Perth Voice Interactive

PERTH city council is encouraging ratepayers and visitors to get intimate with the city’s oldest public garden.

As part of its Walk & Talk series, the council’s long-standing arboricultural expert Alan Dolphin will be giving a guided tour of Stirling Gardens.

Mr Dolphin started in the council’s parks and gardens department as a trainee in 1975, and while he’s mostly desk bound these days, he says he feels privileged to be near some of the city’s oldest trees.

“Working in Council House, alongside Stirling Gardens, there is nothing more relaxing and calming than getting out and sitting in the shade of these magnificent trees,” Mr Dolphin said.

Stirling Gardens was first used by colonial botanist James Drummond as an acclimatisation garden in the 1830s.

The walk will be on Monday, August 1. Bookings at http://www.heritageperth.com