Lex loves the

Behind iron gates near the entrance to Berwick village are scenic gardens still unknown to much of Victoria’s population.
Little known too, even in his own town, is the work of the man who was there from the start, curator Lex Nieboer.
Lex took a pay cut in 1981 to join the parks and gardens team at Berwick, bought the cheapest house in town, where he still lives with wife Lyn, and waited for the opportunity to lead the horticultural side of the bicentennial project that would become Wilson Botanic Park, named after the old Berwick farming and quarrying family who owned the site.
It says something about Lex that he waited five years after joining what was then Berwick Council, for the opportunity to head the park team under the management of the City of Casey.
Lex had been working at the Blessington Gardens in St Kilda when word spread about a plan to set up a quarry garden on 100 acres at Berwick.
“My sister Vera, who lived at Pakenham, said it would be a dream job for me.”
From day one, Lex has done the groundwork at the park, with a little help from his family and friends at times.
Wife Lyn helped set up the original education program, along with then mayor Kirsty Lottkowitz and park friend Ian Good. Lex’s sister Vera and his nieces Emily and Jessica along with other Nieboer family members planted the first 11 trees along the entrance, under a $50 per tree scheme. His mother Isabel collated the oral records of former quarry workers, for posterity. And brother-in-law Rod Kinnear produced a promotional video for the park.
Lex is now the keeper of the historical records.
They tell a fascinating story, first of an ancient rainforest, then of an archaeological discovery, then of a hard rock mine, and finally of local council politics, of vice-regal endorsement, and of volunteers who ensure the park’s viability.
Many more chapters are yet to be written as the park matures over the next 50 years.
When the late George Wilson offered the land on the condition it be used for a park, the council faced costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, forever, in upkeep and development.
Some said the money should be spent in less privileged parts of the municipality.
But it became a done deal in 1973, and on 26 July 1992 the band played while thousands gathered at a natural amphitheatre to see Governor-General Bill Hayden unveil a plaque and declare the park’s potential for national and international significance.
Meanwhile, archaeologists found leaf fossils 20 to 40 million years old in a rock seam, from the time when the area had been a rainforest. This was a significant scientific discovery, and researchers from Melbourne University have cordoned off the site as an ongoing project.
The Wilson brothers William and James settled in Berwick in the 1800s, and quarrying began on their land in 1859, churning out rock for roads and railways.
Many of Berwick’s old cottages were original miners’ homes.
From the 1930s the operators included the companies Daniel Brothers, Bayview, Albion Reed, and Boral.
Quarrying continued until the 1970s, when soon afterwards George Wilson came to an arrangement with council for his section to the council, who bought the other part from a descendent James Wilson. “There was much discussion, but the idea had the support of staff and councillors,” Lex recalls.
“People who worked for the council were proud, and many residents were proud too. They would stop me and ask how the job was going.”
On the day of the official opening, Lex was there in the background as usual, slightly up-dressed in the company of the Governor-General.
Lex was born in Indonesia to a Dutch father, Luc, and Victorian mother Isabel. The family moved to Melbourne when he was a year old. He went to school at Glen Huntly and McKinnon.
The young boy had a heart disorder, a malfunctioning valve, and became the third person in Australia to receive open heart surgery.
Whether the slight frailty of Lex’s childhood heart prompted his love of the outdoors, he cannot say. But something drew him to study at Burnley Horticultural College.
“It seemed like a healthy and enjoyable way to earn a living.”
The world has many quarry gardens, including the Butchart and Queen Elizabeth gardens in Canada and one in Newport in Melbourne.
When Lex took on the job, he spent some of his long service leave visiting gardens in England, Scotland, Holland and Canada.
“I planted a tree at the Auchincruive garden in Scotland, and 13 years later the supervisor Ian Dougall, whose son now lives in Pakenham, planted a tree at Wilson Park.”
Many other international visitors have planted trees at Berwick.
The personal rewards for Lex are enormous, he says, to have seen Wilson Botanic Park grow from a disused quarry to an internationally renowned project.
“What is here is only young, the soil is not so good, and lack of water hinders growth, but the more I study the park the more interesting it gets, and to learn also about the birds and animals that live in the gardens is fascinating.
“This job is more than just putting plants in the ground and watching them grow.”
Lex oversees two gardeners and an apprentice. The City of Casey provides an administration officer.
The park’s annual budget is roughly $300,000.
About 100,000 people visit there every year.
Lex works closely with Friends of Wilson Botanic Park, who add thousands of hours of voluntary work to reduce everyday running costs. An association with Botanic Gardens Australia and New Zealand and Cranbourne Botanic Gardens helps the networking.
The Australian Plant Society and Berwick Garden Club use the park for regular meetings.
“A botanic garden should include learning, science, and horticulture,” Lex says.
He is quite a collector too, mainly of old wood from around Australia and of horticulture books, including one by former government botanist James Willis, signed “from his friend the author”, and another from world traveler Michael Palin, who listened intently to Lex’s personal story and promptly signed his book with a special message.