Guest Speaker – Dr Paula Lourie – Samson Park

Sir Frederick Samson Park is Fremantle’s last remnant Jarrah, Marri and Tuart woodland which is also host to a large variety of wildflowers including many orchids. There is 8 hectares of amazing native bushland tucked into suburbia and looked after by a dedicated group of locals, the Friends of Samson Park.

Hear from Paula about the gem of a park and the love that it has been shown in recent years.

“It takes many people with different interests and skills to make a group and to work towards our vision ‘To bring together the community to protect, enhance, celebrate and enjoy this unique piece of bushland.’

Hand-weeding is a major activity for our group. We are continuous learners and have learnt a lot during the past 3 years. Our Bushcare group started with 4 hand-weeders in late 2019 and now has 17 active hand-weeding volunteers, weeding twice a week (May to November). We’ve taken on roughly a quarter of the bush for our hand-weeding activity and the results are now very clear.

Paula Laurie is the Convenor of Friends of Samson Park. She has a PhD in human genetics, works as the Customer Insights Manager at Horizon Power, which is not directly related to her volunteer work but believes she is a research science at heart.