Kevin accepting his certificate from Nursery Coordinator Peter Howe.
Written by Valeria Rocco, Support Worker – Lower South West.
Our client Kevin has celebrated over a decade of long service at a moving and heartfelt morning tea ceremony held at the Geographe Community Landcare Nursery, with his longstanding Auslan interpreter present. Kevin was born Deaf and has been coming to the nursery each week for many years.
There were messages of thanks and recognition of his voluntary contribution by committee members, staff and volunteers including a hugely uplifting “Kevin is the best worker we have”, a lovely present and a presentation of a beautiful jarrah-framed certificate for his dedication by Peter Howe, the nursery’s coordinator. Rod Cary, the past deputy chairperson said that he had known Kevin for nearly as long as he had been at the nursery.
As a dedicated member of the special cuttings team, Kevin worked closely with co-volunteers Deslyn, Ailsa, Sara and other team members in the large new open working area. “Our primary role is to propagate native plants from cuttings, collected from various sources. Kevin’s role was taking these cuttings, carefully treating them with a hormone liquid from 30 seconds to a few minutes, depending on the type, to enhance root growth. Kevin then placed them into a special soil mix.”
Metal work bench with green cuttings.
“These trays take approximately 140 cuttings each and Kevin would complete 2 or 3 trays per morning. He was a key team player, enabling the cuttings team to meet the required target plant numbers”, Deslyn said. In-between the team would break for morning tea and then stop for crib lunch.
“Cuttings management is an important job, it’s a big part of the nursery’s output and is an essential contribution. We work from cuttings when it’s difficult to grow from seed. It’s specialised, requiring precision, regular commitment, with a high attention to detail,” explained Peter.
The cuttings trays are then placed in the greenhouse and once their root system develops, they are put into general stock and pricked out into pots by another volunteer team and then displayed in the retail section and sold to the public or put into wholesale for distribution to various organisations.
Kevin with Support Worker Dayna in the wholesale section of the nursery.
We sat down with Kevin and asked him about his special nursery memories and achievements in general. “Favourite times for me were the barbecues, birthday morning teas and Christmas lunches in the crib room and the annual Vollie Day Out coach trip. I have been to many places – such as the Wardan Aboriginal Cultural Centre, A Maze’n, Meelup, Wonnerup House, Malbup Bird Hide, Leschenault Community Nursery, Roelands Village and the Golden Valley Tree Park in Ballingup.
Kevin with other nursery volunteers enjoying morning tea in the crib room.
My greatest achievements are definitely my working life, family relationships, art and the green Ford car that I used to have. I still have a driving licence, but I use my mobile scooter nowadays for getting around town. I have worked at different places in Victoria and WA. My first paid job was working for a shoemaker in Melbourne. I assembled kitchen cabinets and worked as a labourer, then at a meat abattoir in Busselton and Bunbury, and as a local cleaner and gardener through Forrest Personnel.
Last year I was highly commended in a national art competition, Artful and was awarded a cup by the Busso Bunch at The People Place where I go each week for an art class. The newspaper called me a local legend! I go to Auslan Catchup once a month on Sundays. We meet in a different café each time and I am trialling basketball practice. I like board games like chess and jigsaws as well as modern technology. I am very proud of my successes, working, volunteering and being out in the community.
Kevin thanked everyone for coming and even though he is hanging up his work boots, he will still come back to visit. The plant nursery continues to welcome new volunteers of all abilities and is one of the larger voluntary ‘host’ organisations in the South West.
