John Townsend
has kindly allowed me to use some of his collection of images
from the Brisbane Botanic Gardens.
John Tapner
of the Bonsai Study Group tells me about this collection; "The
Botanical Gardens at Mt Coot-tha are well known in Australia
and mainly comprise the late Len Webber's collection. Len was
one of the first Australians to take up bonsai after being exposed
to it as a soldier in the Occupying Forces in Japan during World
War 2. Len had a nursery in a suburb close to where I live and
I remember meeting him when I was just becoming interested in
bonsai about 30 years ago. At that time he died, no-one in Sydney
was interested in his collection and the Brisbane Botanical
Gardens took the entire collection and built a Bonsai House
adjoining their Japanese Garden. The collection comprises three
separate groups which rotate on show. Unfortunately many original
trees died due to the change of climate but the collection has
been built up over the years with the aid of local bonsai enthusiasts."
