Australian Native Plants Society (Australia)
ANPSA Biennial Conference and Seminar
Every two years ANPSA holds a Conference and Seminar hosted by one of its Member Societies, on a rotating basis. The conference schedule is as follows:
2026: South Australia
2028: Queensland
2030: Canberra
2032: Tasmania
2034: Western Australia
2036: New South Wales
2038: Victoria
Associated with each Conference is a week-long seminar including field trips to gardens and natural areas. The Seminar program usually comprises a series of lectures by expert speakers interspersed with the field trips. Two special features are part of each Seminar program:
- The AJ Swaby Address by an eminent authority in the field of horticulture or
science of Australian native plants. - The presentation of ANPSA Australian Plants Awards. These awards are issued
in Professional and Amateur categories and recognise outstanding
achievements in the field of Australian native plants.
Other features of the Conference/Seminar program are the Pre- and Post-Conference Tours. These guided tours allow participants to experience the diversity of the flora of the host State and are usually of 5 days duration.
2026 Biennial Conference
The next Biennial Conference will be held in Mparntwe Alice Springs from 24-28 August 2026, hosted by APS South Australia in collaboration with APS Alice Springs.
Amazing Arid Australia
The conference theme is dedicated to the 70 per cent of Australia that is arid or semi-arid. Over five days the conference will be your chance to hear about and see native plants and their habitats in central Australia. There will be three days of keynote talks, themed breakouts, two afternoon outings and two days of excursions into the MacDonnell Ranges and special places around Alice Springs.
Full details of are available on the Conference Website.
Registrations Now Open
Early bird registration is now available.
Use the link below for all the information you need to register for the Conference.
Registration Page
Conference Resources
Background information on the flora of arid Australia and the Conference can be downloaded from the following link.
ResourcesPast Conferences
Melbourne, Victoria
Held at The Round, Nunawading, the conference topics included Gardens for Wildlife and Habitat, Restoration and Revegetation of Wetlands, Grasslands and Verges, Care for the Rare, Insects and Biodiversity, Garden Design, Indigenous Food Plants and many more.
Presentations delivered at the Conference are available via the following links to the Australian Plant Society (Vic) website.
- Eremophila, A Plant for all Climates, Dr Lyndal Thorburn
- Positive Impacts of Parasitic Plants Above and Below Ground, Prof. David Watson
- Raising Rarity – Creating meaningful and sustainable conservation outcomes through community-based outreach, Russell Larke & Megan Hirst, RBG
- Singing through adversity: The Superb Lyrebird’s tale in the aftermath of Australia’s Black Summer, Dr Alex Maisey
- The Role of Mycorrhizae & Soil Biota in Australian Soil Health, Dr Mary Cole
- Threatened Species Conservation using Genetics, Michael Cincotta
- Urban Forests: For People and Climate Change, Greg Moore
- Weed-infested drain to bushland haven: the Merri Creek story, Ann McGregor
- Wetland Gardens – Using water in the environment, Emmaline Bowman
Kiama, New South Wales
Presentations delivered at the Conference are available on YouTube via the following links to the Australian Plant Society’s YouTube channel.
Monday, 12 September 2022
- Professor David Keith – The past, present and future of Australian native plants
- Dr Tim Morrow – The weather forecast for Kiama, September 40,000 years ago
- Dr Scott Mooney – Environmental drivers of historic climate change
- Clarence Slockee – A day in the life of First Nations people thousands of years ago
- Dr Lyndal Thorburn – The Eremophila Study Group – the next 50 years
- Lawrie Smith – Garden Design: the past informs the present and the future!
Tuesday, 13 September 2022
- Jane Fountain – The value of ANPSA Study Groups
- Catriona Bate and Phil Trickett – Filling the gaps: the Isopogon and Petrophile Study Group
- Karlo Taliana – Eastern Banksia cultivars (Banksia Study Group)
- Peter Olde – Grevilleas in a state of flux
Thursday, 15 September 2022
- A J Swaby Lecture: Costa Georgiadis – What the future holds of Australian native plants
- Panel of 6 students from the Illawarra – Our vision for the future (facilitiated by Costa Georgiadis)
- Professor David Lindenmayer – Fire, forests and biodiversity
- Professor Michelle Leishman – Building resilience: from species to landscapes
Albany, Western Australia
Presentations delivered at the Conference can be downloaded from the following links (pdf format).
