Issue 51 Aurora Magazine October 2022

cultivate
Many of the threatened species
grow on granite outcrops and this
part of the Great Southern has so
many of these. They’re like islands
on a sea of terrestrial vegetation.
They not only offer a place of
discovery but the opportunity to
care for them. Stephen Hopper
I didn’t shy away from it. I’d worked in the public sector before and in senior roles but
Kings Park is far more high profile and working there was certainly the highlight of my
public service career.”
Steve spent 12 years as Director of the Park and took it from an organisation that
was starved of funds and understaffed to the jewel in Perth’s crown that it is today.
He oversaw the expansion of infrastructure and services to bring them up to worldclass
standards and increased staff numbers while elevating the value of the Park’s
environmental and research projects. But at the top of his wish list was to make Kings
Park a great place to work as Steve is very much a people-person at heart; he’s a relaxed
conversationalist and attentive listener.
It was no surprise then that when he threw his hat into the ring for the top job at the
Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, London, he promptly got the tick of approval. Known
more commonly as Kew Gardens it’s the creme de la creme of public gardens, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site and consistently listed as one of the most famous gardens
in the world.
“The global reach of Kew Gardens is unrivalled and its network spans 100 countries. It’s
the United Nations of Botany; a global plant science powerhouse with around 800 staff
and more than 50,000 plants. It was also my home for six years and I say that literally as
it was a seven-day-a-week job that entailed living onsite. It was wonderful having 120
hectares of garden to walk amongst every morning.”
During his time at Kew he and his wife Chris were regularly hosting world-leading
scientists, dignitaries, and heads of state. Steve also worked with Sir David
Attenborough on his ‘Kingdom of Plants’ TV series which was filmed at Kew and led the
garden through its 250 year anniversary celebrations. Projects like the internationally
acclaimed Millennium Seed Bank, which houses more than 2.4million seeds collected
from around the world, were also under Steve’s stewardship during his tenure at Kew.
ABOVE: Some of Steve’s collection of seeds and nuts with his red-bound plant journals in the
background. TOP: A look inside one of Steve’s meticulously kept journals.
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㐀 ㈀㈀ 㜀 㔀 㠀 㔀
猀 琀 愀 猀 栀 挀 漀 û 攀 攀 ⸀ 挀 漀 洀 ⸀ 愀 甀
LOVE LOCAL
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