Australasian Native Orchid Society
(Victoria Group) Inc.

HISTORY

The inaugural meeting of the Australasian Native Orchid Society (Victorian Group) was held on the 16 August 1968 at the Victorian Railways Institute, Flinders Street, Melbourne.  At that meeting there were 25 people present and the elected office bearers were:

• President - Les Raynes
• Vice President - Alan Home
• Committee - David Jones, Ray Smith & Dick Smith

At that meeting Bill Murdoch from Coal Point in NSW was the guest of honour and spoke on the cultivation of native orchids.   Bill was a co-founder of the ANOS parent group.   The committee resolved to book the lecture hall at the National Herbarium for subsequent meetings.

At the Following meeting in October, Bill Murdoch was awarded the first life membership of ANOS Vic. for his efforts in establishing ANOS and for his continuing endeavours on behalf of native orchids.

The Herbarium became our home until 1994, except for a period between November 1987 and July 1989, while the Herbarium was being renovated.   During the break we held our meetings either at the Royal Victorian Horticultural Society Hall in Victoria Street, Melbourne or at the West Hawthorn Uniting Church Hall.   We departed the Herbarium in October 1994, spent a few months at the St. Lukes Anglican Church Hall in Dorcas Street, South Melbourne, and transferred to our current home at Burnley Horticultural College in March 1995.

ANOS Vic. has continually published a Bulletin since its establishment.   Les Raynes was the first Editor and the inaugural Bulletin totalled four pages.   Les was the Editor for two and a half years, followed by John Fanning for four years, Helen Richards for four years, Paul Phillips for ten years and Helene Wild for the past fifteen years.   Today our Bulletin is fourteen pages and a printed version is available in black and white or a full colour version is available by e-mail.

Other Milestones

• 13 October 1968 - First field trip visited Warneet with 35 members in attendance
• September 1969 - First Spring Show (members only)
• November 1970 - Tuber Bank established
• 1971 - Calochilus richiae adopted as society emblem
• 1977 - Terrestrial Study Group established
• October 1978 - First Spring Show open to the general public
• 1984 - First edition of "Cultivation of Australian Native Orchids" is published
• 1984 - New Members Group established
• 1985 - Epiphyte Study Group established
• 1988 - Second edition of "Cultivation of Australian Native Orchids" is published
• 1999 - Seed Propagation Group established
• October 2000 - Host of the 4th ANOS Conference and Show
• July 2006 - ANOS Victoria is joint winner with Department of Sustainability and Environment, Parks Victoria, Royal Botanic Gardens - Melbourne, Melbourne University, Victoria University and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University in the Prime Minister's Banksia Awards for the Environment in the category of Land and Biodiversity.  This is to recognize the cooperative work done by all the groups in orchid conservation.  The submission was titled " Back from the Brink: Saving Victoria's Threatened Orchids"

Current and Past Presidents

• Les Raynes
• Alan Home
• David Cannon
• Ray Smith
• John Fanning
• Rick Wootton
• Rick Datodi
• Helen Richards
• Don Smith
• Alex Wild
• Murray Harding
• Doug Lee
• Tony Slater (1998 - 2002)
• George Byrne-Dimos (2002 - 2005)
• Andrew Dilley (2005 - 2008)
• Mike Duncan (2008 - Present)