The woman behind the greenhouse
Avid gardener: Jillian Rossiter also looks after a special greenhouse where ideas grow and minds are fertile. Image: Brian Rickards
The woman behind the Woodford Folk Festival’s Greenhouse program prefers to be the quiet, effective achiever in the background, rather than spearheading campaigns.
That woman is Jillian Rossiter – she’s not exactly a shy, retiring person but she does respect her self-imposed limits and does brilliantly within them, working hard to bring people together to discuss and act on the environmental challenges facing us all.
Jillian, who began he working career as a teacher, is well-loved and admired both within and outside the circle of Woodford activities as she embodies a strong spirit and optimism while others might wilt in the ‘war’ to save the planet.
Her interest in the environment was awoken when she was a young girl and visited her aunt Jill who lived in north-east Victoria on part of a family property handed down from Jillian’s great grandfather.
Aunt Jill, a very independent lady and ‘self-funded’, was a field naturalist and an activist who wasn’t averse to writing the occasional scathing letter to neglectful politicians. She and her cousins were also interested in conservation; some of the farming land was even given away as National Park.
“My aunt and I got on really well together. She was an activist in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s. She also started a wondrous garden from seed,” said Jillian who has also become an avid gardener, nurturing nature on her hillside home at Buderim.
“Back then activists were more focused on conservation, conserving trees and wildlife, stopping natural vegetation being ripped out for pine forests, saving National Parks. Today it’s more about environmental issues – pollution, climate change and so on.”
Although the youthful Jillian, who was born in Melbourne, had maintained an interest in things green, her focus in life later changed upon getting married, raising a family and then helping run her ex-husband’s business. Indeed, matters green turned to amber as she began pouring beers and running the office at the pub they ran.
“We owned the Beerwah hotel and had been in the hotel business since 1975. Before Beerwah we had the Landsborough hotel,” said Jillian.
But Jillian eventually split with her husband, retired partially from the business and was looking for new horizons.
But the trigger had already been pulled when she was working in the pub back in the 80s.
“I had learnt in the pub about some trees coming down. Our customers were the fellows who were clearing this native vegetation in the area called Caloundra Downs. They were clearing it for contractors, to plant pine trees – they piled it up and burnt it all,” said Jillian.
“So I went out there and they showed me the devastation. I saw a link-up of six D9s with chains between them. They just pulled the vegetation down. I saw a bird flying back trying to find its nest – it had been in those trees. That’s how quickly the vegetation is cleared.
“It was heart-wrenching. What had taken 200 to 300 years to grow had been destroyed in five minutes.”
That moment was seared on Jillian’s mind. It was a turning point. She was determined to do something. She started joining conservation organisations.
“I joined quite a few – the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Natural Society and the Sunshine Coast Environment Council,” said Jillian.
As she was leaving the pub business she found she had the time and opportunity to use more of her energies elsewhere.
“At that point I wanted to do something for the community which had been good to us, to put something back in because I had become financially secure. So I was able to volunteer,” she said.
It was no surprise she chose environment because she had already joined some of the organisations.
So Jillian became more active, especially from the time she was introduced to SCEC.
“When I joined SCEC, all my children were grown up by then and I was free to follow the path I had really wanted to follow,” said Jillian.
Her work as a ‘green’ volunteer took her into new areas, firstly in SCEC’s environment shop, and then to acquiring new skills in the office and becoming secretary on the committee. In 1992 a position arose when somebody left SCEC and she found herself editing its magazine Eco Eco.
“It was known as the ‘Green voice of the Sunshine Coast’ and I went on to edit it for 10 years,” said Jillian.
“The thing about working as a volunteer is that there are no expectations and you’re empowered to have a go at something you really perhaps not wholly skilled at and you have to teach yourself on the job.
“However, Bill Hauritz, now the director of the Woodford Folk Festival, was then able to give be some help, showing me how to use the computer and other things. Putting out Eco Eco was a wonderful way of giving voice to some of the wonderful environmentalists on the Sunshine Coast.”
It was a job that brought new connections in the environment cause and laid some of the some of the path that eventually led her to Woodford’s Greenhouse.
It was Des Ritchie, the Irish inspiration and elder of the Queensland folk scene and supporter of SCEC, whose gentle persuasion led Jillian to the Woodford (then Maleny) Folk Festival.
“I’d only been at SCEC for a few months and Christmas time was coming up and Des said to me ‘are you going to the festival’. I said ‘what festival?’. So I went with my daughter for a day, walked inside and both of us fell instantly in love with it,” said Jillian.
“The next year I went for the whole time and have done so ever since.”
But Des did more than introduce Jillian to the festival. He became her inspiration.
“He also empowered me to do all the things , develop all the skills I’ve developed and given me confidence. In everything I did in the environment movement he gave me confidence. He was not only a great empowerer of me, but also for many other people.”
The move from the hotel scene, which Jillian describes as ‘male-dominated’, to the SCEC environment was dramatic.
“They were two different worlds. When I went to SCEC I was stunned that women were regarded equally. When I first arrived project officer Mark Ricketts offered me a cup of coffee. From then I thought ‘I love this’,” said Jillian.
Now, Jillian is also one of the ‘green’ leaders, but she’s pretty humble about her Greenhouse role.
“It’s probably because I stayed a long time at it. There are many others who have achieved far more by actually make a change,” said Jillian.
“I have stuck with the environment council and then through the Woodford Folk Festival and the Greenhouse. I’ve been there a long time more in an educational role and perhaps changing people’s consciousness rather than actively being an advocate of change as a campaigner.
“I have always felt it an absolute privilege to do the Greenhouse because it’s unique. It has the ability to touch ordinary people who would normally not go to a talk by an environmental expert or a scientist.”
Jillian, who describes her younger self as having been a ‘fairly little feminine girl, a good girl’, said her schoolteacher mother (Mavis) was her early inspiration.
“She instilled into me a sense of social justice. We used to discuss all kinds of subjects at the dinner table -- right from when I was young enough to be aware of global issues,” said Jillian.
However, Jillian admits, even though she has been a teacher, that it’s not easy for her to speak in public.
“I had to force myself to do it when I became president of SCEC. Really, I’d rather be behind the scenes organizing,” she said.
So when it comes to designing a successful Greenhouse program, what are the essentials?
“The subject matters. I try to bring something fresh. Perhaps focus on an expert in a particular topical subject and to find enough people to make a forum session.” said Jillian.
“Some times ideas come to me in the middle of the night. I also keep a notebook with me and go to as many speaker events as I can to head hunt and talent spot. I look to see if they are able to present well to an audience”
As for the future Jillian hopes to see the Greenhouse venue employ new video technology to link festivalgoers instantly with overseas speakers.
“I would like for us to be able to tap into people such as David Suzuki. Then we can be more green and not have people actually travel. Also, by then I would like to hand over to a younger person,” said Jillian.
As far as changing the minds of sceptics, Jillian says they have to have an epiphany themselves and that Woodford is a great place for that.
“For instance, they might try a permaculture workshop and discover some realities in the principles of sustainability,” she said.
“I hope we get the people who are ready for change – where their consciousness is at a tipping point.
“I don’t have the courage or the abilities to get to the sceptics. I’m just the facilitator of the Greenhouse – not necessarily the one to make change. I just provide the stage for those that can.”
This woman with the big smile, gentle humility and a heart full of passion for this planet still believes there is hope. It seems her quiet determination has as much power as anything in the quest for success.
Related articles:
Leave a Response
Entries(RSS)