HRiA Biannual Conference in Toowoomba, Qld 16-21 October, 2025

Four days of viewing beautiful and varied gardens from the very small cottage gardens full of flowers to very large acreage gardens with huge trees and shrubs, immaculate hedges, lakes (too large to be called dams plus they were often full of water plants and overhanging trees), surrounded by various crops of barley, cotton, and sweetcorn.

At ‘Harrow Homestead’, which was established in 1890s, we were required to all walk through a disinfectant foot bath before entering the property due to quarantine – a truly magnificent property. Unfortunately we missed most of the roses in full flower as in the previous week or so Toowoomba had very hot weather and whilst we were there it was in the late 20’s to early 30’s. They were desperately in need of rain.

We covered huge mileage – north, south, east and west of the city Toowoomba leaving before eight in the morning and not arriving back to our accommodations until around six in the evening. Toowoomba is in the crater of a prehistoric volcano crater where the soil is solid and hard like a rock with deep fissures when dry and mud when wet.

Although the days were long, they were very interesting with lots of variation, the lunches, morning and afternoon teas absolutely delicious. Three evening dinners were given by the organizing committee, the Welcome Dinner, the Gala Dinner with the AwardsPres entation, both held at the Burke and Wills Hotel and the Farewell Dinner on the Monday night at the local Bowling Club. It was meant to be at another venue but there was a ‘mishap’ with those arrangements and the Bowling Club at very, very short notice put on a wonderful display of food for us.

At the Gala Dinner and Awards Presentation we had a couple of lovely surprises:

Jan Eastman was awarded the ‘Deane Ross Memorial Award’ – for making an outstanding contribution to the promotion of old roses over a period of years.

Lynne Chapman was awarded ‘Life Membership’ – for outstanding selfless commitment to the promotion and preservation of Heritage Roses, Species and Garden Roses.

Then to close the night, Lea Newing won 3rd prize in the raffle – a $50.00 voucher to spend at Bunnings (unfortunately she couldn’t take home the rose bush due to quarantine).

The new HRiA Executive Committee for 2026–2027 was also announced:

• President – Julie Lack

• Vice President – Jan Eastman

• Secretary – Julie Lack

• Membership Secretary – Glennis Clark

• Treasurer – Marion Cranbrook

• Editor – Tiffany Bignold

• Committee – Pat Toolan

And finally, a very big and heartfelt thank you to Conference Coordinator Julie Lack. Anyone who has organised an event of this scale knows there are always tricky moments behind the scenes. Julie handled them all with efficiency, calm and a smile.

It was a relaxed, laughter-filled conference, rich in friendship, shared passion and the kind of camaraderie that grows just as strongly as the roses we admire.