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs: Knoxfield Horticultural Research Station
  
• Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works
  
• Melbourne University: Department of Environmental Planning
  
  

The inaugural meeting was held in August 1986. Dr. Jim Willis, former Assistant Government Botanist, agreed to be Patron. Subsequently the Committee decided to register, on a trial basis, collections which represent a range of plant types and holder. For the purposes of the Pilot Study, the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne held viburnums, the Geelong Botanic Gardens pelargoniums, a commercial nursery Prunus (Sato-zakura Group), private owners roses and crocuses and Banksias at the George Pentland Gardens, Frankston. These collections were used to develop the record system and solve problems which might arise. A National Estate Grant was provided to the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne in 1988 to employ a horticulturist half-time to develop the project and act as project officer for the Committee.

OPCAA is an Incorporated Association which operates under a constitution and rules. Anyone can apply for membership to the Association, which entitles them to 4 issues of GENUS, the OPCAA Newsletter and access to talks, meetings, tours and voting rights. An Annual General Meeting is held in August each year.

The Association employs a part-time secretary, and receives funding from grants, card and book sales, tours, donations and plant sales. The Annual membership fee assists with the operation of the Association.

On the 29 March 1994 the Association approved a new Constitution which replaced the Subscribers Group and Committee with a new structure. OPCAA now consists of a Management (Policy) Committee with three subcommittees. These are the Activities and Fund-raising Sub-Committee, Publications Sub-Committee and the Scientific and Collections Sub-Committee

OPCAA collections and conservation

The Ornamental Plant Conservation Association of Australia notes with concern that many plants once available in the horticultural trade are lost, hidden or unknown in old gardens and our aim is to discover, identify and propagate some of these. We note with equal concern the sometimes haphazard and undocumented selection of native plants for cultivation and revegetation and we hope through establishing suitable collections of such plants to preserve genetic variation for future use.

We hope to promote the exchange of information between professional botanists and horticulturists and those plant collectors and gardeners who are devoted to the study of particular groups of plants. In this way the maintenance and increase in diversity of plants used in gardens and environmental horticulture through selection and conservation of plants of merit and rarity will be encouraged and the repeated importation of the same plants from overseas avoided.

Another important aspect of the Association is the encouragement of documentation, study and propagation of plants in collections and in ensuring that collectors pass on their plants and expertise so that these are not lost.

HOW OPCAA CAN HELP COLLECTION HOLDERS

• Plant identification

• Advice on literature and literature searches

• Advice on record keeping

• Advice on experimental design

• Running workshops

• Organising lectures

• Our journal Genus

• Contact with professional botanists and horticulturists

• Contact with like-minded collectors

• Publicity
  

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