Tuesday 1 October 2019: Theme – Know
- Keynote Address: Blooming Biodiversity: What is World Class about Western Australia?; Greg Keighery
- Tales from the Fossil Record – Effects of Climate Change on the Evolution and Preservation of Western Australian Plants; Ken McNamara
- Still they come: botanical exploration in Western Australia since 1697; Alex George
ABSTRACT: The first plant specimens were collected in the west in 1697 and more were collected in 1699. From 1791 collecting became more common and it increased markedly after settlement of the colony in 1829. More than 800,000 specimens have now been gathered in WA, representing almost 13,000 species, but new species continue to turn up in all parts of the State. This talk highlights the major players in the story. - A View from the Top: Plants and landscape in Early Albany as painted by Robert Dale (1834); Malcolm Traill and Stephen Hopper
- Bush Heritage Presentation
- Just a bit of bush; Libby Sandiford
- Bush Heritage Australia; Sarah Luxton
- Examining correlation between Nyungar residential patterns and contemporary Macrozamia dyeri distribution; Alison Lullfitz, Annie Dabb, Doc Reynolds, Lynette Knapp, Carol Pettersen, Steve Hopper
- Eremophilas in the desert; Bevan Buirchell
- The very special and unique eucalypts of southern WA; Malcolm French
- eGuide to Wildflowers; Greg and Bronwen Keighery
- AJ Swaby address: Old landscapes and new perspectives on wildflowers; Professor Stephen Hopper AC
Thursday 3 October 2019: Theme – Grow
- A lifetime of growing and still on a huge learning curve; Bob Dixon
- Native plants in the food industry; Geoff Woodall
- 55 years of growing Western Australian plants for the state Botanic Garden; Amanda Shade
- Mastering Banksia Growing; Kevin Collins
- Mastering Banksia Growing; Text of talk; Kevin Collins
- Aussies in a (Dutch) cowshed; Liesbeth Uijtewaal
- Growing native flora in a European environment; Gerald Lorenz
- Study Group Presentations
- Banksia; Kevin Collins
- The Other Banksia – Dryandra; Margaret Pieroni
- Eremophila; Lyndal Thorburn
- Garden Design; Lawrie Smith
- Acacia; Bill Aitchison
- Australian Food Plants; Shelley Gage
Friday 4 October 2019: Theme – Conserve
- Passion and knowledge in conserving our wildflowers; Bronwen Keighery
- Attempting to Farm with Nature – trials and tribulations in context of a societal industrial-dominated agricultural paradigm; Wendy Bradshaw
- Conservation of Threatened Flora of the South Coast of WA; Dr Sarah Barrett
- 2021 ANPSA Conference – Kiama, NSW
Hobart, Tasmania
Presentations delivered at the Conference can be downloaded from the following links (pdf format).
- Conference Handbook
- Day 1: Monday 15 January 2018
- Keynote Address: Alpine Vegetation of Tasmania; Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick
- 200 years of Botanical History – The Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens Bicentenary; Mark Fountain
- The Subantarctic flora and vegetation of Macquarie Island; Nick Fitzgerald
- Day 2: Tuesday 16 January 2018
- A virtual tour of the Tasmanian coastal saltmarsh wetlands; Vishnu Prahalad
- Gondwanan flora: a global collection within a local natural ecosystem; Tonia Cochran
- Lowland native grasslands; Louise Gifedder
- Managing a native orchid hot-spot: learning about the plants and their needs; Phil Collier
- Australian Plants Awards 2018
- A J Swaby Address: Going to seed and proud of it: The Tasmanian Seedbank Story; James Wood
- Day 3: Wednesday 17 January 2018
- Tasmanian Island Ark: Ecological and Cultural Restoration in the Tasmanian Midlands; Sebastian A Burgess
- Revegetation of the Midlands; Tanya Bailey
- ANPSA Study Group Presentations
- Living in the Goldilocks zone: a look inside one of the world’s tallest and most productive natural forest ecosystems; Tim Wardlaw
- Day 4: Thursday 18 January 2018
- Tasmanian ferns and fern allies: diversity, habitats and conservation management; Mark Wapstra
- Tasmania’s rainforest and its Gondwanan heritage; Fred Duncan
- Mosses, liverworts and hornworts, their contribution to the plant world; Patrick J Dalton
- Grass Roots Projects
* Keith Corbett – Tasmanian Bushland Garden.
* Daphne Longman – Heritage Forest Native Garden, Launceston
* Riitta Boevink – Bluewater Crescent: how to surreptitiously introduce locals to native gardens.
- Day 5: Friday 19 January 2018