Next Meeting

We are pleased to advise that our monthly general meetings are now held in the archives on the ground floor, so no more stairs. Visitors are always welcome to attend.

The next general meeting of the Society will be on Thursday 27th February 2025 at 2.00pm in the archives in Mittagong.

Guest Speaker: Society member Dr Conni Lord.

Conni Lord is an Egyptologist and archaeologist who has excavated in Egypt, Jordan and Britain. Her interest in material culture focusses on learning on what similarities we share with people from the past not the differences. Conni has also worked in museums in the United Kingdom and Australia and currently teaching ancient cultures in the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney to primary, secondary and tertiary students. She grew up in the Southern Highlands and has now moved back to the area and volunteers at the Berrima Museum.

Topic: 

The gardens of ancient Egypt might seem to be very far away from ours here in the Southern Highlands in terms of both time and distance, however they are the forerunners of gardens throughout the world. Elements the Egyptians valued in their estates can be seen in modern gardens all around the world. Like us, the Egyptians loved their gardens for the shade they provided, the food they produced and the colour that could been seen in the plants used in their design. We will explore ancient Egyptian gardens using the evidence the Egyptians themselves left behind, including tomb scenes that are some of the most complex and beautiful images from the ancient Egyptian artistic repertoire. Evidence from excavation sites demonstrate that these renderings are probably not far from the truth. Like so many aspects of ancient Egyptian culture, the gardens, and the plants within them, were an integral part of life and death. In this talk, we will take a visual stroll through some of the royal and private estates of ancient Egypt and take a closer look at the plants that were used to sustain life and delight.