The WA Parks Foundation is fortunate to have a passionate group of Ambassadors.
Meet the people who love our WA parks, inspiring in others an appreciation of their uniqueness and value to the community.
Home Who We Are Our Ambassadors
Shaun Hardcastle
Why do I love WA Parks?
Shaun strongly believes that WA Parks should be a source of pride for all Western Australians and his aim is to assist in the long term preservation of WA’s Parks and their conservation values. Shaun has a keen interest in the outdoors and believes that the WA Parks Foundation is a fantastic initiative for all West Australians that will help ensure that our national parks are protected and enjoyed both now and in the future.
Dr Tom Hatton PSM
Dr Tom Hatton PSM has enjoyed a distinguished science career, leading national CSIRO programs in water, marine and energy research. He was the Chairman of the WA Environmental Protection Authority, and has previously chaired the WA Marine Parks and Reserves Authority and served on the WA Conservation Commission. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Western Australia.
Why do I love WA Parks?
I am honoured to serve as an Ambassador for the WA Parks Foundation, to help bring more West Australians closer to our rich and unique natural and cultural heritage.
Janet Holmes à Court AC
Janet Holmes à Court is owner of the Janet Holmes à Court Collection. She is Chairman of the Australian Children’s Television Foundation and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
She is a Board Member of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), the Australian Major Performing Arts Group (AMPAG), the Chamber of Arts and Culture WA (CACWA), the Australian Urban Design Research Centre (AUDRC), the Australian Institute of Architects Foundation and the New York Philharmonic International Advisory Board, and also a member of the Centenary Trust for Women Board of Advisors at the University of Western Australia and State Buildings Advisory Board, Western Australia.
Why do I love WA Parks?
My love for parks dates back to my childhood. I was lucky enough to live close to John Forrest National Park and have the wonderful memories of exploring and playing in the bush. Parks have always been an important part of my life.
Professor Steve Hopper AC
Steve Hopper has been recognised as a global science leader in the field of plant conservation biology, particularly in the delivery of world-class research programs and contributing to the conservation of endangered species and ecosystems.
He was the first non-British person to become the Director of the prestigious Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (2006-2012). Prior to this he served as Director and then CEO of the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority encompassing Kings Park (1992-2004). He is currently Professor of Biodiversity at The University of Western Australia.
Why do I love WA Parks?
Western Australia's parks and reserves contain a rich diversity of plants, animals and other organisms of global significance. As today's custodians, we all have responsibilities to care for this abundant heritage. The WA Parks Foundation is an important step towards achieving due recognition and broad community support for the State's incomparable biodiversity, landscapes and waters.
Ezra Jacobs-Smith
Ezra is a Nyoongar man with English and Irish heritage. He is an environmental engineer who specialised in terrestrial water resources and environmental and social sustainability.
He is passionate about preserving Indigenous culture and the social and environmental connections between Indigenous Traditional Landowners and their country. His goal for the future is to develop economic opportunities for Indigenous people that also preserve and enhance the social and environmental aspects of culture.
Why do I love WA Parks?
As a Nyoongar man living in a capital city, parks are extremely important because they provide me with an invaluable connection to my culture. They protect and preserve for future generations our sacred sites and important places that tell the story of one of the oldest continuing cultures in the world. They are sources of food, water, medicine, cultural resources and materials. I regularly visit parks like Walyunga National Park and John Forrest National Park with my family to learn and practice culture and continuing this tradition fills me with an enormous sense of pride. Through my studies I also learned what science has allowed us to discover about the environment, how it functions and how we depend on it. Parks are extremely important because they provide habitats for our native flora and fauna and sustain many environmental functions that are crucial to our survival, including providing us with clean drinking water and clean air.
Josephine Janz-Dawson (Josie)
Josie Janz-Dawson is a Torres Strait Islander, born on Thursday Island QLD and grew up in Derby, West-Kimberley. Josie played netball for Western Australia underage representative teams, and after she graduated year 12 she received a two-year netball scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. Josie then moved back to Perth where she played netball for the WestCoast Fever team from 2008 to 2016 in the ANZ Championship, and just recently played netball in the United Kingdom Superleague for both the Severn Stars and Team Bath. Josie has been working at the Wirrpanda Foundation as a mentor since 2009 and is now the General Manager of Education Programs focusing on building positive role models in our communities and improving educational and healthy lifestyle outcomes for our youth and families.
Why do I love WA Parks?
“I love Country. Country does not just represent the waterholes, rock formations and hills. Country includes all living and breathing beings, it also embraces the seasons, stories and spirit creations. Country is a place of belonging and a way of living. I believe we have a deep sense of connection to country. Land and country can ground us when we need stability, it can support our wellbeing when we aren’t feeling good, it can provide medicine to heal us when we are sick and it can be an overwhelmingly beautiful sight when you see how old and untouched our WA landscape presents. I grew up in the Kimberley and understood very early on from our First Nations desert, freshwater and saltwater people that we are just visitors here and we need to ensure we nurture country and waterways to be around for many generations to come. The more we love and nurture country, country will look after us.”
