On Saturday 23rd November, EWHA’s final event for 2019, was a Celebration Lunch to recognise Women In Arboriculture. The event was hosted at the Amora Hotel Riverwalk Melbourne. You may wonder why the focus on Arboriculture for our Celebration Lunch this year. We can thank our 2018 Scholarship Recipient, Amanda Woodhams for that. Amanda has chosen to combine qualifications that give her skills of a consulting arborist with a broad range of horticultural knowledge. Women in both these industries have made inroads into what has historically been a male dominated area – and those synergies were explored over a delicious lunch and great conversation.
Our key presenter was Kiah Martin who has worked as an Arborist for over 25 years. Kiah gave an engaging talk about her journey into this career and the importance of team work and communication. A panel of 3 speakers representing industry also provided much insight into the state of the industry for females. The panel was made up of :
- Dr Alicia Fitzgerald ( Senior Supervising Arborist at Nillumbik Shire Council) and Secretary of the Council of Arboriculture Victoria (CAV)
- Shane Hall (Arborist at Bayside City Council) and President of the Victorian Tree Industry Organistion (VTIO)
- Alison Jasper (Arborist at Active Tree Services) and Chair of Women in Arboriculture, Arboriculture Australia
Of course events such as this lunch cannot happen without the support of many generous donors:
- NGIV & Tree and Shrub Growers of Victoria who generously donated 2 tickets to the recent Two Days of Trees event as our early bird registration prize
- Flemings Nursery who have kindly donated 2 special trees
- Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria who have donated 2 tickets for a Forest Therapy session
- Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Co-operative (VINC) who have donated 30 tubestock wildflowers.
- Garden City Plastics and The Diggers Club who have donated generously for your goodies bags
- Ausflora and Floramax for the flowers presented to the speakers
