A gardener’s legacy reimaged

Environmentalist Pauline Dickson has reimagined her 40-year legacy in the St Stithians College community into her new book, A Gardener’s Legacy. What started as an invitation to oversee the school campus grounds in 1979, when her two sons first attended, has led to an almost forty-year-long project containing an estimated 1 000 photos and curiosity for Sandton’s history.

“This is not a story about the people; this is a story about the space and the power to change it. Get rid of the bluegum forest, get rid of the aliens that have been allowed to live here and to bring out all the indigenous growth,” Dickson said.

Readers are given the opportunity to immerse themselves into Dickson’s journey as well as the emotion behind it. Included in this journey is Ward 102 councillor, David Potter. A St Stithians alumnus and community lover at heart, Potter has been part of Dickson’s journey, providing her with the carte blanche she needed.

According to Potter, Dickson has remained instrumental in the working of his ward. “As a St Stithians College alumnus and now a ward councillor for the ward in which the school is situated, I am so proud of what has been achieved on the expansive campus with the guidance of Pauline,” he said.

The gardener’s journey is however not yet completed, said Dickson as she unravelled her next curiosity which is more focused on teaching people about their environmental impact as well as how it all came to be.

“My hope moving forward is to teach the children how quickly we can devastate an environment and how fragile an environment is. I am lecturing a lot, and the children of all ages are very interested. I think that we are in an age now where the youngsters want to know about our environment,” she said.

Second to her late husband, she added that she was also motivated by the late Nelson Mandela. “He was at the school and he wanted to meet the gardener, not really knowing what was going to come before him. I knelt in front of him and he put his hands on mine and said ‘I am also a gardener, a gardener of a nation. We will both leave a legacy’,” she smiled.

Thus ‘A Gardeners Legacy’ was born. Dickson added that her book has since been classified as historical. City mayor Herman Mashaba is set to receive a copy along with the iconic Brenthurst Library.

Related articles:

https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/227608/celebrate-world-environment-day-on-5-june/

https://www.citizen.co.za/sandton-chronicle/224073/the-braamfontein-rehabilitation-spruit-project-acts-in-the-interest-of-the-environment/