Our Thursday lunchtime talks cover diverse aspects of the natural world in Australia and around the globe.

The talks are aimed at a general audience and everyone is welcome. Talks last for 1 hour. We welcome donations by gold coins, notes, or electronically. The Friends use donations to support Gardens’ programs and development and we thank all those who have donated.

It is a good idea to reserve a seat in advance, as talks can book out very quickly. The booking link for each talk is on the Friends calendar website entry for the respective talk. Bookings can be made from about 30 days in advance until Wednesday night before the talk.

Please direct queries about the talks to the Thursday Talks Team.

Thursday Talks

Please see the Friends calendar website for a detailed description of each talk.

5 September 12:30 pm

Dr Marita Bradshaw

The National Rock Garden – new location, new rocks and new stories to tell

12 September 12:30 pm

Anthony Whalen

CSIRO has a new building – what will this mean for Australia’s national biodiversity collections?

19 September 12:30 pm

Dr Tobias Hayashi

The sexual chemistry of greenhood orchids

26 September 12:30 pm

Professor Nerilie Abram

Emerging tipping points in Antarctica

3 October 12:30 pm

Dr Alex Wall

Traps’n’Maps: collecting data today to better understand the past tomorrow

10 October 12:30 pm

Graham Gall

Flora in focus: the Art of Botanic Photography

17 October 12:30 pm

Dr Rebecca Pirzl

Don Beer Memorial Lecture 2024

Bending the biodiversity curve

24 October 12:30 pm

Anna Howe

Southern California meets Australian Native in Canberra in the 1970s

31 October 12:30 pm

Dr Mitzy Pepper

How geomorphology controls biodiversity (especially lizards) in the Australian deserts

7 November 12:30 pm

Shelley Rowntree

How did Chrysocephalum daisies evolve and what affects their breeding and conservation now and into the future?

14 November 12:30 pm

Josh Coates

Australian alpine pollinators in a changing world

21 November 12:30 pm

Tasha James

Endemics on the Edge - Investigating threat management in an island population of endangered endemic species - A case study at Mt. Imlay, NSW

28 November 12:30 pm

Prof Peter Kanowski

Reviving the Arboretum Dream: the making of the National Arboretum Canberra