Show Program 2024

30 WURUNDJERI BIIK For the first time ever, a co-designed, Aboriginal heritage garden, Wurundjeri biik, meaning ‘Wurundjeri Country’ in Woi-wurrung language, will feature at this year’s Melbourne International Flower and Garden show, presented by Scotts from Wednesday 20 March to Sunday 24 March 2024. The garden, co-designed by Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria Landscape Designer, Andrew Laidlaw, Suzannah Kennett Lister and Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation is an invitation to consider the ecological and cultural significance of Wurundjeri land stewardship and culture, and the importance of remaining areas of native vegetation. “This garden provides an opportunity to instigate and encourage discussion, reflection and appreciation of Indigenous custodianship, Indigenous and native flora and the evolving interconnection between land, water, plants, animals and people,” said Andrew Laidlaw The new garden features three islands of planting, which represent three major plant communities within Wurundjeri Country: riparian zones and waterways, hills and foothill plant communities and drier heath forests and grasslands. Visitors will be gently guided toward a central clearing and gathering place where basalt boulders provide informal seating. Elders, Members and representatives of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation said that this garden represents the plants of their Country, which includes the inner city of Naarm/Melbourne, extending north beyond the Great Dividing Range, east to Mount Baw Baw, south to Mordialloc Creek and west to the Werribee River. “We honour our Ancestors and Elders for their strength, resilience and sacrifice as they cared for Country, and we continue that legacy today. We welcome all those who gather at theWurundjeri biik and invite them to connect to our Country through spending time in this place,”they said MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL FLOWER AND GARDEN SHOW 2024

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