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Friday, 7 August 2009

Stephen Hopper, director of the world heritage-listed Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, UK, will return to his alma mater to deliver the annual George Seddon lecture.

Professor Hopper will discuss the current relevance of Sense of Place, the 1972 book by Emeritus Professor Seddon, a research fellow from The University of Western Australia who worked in his field for four decades. Professor Seddon's book brought the needs of the fragile Swan River Plain to the attention of the public and he was acknowledged as Australia's first environmental planner. "My hope is that Perth will become more parochial and that planning for it will be minutely topical," said Professor Seddon in Sense of Place.

Professor Hopper will talk about the book in the light of accelerating climate change and the loss of biodiversity. "Through understanding the geological history and evolutionary biology of landscapes, and by observing past and present human use of land, the power of place becomes evident," he says. "Some places, south western Australia among them, are so different from most that novel ways of living sustainably are needed to ride the winds of global change."

Professor Hopper has led the development of a 10-year Breathing Planet program which aims to improve the quality of all life on Earth.

Kew Gardens has had historical ties with Australia since its inception 250 years ago. Sir Joseph Banks (a botanist on Captain Cook's Endeavour ) was a Director for 30 years and many Australian plants, including banksias, bear his name. The Kew Millennium Seed Bank's first Australian partner is the WA Department of Environment and Conservation in Albany, where the threatened and very rare feather-leaved banksia is being returned to the wild.

The lecture is hosted by UWA Friends of the Grounds and the Institute of Advanced Studies.

WHAT: The 2009 George Seddon Public Lecture:

Revisiting Sense of Place in a Rapidly Changing World

WHEN: Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 6-7pm

WHERE: Octagon Theatre, UWA (Carpark 2, Hackett Drive)

The event is free and open to the public but tickets are essential and available from the Octagon Theatre Box Office. (+61 8) 6488 2440, Monday - Friday, 12.00-4.15pm.

Media references

Judith Edwards (UWA Friends of the Grounds) (+61 8) 6488 8541
Janine MacDonald (UWA Public Affairs) (+61 8) 6488 5563 / (+61 4) 32 637 716

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