24 February 2026
Many hands made light work on Saturday 22 February, with around 50 Harbour Hospice staff and family members turning up for a gardening working bee at our Red Beach site, Hibiscus House.
Guided by hospice’s Wednesday gardening volunteers, they pruned, weeded, trimmed and mulched their way through the morning. By the time they called it a day, the grounds were transformed.
The volunteers were thrilled, saying, “Wow, what a day with so many people and their families giving up their precious time at the weekend. The mulch piles disappeared so fast and we’re set up for the next six months with the compost bins. The lower exit looks so much better and the northern boundary and swamp area have improved so much, as have the main entrance and the Forget Me Not garden. The trimming, weed eating and mowing has really helped us to groom it as we would like to see it.”
A combination of poor weather coupled with holidays and fewer volunteers available had culminated in a backload of gardening tasks that needed doing.
“It was a lovely show of support for our volunteers to have staff help them out for a few hours to bring the gardens back into shape and make it easier for them to maintain,” says Harbour Hospice Chief Executive Amanda Fowler.
What made the day even more special was that a patient came out of the Inpatient Unit to admire their work. Operations Manager Greg Clarke says, “That just really brought home for us why we were there, and it was very, very cool. You could see how much he appreciated our efforts, and how much the gardens meant to him.”
Some said the working bee reminded them of their childhoods, when it wasn’t uncommon to turn up on a Saturday with your family to help out at a church or community event.
A huge thank you to everyone who gave their time and did so with huge smiles on their faces, and a big thank you to the hospice kitchen team, who provided a beautiful morning tea.
