After attending the Downer Microforest community consultation, Purdie Bowden, partnered with Watsonians, Liz Adcock and Joan Cornish to form a leadership trio. Together, they raised almost $53,000 to build the Watson Microforest!

Central to their approach was genuine engagement with local Indigenous people. They collaborated with First Nations businesses to host bush food tastings, Ngunnawal language and weaving workshops, and to incorporate Indigenous perspectives into the landscape design.

The volunteer team worked with landscape architect, Edwina Robinson and water harvesting designer, Paul Totterdell to design the microforest and an extensive water harvesting system, including a dry creek bed. Critical to the landscape plan was a nature play journey that weaves through the forest and connects to a nearby playground. Also included is an artisan ‘Bowery,’ a metal child-sized tunnel woven with plant materials from residents’ gardens

On a sodden weekend in 2021, the community showed up to plant over 1,200 native plants. 

The Watson Microforest has become a community hub. Carers bring young children to enjoy the space and escape from screen time. One parent runs a weekly nature-based playgroup at the microforest. And the space is activated on balmy weekends with picnics and musical performances.