OLIVE PINK

1884-1975

Her name combines two colours, but as a gardener and botanical artist, Olive Pink cherished every shade of Australia. Growing up in Tasmania, she bushwalked, camped and sketched plants in her grandmother’s garden – and, at a time when Australian gardeners were likely to spurn native flora, Olive was rather smitten with arid-climate plants. She first visited Central Australia in 1930 on a sketching tour, stopping off at farflung railway stations to set up camp and draw nearby blooms. Over the next decade, Olive returned to the region several times, eventually planting roots on the outskirts of Alice Springs; these trips sparked an interest in the welfare of Indigenous Australians. She championed Warlpiri and Arrernte self-determination, and her uncompromising criticism of authorities shaped her reputation as an eccentric troublemaker. Meanwhile, Olive found joy in painting the colours and textures of desert flowers. Her impressionistic artworks recorded each plant’s quintessence – plus its common, botanical and Indigenous names. In 1956, aged 72, Olive convinced the Northern Territory government to let her revive 16 hectares of land that introduced animals had stripped bare. With a team of Indigenous gardeners, she installed a clever irrigation system to exploit limited rainfall – the reserve would protect native flora and provide a site locals could visit to learn about desert environments. She lived there until her death at 91, rising at 5am every day to hand-water plants propagated from locally collected seeds. In 1985, her oasis was publicly opened as the Olive Pink Botanic Garden: a heritage-listed national treasure.