Number 17 Map 1B Hawkesbury Harvest Farm Gate Trail Maps
In a quiet corner of the University of Western Sydney's Hawkesbury Campus there is a magical Secret Garden. Spread over 2 hectares is a horticultural nursery which has both plants and the welfare of people with disabilities and mental illness at its heart.
Run by Hawkesbury Skills Inc (a not for profit organisation) the garden and nursery deliver training, support and respite to people from various relevant groups. On the day I visited I met men from Cherrywood Village and watched a group of school children from a local special education unit wandering happily around the garden and picking vegetables from their plot. I heard their cries of pleasure as they visited the pigs and saw little black lambs.
I also met Marianne who is responsible for the day to day running of the nursery and who is assisted by a third year horticultural apprentice, Alicia.
Patiently they work with volunteers and the disabled who together ensure that the hundreds of plants in their care are in the best shape possible for sale to the public.
Marianne tells me that the garden receives no government funding, but relies instead on a handful of philanthropic donors and also volunteer work to keep going. Plant sales are crucial to the ongoing viability of the project.
People with medium to high needs are taught nursery skills and just as importantly, life skills, as they develop socially and build friendships.
Marianne sums up the work being done as "horticultural health therapy."
On average 50 or so people with disabilities a week visit the site and include organisations, schools and individuals.
New Start participants, approximately 8 - 10 a week, work here as well.
"We could always do with more " says Marianne, wryly, referring to volunteer workers.
Travis - a regular volunteer
It was a privilege to spend time with Darryl, George, Mark and Kenny.
Darryl mows the lawn...
Mark does the watering
George rakes and generally helps out
and Kenny, who is extremely unsteady on his feet, can pot the tiniest seedling with the utmost care.
This beautiful nursery, which sells hundreds of different varieties of plants, can be found by entering College Drive from Bourke Street (Richmond). Turn right down the dirt road opposite the security hut and follow the Secret Garden signs.
It is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and holds a special plant sale on the first Saturday of the month.
Cnr Science Road and Campus Drive
University of Western Sydney
Richmond
02 4567 8424
Please visit the Hawkesbury Harvest website...
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