Filter by
Waverley Library

Prue Gibson on The Plant Thieves

Where
Waverley Library
Waverley Library
Ron Lander Centre, 32-48 Denison Street, Bondi Junction NSW 2022
When

Thursday 5 October 2023 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm

The Plant Thieves reveals remarkable stories from the National Herbarium of New South Wales. Who gets to collect plants, name them, propagate them, extract their chemicals, sell them and use them? Whose knowledge is it?

Prudence Gibson unearths remarkable stories of plant naming wars, rediscovered lost species, First Nations agriculture, illegal drug labs and psychoactive plant knowledge. Gibson reveals the tale of the anti-inflammatory plant that saved a herbarium manager when she was collecting in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. She also follows the story of the black bean Songline, a recent collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, to find the route of this important agriculture plant.

The Plant Thieves is both a lament for lost and disappearing species and a celebration of being human, of wanting to collect things and of learning more about plant life and ourselves.

About the author:

Prudence Gibson is an author and research academic in plant studies at Art and Design, University of NSW. She is lead investigator of an Australian Research Council project on the herbarium. She is the author of Janet Laurence: The pharmacy of plants and a contributor to Art and AustraliaSydney Review of Books and The Conversation.

Contact event organiser

Waverley Library

Advertisement

Other events at Waverley Library

World Collage Day

World Collage Day

Celebrate all things cut & paste for World Collage Day at Waverley Library
Tomorrow
Free chair yoga and meditation beginner class

Free chair yoga and meditation beginner class

Learn to relax, meditate and live stress-free with a simple heart-based meditation practice
13 May 2025
Bondi Bloomfest launch

Bondi Bloomfest launch

A celebration of James Joyce, his iconic novel 'Ulysses' and its connections to Australia and Waverley.
30 May 2025
Killer Podcrafts

Killer Podcrafts

Bring your current craft project and work on it while listening to fascinating true crime podcasts
4 Jun 2025
Melinda Ham on The Lucky Ones

Melinda Ham on The Lucky Ones

Join us for an engaging talk with award-winning journalist and former foreign correspondent Melinda Ham.
19 Jun 2025