Archive record · Export catalogue · 1990s · International supply
This record rebuilds the team's flagship export plant catalogue from the ISO-certified 1990s era: a bound reference of the trees, palms, shrubs and groundcovers offered to importers worldwide, and one of the earliest documents to formalise the supply network that still operates today.
What the catalogue offered
The catalogue presented plants grown at the team's own Queensland production nursery alongside stock sourced through what the general information section described as "a professional and reliable network of growers throughout Australia", built deliberately to supply "an extensive range of both native and exotic plants from a wide diversity of climatic conditions". That sentence is the origin of a sourcing philosophy that now spans three continents: never be limited to what one nursery, or one climate, can grow.
Inside the species range
The catalogue's plates read like a working list of what became the international arid-climate palette:
- Structure trees: Casuarina cunninghamiana, Cupaniopsis anacardioides, Ficus hillii, eucalypts and Tipuana tipu.
- Flowering shrubs: an extensive Callistemon and Melaleuca range, including cultivars like 'Kings Park Special' and 'Captain Cook' that remain project staples thirty years on.
- Screens and hedges: Westringia fruticosa and 'Wynyabbie Gem', Raphiolepis varieties, Leptospermum selections.
- Groundcovers and accents: Lomandra, Dianella, Dietes, Gazania, Myoporum and more.
Species entries carried working descriptions, cultural requirements and export sizes: a catalogue written by growers for buyers who would plant, not just purchase.
Why this record matters
Export horticulture in the 1990s was pioneering work: quality assurance certification, phytosanitary readiness and international freight for living stock were rare capabilities. This catalogue is evidence the systems were in place decades before today's projects needed them, and many of its species entries map directly onto what we still specify for arid and coastal projects. Compare it with the modern equivalents in our current stock range.
Continue exploring the Knowledge Archive or review our export capability today.