Video Waratah Australis Nursery (flowers) – Batlow, New South Wales

TLF ID M019382

This is a video about plant breeder and nursery owner Brian Fitzpatrick and his work of breeding waratahs. It shows scenes of his activities in the Waratah Australis Nursery as he speaks of the magnificence of waratahs; the stages in the breeding process including hand-pollination and the production of 12,000 seedlings annually; the time it takes to develop a new variety and receive a commercial return; and his love for the work. He describes the Open Day held in 2013 and his plans for the future of the property, The video lasts for 2:38 min and in the final segment Fitzpatrick advises students to keep an open mind about agribusiness, investigate the research, and 'go for broke'.





Educational details

Educational value
  • This resource is very useful for studies of plant cultivation and agribusiness in 21st century Australia, particularly in the context of subjects such as economics and business, work studies, science and design and technologies. The business is of considerable value for the economics and business year 8 content description about the types of businesses in Australia and how they respond to opportunities and for the year 10 content description about how ways businesses organise themselves to improve productivity. Waratah Australis Nursery is the first step in a supply chain that leads to wholesale nurseries that grow the seedlings on and then to retail nurseries that sell the plants to the public.
  • The section in the video about waratah breeding is a useful adjunct to the year 8 science content description about science understanding influencing the development of practices in areas of human activity such as agriculture, and the year 10 content description about the transmission of heritable characteristics from one generation to the next.
  • Fitzpatrick's career of long-cycle development of new plant varieties is a valuable case study for the year 9 work studies content description about investigating a wide range of occupations and the skills and personal qualities required in these fields, and for the years 7/8 design and technologies content description that refers to products evolving locally through the innovation and enterprise of individuals. His best-selling Wild Brumby series of waratahs in five distinct colours was released in 2007 and further varieties are in development.
Year level

7; 8; 9; 10

Other details

Contributors
  • Contributor
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: AgriFood Skills Australia
  • Organization: AgriFood Skills Australia
  • URL: http://www.agrifoodskills.net.au/
  • Publisher
  • Name: AgriFood Skills Australia
  • Organization: AgriFood Skills Australia
  • Description: Publisher
  • URL: http://www.agrifoodskills.net.au/
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Unknown
Learning Resource Type
  • Video
Rights
  • © AgriFood Skills Australia 2015. Except where indicated otherwise, this material may be used in accordance with the Standard YouTube License at http://www.youtube.com/t/terms.