The Story of the Supreme Court of Queensland and Lxora timorensis
Author: Lawrie Smith
Published: Journal December 2020
In 1977 the SGAP Queensland Region President was returning home late one night after a Region Council meeting. He jumped the fence of the Supreme Court of Queensland, in George Street Brisbane, and took cuttings from a shrub of Ixora timorensis growing in the front garden on the left side of the main gates.
He knew that early the next day the contractors were coming to the site to demolish the building which had been severely damaged by fire – the Ixora was at risk! The President knew that the shrub had been originally grown from a specimen in Cooktown which may have been observed by botanist Joseph Banks in 1770. The President wanted to ensure that this particular plant would be saved for posterity.
He parked the car in the street outside and accomplice Jan Sked stayed close by making sure that the ‘coast was clear’.
Everything proceeded to plan and armed with cutting material, the President jumped back over the fence only to confront a police car cruising by! He was caught in the act! The first President arrested for trespass and possessing stolen goods!
But all was well the police car kept moving along. The saying that stolen plants grow better than any other is very true in the case of Ixora timorensis.
The President was Lawrie Smith, he knew all this because he was the appointed landscape architect for the new Supreme Court building to be constructed on the site (now demolished too!). The cuttings grew
well and progressively more cuttings were produced and shared with SGAP members. As he moved from his first house at Chapel Hill, new plants were produced from the original and planted at his homes in Whiteside, Warner and North Lakes.
Flower of Ixora timorensis
Dense foliage of Ixora timorensis
