Awards 2023

Jillian Elsie Metcalfe

Nominated by Susan Dibbs 

Seconded by Peter Knibbs

Jill has been a member of the Friends of the Darwin Botanic Gardens since the organisation was founded 30 years ago.

She has had a life-long interest in gardening and was appointed the Manager of the Kmart Garden Centre in Darwin when the store first opened. In this role she established professional relationships with Darwin's nurseries.

Jill was also a member of Darwin's Palm & Cycad Society, which of course enabled her to build up a wealth of information on these plants.

As the mother of 5 children, and the keeper of a large home shade-house, she has been involved with preparing plants for school fetes and other fund-raising activities.

Jill is known in the Friends Of the Gardens as the Club's Nursery Manager, and she works in this section each Thursday morning, identifying plants, preparing them for potting up, and ensuring they are in prime condition for selling on the club's sale days. Funds raised at these sales provide for a range of purchases such as equipment for children's playground areas, decorative garden furniture and items such as the popular mosaic crocodile and fibreglass dinosaur statues.

The Friends of the Gardens has numerous enthusiastic volunteers keeping the plants in tip-top condition, propagating new plants, cleaning and labelling pots, learning more about tropical plants — and of course enjoying a well-earned morning tea.

On sale days members are kept busy, and Jill is always in demand to advise on the care of newly purchased plants.

We welcome and proudly acknowledge Jillian as a Senior Of Excellence 2023.