Opening Ceremony 2005

NEW PARK: June Hope with her daughter, Deborah, in an area of woodland that has been named after her husband, Justice Robert Hope

A fitting memorial for a man of the bush By Ben Huston

The Canberra Times

14 November 2005

Eighteen hectares of rare urban woodland in Watson were named Justice Robert Hope Park yesterday in honour of the first director of the Commonwealth’s environmental department. ACT Planning Minister Simon Corbell dedicated the park, off Antill Street, before Justice Hope’s widow, June, planted a tree as part of the ceremony. While Mrs Hope declined to speak at the ceremony, she later told The Canberra Times the park was a wonderful memorial to her late husband. She congratulated the people of Watson who had worked so hard over the years in relation to the park. “It’s a great achievement and it’s really beautiful. I’m terribly impressed by it,” Mrs Hope said, adding her husband would have liked it. Originally, only 5ha of the rare piece of yellow box/red gum grassy woodland was set aside. But the Watson Community Association campaigned to highlight its value and rarity, and, as a result, the current ACT Government extended the protected area by 13 ha.

Justice Hope’s daughter, Deborah, told those who had gathered for the launch her father had been a Labor man. “I guess at the time when quite a few Australians think our traditional freedoms and a “fair go” in the workplace may be under some threat from laws before the Parliament at the moment, I think he would really appreciated the fact this woodland is in a suburb that is named after Labor’s first prime minister, John Christian Watson,” she said. She added Justice Hope had also loved the bush and had a particular fondness for it around Canberra. Environment ACT executive director Maxine Cooper said the site had significant trees and work was being done to make it a healthy ecosystem. “My message is going to be very short: remember the heart made it happen and the head makes it sustainable,” Dr Cooper said. She said a challenge would concern fuel loadings for the coming bushfire season. Mr Corbell said there had been a long-standing debate about what should happen to the site. “The discussion, often in government, is about striking the balance between pressures around planning and development, and pressures around conservation of these very valuable areas,” he said. “And I think what has made this outcome possible here, at Watson, has been the very hard, continuous advocacy of many people in your local community.”

June Hope plants and waters a Yellow Box Commemoration November 13 2005

Save Watson Woodlands rally 2001 Justice Robert Hope Park in background

Jean Geue and Richard Larson Woody weeding Inaugural working bee 29 September 2002 Attracted 26 adults and 4 children

Martin Grace Coordinator of Watson Woodlands Parkcare Group 2002 – 2007

Myna trap being set up Murray Delahoy and John Briggs 2006 Trap constructed by Martin Grace

Majura Primary School 3rd year students mulching and watering tree seedlings 19 October 2007

Leucochrysum albicans Mt Majura localised species Planted in Justice Robert Hope Park