Indigo Interview: A love of horticulture

John Purkis was born in Torquay in South Devon UK and brought up on his parents’ dairy farm. They also had a market garden. After attending agricultural college, John decided to go into horticulture, eventually growing salad crops in glasshouses. “I met my Australian wife Glenys through church in Torquay and after a number of years, including a move to Cambridgeshire for eight years, we came to Australia with our two children. In 1986 we settled in the Kiewa Valley, where I grew flowers predominantly in greenhouses. We came to Beechworth in 2005 after selling up and travelling around Australia for twelve months. What did you do workwise? I followed horticulture as a career, because dairying didn’t suit me and horticulture allowed me to continue to live in the country. What brought you to your role/career? I learned to enjoy growing different plants during a summer school holiday working on my parents’ market garden. The manager there taught me the basics of growing, knowledge I have used every day since then. What do you love about horticulture? I enjoy learning how to grow different plants to their potential and am particularly interested in different methods of propagating plants. What do you do in the community? I finished my career working part-time on one of the local vineyards, which allowed me to do more in the community. I have been a member of the Beechworth Singers for over 30 years, joining even before I came to live in the town. Until recently I worked in the community garden at Quercus and have facilitated a class on photography at U3A. I am also a chaplain in the Beechworth Correctional Centre – something I find highly rewarding. Is there an important community issue that you think needs addressing? One community issue that I am aware of is that since COVID many people have not returned to their volunteer roles. This is understandable, but it would be helpful to find some way of enthusing new volunteers to take their place, perhaps by advertising open days at the various facilities emphasising the camaraderie and friendships that come when serving others. What do you see as one of the most important current world issues? Where to start with current world issues is somewhat daunting as there are so many. Perhaps overall climate change comes out on top because it affects everyone. The fact that some make it a political issue is most disturbing, as it is really an issue of survival. If the person you would most like to meet or knew, came to Indigo Shire or was already here, who would that be, what would you show them, and why? The person I would like to have seen Beechworth as it is today, is my mother. She visited us at the age of 86 in the 1990s and fell in love with Australia. I would like her to have experienced the vibrant and friendly community in this town, and particularly to have been to a Singers concert as she was a soloist in her local choir. What book are you reading? I like reading crime fiction, biography and historical fiction. At present I am reading a book of short stories by Gay Marris titled ‘The Curtain Twitchers Book of Murder’ - a lighthearted, easy read that helps me go to sleep at night.

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