Townsville Community Garden Blossoms with Cultural Sharing

After fleeing the devastation of war in his home country, Ukrainian refugee Roman Parasyuk dreamt of having space to grow food for his family. But settling in a unit in Townsville in northern Queensland with his wife Olga and their two young sons offered few options for the novice gardener. "I always dreamed of having a little bit of soil to grow herbs and vegetables and flowers," Mr Parasyuk said. Fortunately, the Townsville Community Garden committee heard the family's story and allocated them a 144-square-metre plot. Three years later, Mr Parasyuk has two plots he cultivates, where he grows bananas, tomatoes and other tropical fruits. He is one of more than 80 gardeners at Townsville Community Garden, which has become its own multicultural ecosystem for sharing produce and agricultural expertise. The gardens were established in 2001 on 1.6 hectares of Townsville City Council land beside the Ross River in Railway Estate and cost members between $40 to $155 per year per plot. But unlike common neighbourhood gardens, these gardens have plots large enough to feed whole communities. Mr Parasyuk learns through watching YouTube videos and sharing knowledge with fellow gardeners from more than 14 different cultural backgrounds. Finding a haven The Parasyuk family moved to Townsville as refugees after the war in Ukraine began in 2022. Though their home in Kyiv did not have room for a garden either, the family wanted to grow produce like their relatives in rural Ukraine. "When I was growing up, my grandmother, she showed me [how to garden]," Mr Parasyuk said. Loading... "Every day I'm trying to learn new stuff," he said. Feels like home About 100 metres from Mr Parasyuk's garden are thriving breadfruit trees — a starchy staple ingredient in Pacific Islander diets. They, and the many coconuts scattered on the ground, make fellow gardener Lafoga Viliamu feel like he's back home on Tokelau — a coral atoll near the equator. "We grow heaps. We get the coconut, our mums and the elders love the coconut," Mr Viliamu said. Regular flooding doesn't faze Mr Viliamu and other members of the Tokelauan community who helped establish the gardens as a way of continuing their culture 4,500 kilometres from home. They have also passed down their culture to new generations born in Australia. The plots are filled with yams, breadfruit — a traditional fruit from the island — bananas and Pacific spinach. The community actively invites gardeners from other cultures to share knowledge and tips to enable the plots to thrive. "We work together, it's part of our culture. You have to help one another," Mr Viliamu said. "If we get our food ready, we share it with other people in the garden." Produce from around the world For some communities, the plots are how they put dinner on the plate each night. Gardeners from El Salvador and Zimbabwe use their plots to grow rows of corn, which is a staple in their diet. Sitting side by side are gardens belonging to members of Townsville's African, Indian, Korean and Pacific Island communities. Garden committee secretary John Eckersley said the garden operated under the philosophy of the fable about the Little Red Hen. "For those who are willing to be involved, we are delighted to share and to work with them," he said. "But those who are not willing to be part of the community … will have to part company sooner or later." For him, the key to a thriving community has been the gardeners' willingness to keep returning and working the land. "What we're looking for is people who will garden, who will appreciate the opportunity and will make good use of their garden," he said. "How we do things here is quite different from how other community gardens operate."