Victoria Laurie
Why do I love WA Parks?
The key to handing on our bushland for safekeeping is with children. Step them out into our parks, invite them to savour their ‘big backyard’, and we’ve secured the species-rich wilderness in our State.
Peter and Vicki Long
Peter and Vicki Long have lived in the Pilbara region of Western Australia since 1985, when they started their own environmental and engineering consultancy in the coastal town of Karratha.
Peter is currently the Mayor of the City of Karratha and brings to that role a sound knowledge of the environment having worked in an environmental management capacity on projects across the north-west.
Vicki is a passionate botanist and ecologist with 32 years’ experience working throughout the northern half of WA. She continues to donate much of her time and knowledge to environmental agencies in an effort to better protect parks and reserves.
She works with Aboriginal people from Broome to Onslow, recording traditional knowledge about the use of plants. Her book “Along the Burrup” is an effort to share the beauty of the flora of the Burrup Peninsula – Murujuga National Park, a place close to her heart.
Why do I love WA Parks?
The Pilbara is a unique, breathtakingly beautiful environment. We love our Parks because they offer all people a snapshot of this ancient, remote, rugged, but remarkably vulnerable landscape. Our Parks give people the opportunity to learn how flora and fauna in this arid environment survive extremes in temperature, erratic rainfall and cyclonic winds. Most of all, we love how the majesty of the area confronts the mere “humanness” of us all and makes us realise just how commanding Nature is, how important it is to us as humans and how much we need to respect it.
Griffin Longley
Why do I love WA Parks?
Parks sit right at the heart of children playing outdoors. We know when kids are outside playing more, it not only benefits their health, but their mental health hugely as well as their creativity and capacity to learn. Play is the ultimate brain food and kids thrive on playing in our Parks.
Janelle and Adam Marr
Janelle and Adam Marr are Directors of award-winning consultancy Step Beyond Strategy and have extensive experience in strategy, sustainability and business transformation.
Prior to founding Step Beyond, Janelle worked in the advisory arms of KPMG, EY and Credit Suisse and Adam worked across Unisys, Woodside and Optus.
They are both values driven with a core focus on helping to shape the global foresight and sustainability agenda – across both their personal and professional lives.
StepBeyond is the first Accredited Partner in Australia with the Future-Fit Foundation – the world’s most comprehensive framework for sustainability in business – and a contributor to UNESCO foresight projects overseas.
Both participate as Directors on a range of Boards across education, culture and arts, health and social services, and conservation – and were recently awarded multiple State and National Sustainability Housing Industry Awards.
They are thrilled to be Ambassadors and are keen to contribute to the promotion, conservation and experience of WA’s incredibly diverse parks and outdoor spaces.
Why do I love WA Parks?
We both grew up with endless opportunities to explore the outdoors – myself on a market garden and Adam near the ocean. After more than a decade away from WA we realised what a privilege this was and returned to Perth to give our kids the same experience. Immersing ourselves in bushwalking, camping, stargazing and exploring the diversity that is WA – from the coast to Cape Leveque, the Outback Way, Fitzgerald NP, Great Western Woodlands, Karajini and the Gibb River Road. Parks and our natural environment are essential for kids and future generations to thrive and for our individual and collective wellbeing. We love the work of WA Parks and are privileged to be a part of it.
Eric McCrum OAM
Passionate bird lover, Eric is known for being able to imitate the call of almost any bird found in the Australian bush, tell the Latin name of any flower or plant and having a considerable knowledge of Noongar history. He is also the Treasurer of the Darling Range Branch WA Naturalists’ Club.
Why do I love WA Parks?
Even as a kid, I was happier in the trees and swimming than spending time with school friends. Parks are everything. As soon as I noticed birds in the bush, I wanted to find out what they were doing and what their calls meant. Parks take me away somewhere very special.
Richard McLellan
Richard McLellan is a long-time environmental practitioner and advocate – with a special interest in eucalypt woodland conservation. Currently undertaking postgraduate research at the Institute of Land, Water and Society at Charles Sturt University, Richard is the former lead on sustainable development at WWF, the conservation organisation; Editor-in-Chief of the Living Planet Report; and immediate past CEO of NACC – the Northern Agricultural Region’s NRM organisation.
Why do I love WA Parks?
We are so lucky in Western Australia to have some of our planet’s most spectacular and biologically diverse, natural places – many of which are being protected in our precious national parks and nature reserves. Protecting our Parks is absolutely essential not only for environmental conservation purposes, but also for their importance to our identity, our culture, and indeed our very survival. I encourage everyone to find ‘their’ special park, and to do something positive and constructive to help protect or enhance it.” #FindYourPark