Community
24 September, 2026
Rainforest plants on sale this Saturday
Rainforest plants propagated by students at Robertson Public School will be on sale this Saturday (October 26) as part of the inaugural Robertson Rainforest Festival.
Rainforest plants propagated by students at Robertson Public School will be on sale this Saturday (October 26) as part of the inaugural Robertson Rainforest Festival.
As reported by The Southern Wire, students at the school have been using a unique polytunnel to propagate seeds from endangered rainforest plants over the past two years.
The plants have now reached a stage where they are ready to be sold.
Saturday’s plant sale will be held at Fettlers Shed on Robertson Common.
Local residents will also have the opportunity to take part in workshops on how to create a microforest and to tour the school’s polytunnel where they can look at the extraordinary work being done by students to help save one of the region’s most valuable natural assets.
The Robertson Rainforest has ‘Critically Endangered’ status and forms part of the ‘Thin Green Line’ – a remnant of the massive Gondwana supercontinent dating back millions of years.
Unfortunately, less than 20 per cent of the original Robertson Rainforest still remains.
Most of that (99 per cent) is on private land and the remaining one per cent forms the Robertson Nature Reserve, which is looked after by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
The Robertson Rainforest Forest has organised by REPs to celebrate the rainforest’s unique value and to express a “collective concern” for the environment.
It includes a number of events culminating in a community celebration at the Robertson School of Arts on Sunday, October 4.
Saturday’s plant sale will run from 9am to 3pm with the workshops at 11am and 3pm and the tour of the polytunnel at 2pm.
All proceeds from the sale of plants will be invested back into new infrastructure at the school to support the propagation process.
The school already has the polytunnel as well as a hothouse and a greenhouse but needs a ‘hardening up’ area where the plants get exposed to the elements before being sold.
Festival events will continue on Friday, October 2 with the opening of the Thin Green Line Art Prize at Robertson CTC, a movie night at Robertson CTC on October 3 celebrating local wildlife rescue heroes and the community celebration on October 4.
The community celebration will feature musicians, artists, poets and wildlife legends along with regenerative farmers’ food stalls.
Speakers on the day will include artist Ben Quilty, ‘wombat man’ John Creighton from the Southern Highlands Wildlife Sanctuary, poet Peter Ramm, Nicole Feggans from Jamberoo Mountain Farm and ecologist David Rush.
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