Local places: Illawarra Rhododendron Gardens

The Illawarra Rhododendron Gardens at Mount Pleasant, with its wandering pathways and blooming flowers underneath magnificent Mount Kiera, is often the picture-perfect spot for weddings and quaint parties.

However, the site also has a fascinating history with Bill Mearns, Don Stanton and others having started it in the '60s. Mr Mearns was a former curator of the Wollongong Botanic Gardens. Mr Stanton was manager at Australian Iron and Steel (BHP Port Kembla) and first experimented with growing rhododendrons in his home garden in the 1950s.

He travelled to many gardens around the world to create what is now regarded as a world-class rhododendron garden.

Booking officer and secretary Colleen Kilendienst said the gardens, which spanned 13 hectares (32 acres), had operated as a charity since 1968, without government funding or financial support.

Mrs Kilendienst said it was now managed by a small group of volunteers, including Mr Stanton’s son, David. It also received in-kind contributions from local contractors and businesses.

When and how did the Illawarra Rhododendron Gardens start?

In 1968 it was started by a few people that were keen to have a rhodo garden here, including the former curator of the gardens, Bill Mearns. He was Scottish and involved in Wollongong’s Botanic Gardens. He, Don Stanton and a few others wanted to start the gardens and they managed to acquire the land in 1968 and from there it grew. Those gentlemen have now passed away.

The land was owned by Australian Iron and Steel. The general manager at the time, AA Parish, gave the land to the gardens on a peppercorn lease, which means they were able to get it so they pay no rent and it’s forever. As long as we can maintain it, we have the lease on that land. Australian Iron and Steel owned all of the escarpment at that point, but have since given it to NSW National Parks and Wildlife. So we’re actually tenants of National Parks, but they can’t evict us unless we do something terrible.

Who's responsible for the gardens now?

It’s run by a small committee of volunteers - I mean really small. There’s less than 10 of us - there’s eight of us right now.

When we first started in the 1960s and ‘70s, we had so many volunteers we had to roster them on. Apparently they would turn up and there were just too many, so they rostered people on.

But in recent times, there’s just not as many people that are available for volunteering anymore.

With only eight volunteers working at the gardens, does that mean members are a concern for you?

Yes, dreadfully so. It’s more about having enough workers. I mow the lawns, do the bookings and secretary tasks. David (Stanton) and wife Pat are there every single day weeding and planting. We’ve brought on two new members in the past six months who have been fabulous. We consider them young, because they’re in their early 50s.

People are time poor these days and we appreciate any help we can get. We have a young man and his daughter. He’s a stay at home dad, and they come in on Tuesdays. He and his little girl weed for a couple of hours.

What can people see in the gardens? What are some of the highlights?

We generate money from takings at the gate, so we charge $5 per car to come in. We have weddings in the gardens, so we charge for that as well. That money goes back into the gardens.

One of the things we did was put a fence through the middle of the gardens. There’s not enough of us to maintain it all, so we put a $10,000 fence through the middle.

On one side we have “back to nature” and rainforest. There are bush walks and things in there. So apart from the tracks, we don’t maintain those gardens anymore.

On our side, on the eastern side, we have our pond area (pictured). Right now we’re into magnolia seasons, so have magnolias and daffodils. Give it a month and the rhododendrons will nearly start and then the azaleas.

There’s always something on our end and always something foliage wise to enjoy.

The duck pond is a big drawcard for most people. Usually in Spring and onwards there are little ducklings. We have one echidna there too and the birds.

What sort of feedback do you get from visitors?

It’s always positive. Last year when we were closed for a bit of COVID and opened in June again, the amount of people that came down from Sydney to look at the rhodos and just explore the gardens was amazing.

We don’t have a coffee shop or anything like that - it’s only toilets. So people are positive about how lovely it is and how they can sit and have a picnic.

What plans do you have for the gardens?

One of our plans for the Illawarra Rhododendron Gardens is to finish the service road. Every time we get a little bit of money, we’re planning to put it towards doing up our service road that goes up the middle of the gardens. It makes it easier for people to get around.

We’ve been fortunate over the years with groups that have given time or money. Like Rotary, Lions or Bluescope. Bluescope gave us the money for a gazebo, which we put up.

Bunnings donated a heap of tools and equipment, because they were doing some work for a charity. They do a lot of charity work. They had all the tools left over from that charity event. So they donated all the tools, which were shovels, rakes and that sort of thing. They donated it all to us, which saved us a fortune. I don’t think people realise how much those companies do.

One of our plans is to build a sensory garden for the kids to enjoy. We do have tracks into the different gardens, but we try and keep people on the tracks because we don’t want them to go further afield and trash it or the escarpment.

We have lots of paths and picnic spots. People have birthday parties there. We only take one booking a day, so if you book a wedding, you’ll be the only wedding there.

With COVID, we’ve actually been having funerals there, which we’ve never done. We can close the gates and they can be limited on how many people are in there because it’s outdoors.

How have the gardens and what you offer changed?

We used to sell rhododendrons, but we just don’t have the people to do that now.

The gardens are still beautiful. We don’t care if people know, because we may be the best kept secret in Wollongong. But we would love it if we had more volunteers.

It can be someone who wants to just sweep some paths. The jobs we have are not necessarily cleaning the toilets, but making sure there’s toilet paper in there.

It’s a nice group of people. As I mentioned, we had two new members come on six months ago and the energy they’ve brought to the group was great.

Our oldest volunteer retired last year. She did all our bookings and weeded every Tuesday and Saturday. That’s the days we volunteer - every Tuesday and Saturday mornings - if anyone wants to become a volunteer. We can open on other days if someone couldn’t come during those times. We’re an ageing population.

To learn more about the Illawarra Rhododendron Gardens or to become a volunteer, contact Colleen on 0490 069 360.

Are you ready to discuss buying, selling or leasing a home in Mount Pleasant, Fairy Meadow or surrounding suburbs? Contact Joanne on (02) 4285 7400.

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