Fleur Flanery has a lifelong professional and personal interest in landscapes and enthusiasm and a zest for doing things that make you feel like anything’s possible. Professionally she is a Landscape Architect with a further degree in Communication and a Diploma in Horticulture.

She has significant experience in managing public landscapes in her former roles as Executive Director of City Services and Executive Director Strategic Planning for the ACT Government. These roles included management of Canberra’s parks, open spaces, urban forest, playgrounds with regulatory responsibility for City and Domestic Animal Rangers and various roles managing Roads, Public Transport and Strategic Planning.

Her lifelong interest in landscapes and the ways in which it can express regional identity and aid biodiversity provides constant stimulation.

Margo delivered the opening address for the ALC in 2021 titled ‘Clever country: There is no nature without culture’ where she presented about ‘Land’ and its link to ‘Country’ in Aboriginal Australia. It is a worldview that embodies nature and its many manifestations through the seasons, weather events, climate and landforms. Through this presentation Margo has continued her involvement now formalised as the First Nations Cultural Advisor for Outlandish.

Margo Ngawa Neale is currently Head of the National Museum of Australia Indigenous Knowledges Curatorial Centre. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Australian National University’s Centre for Indigenous History. Margo has published widely and curated major pioneering exhibitions including the multi-award winning Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters. Margo is editing the First Knowledges book series, the first of these is Future Fire, Future Farming which explores Indigenous knowledges in vital areas and their application to the present and the future.

Edwina Johnson is an Artistic Director and Ideas Curator. She is passionate about connecting audiences with big ideas; crafting gatherings where creative minds are truly valued, which synergistically foster community through shared story. She believes in the power of ideas and interactions that can change the world.

Edwina was Director of Byron Writers Festival for eight years with previous artistic programming and curatorial roles at Sydney Writers’ Festival, Faber Writing Academy and Shakespeare & Co Festival (Paris) contributing to a 20-year-plus career immersed in the world of literature, ideas and event management. Edwina oversaw and nurtured Byron Writers Festival to its recognised status as one of Australia’s headland regional Writers’ Festivals, a favourite with authors and audiences alike.

Bronwen Jones is an architect who works at the intersection of architecture and city making. She advocates for collective change to meet the critical challenges of our time.

Through her writing and by curating and leading specialist walks and events, Bronwen contributes to the broad ranging conversation about the future of urban living. In particular, she brings her considerable knowledge about the attributes required to create great public places to this conversation. She was a valued member of the ACT Government’s City Renewal team that aims to improve and activate Canberra as part of its liveable cities initiatives.

More recently, with an ever-expanding environmental awareness, Bronwen has turned her energy to the regenerative movement with the purpose of contributing to the reunion of architecture with the natural environment. She now lives in Tasmania.

Sandra Schwarz trained as a visual arts teacher before completing a Masters in Landscape Architecture from the University of Melbourne and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Her work focuses predominantly on restorative gardens especially seen in her connections with Austin Health, Global Gardens of Peace, Open Gardens Victoria and most recently Therapeutic Horticulture Australia.

She also works for Andrea Proctor Landscapes and has recently written her first book about Restorative Green Space exploring universal qualities as a lens for designers, remaining curious and active within this broad field.

Bill has been involved with ALC since 2015, supporting the website, performing various IT functions and photographing conferences. Following a career in the corporate world of software development and internet communications, Bill has been fortunate to find himself working in a niche where technology meets nature. He enjoys the process of bringing beautifully designed landscapes to the electronic media.

Living on a hobby farm in Victoria’s Yarra Valley has been a pleasant balance to his long hours spent in front of the computer screen cutting code.