OUR PEOPLE
Blooming in retirement

Nev and Rita Collins in their Palmwoods garden.

NEVILLE Collins’ passion for proteas has grown into a flourishing hobby farm which began when wife Rita purchased three plants at a Country Women’s Association market stall.

"We didn’t know how well they would do when we planted the proteas in our garden but when they started to really take off, I decided to keep planting more and more," Neville said.

They now have a flourshing farm producing up to 20 varieties of proteas and 30 varieties of Australian natives.

Life on a Palmwoods flower farm is a long way from the hectic life the Collins had been leading prior to their so-called retirement.

They retired in 1989 and 1991 respectively, leaving their 100 acre Brahman Stud at Mt Mee five years ago to move to their 10 acre property in Palmwoods.

Neville had spent 22 years as State Executive Director of the Endeavour Foundation while Rita was a councillor and Deputy Mayor on the Pine Rivers Shire Council for six years.

While she enjoyed her time in local government, she is also pleased to be taking an easier pace of life.

"I enjoyed council while I was there but I didn’t realise the pressures I was dealing with every day until I left," she said. "Now, I have the time to do all the little things I enjoy doing."

She paints landscapes, makes pottery, clay hand modelling and sculpts, with a particular interest in aboriginal head sculptures.

Rita said they had chosen to live in Palmwoods because it still had a rural feel and Neville was really a "bushie" at heart.

"He’s always had an interest in farming and each morning before heading off to work in Brisbane, he would be running all the chores on the dairy farm," she said.

Neville, a member of the Society for the Growing of Australian Plants and secretary of Australia Flora and Protea Growers Association, sells to florists but grows proteas and natives for the love of it.

"The best way to describe proteas is that they are a bit like children," he said. "You never know quite what they are going to look like until the flowers come out in bloom."

Neville and Rita have two married daughters who live in Stanthorpe and Sydney and are joined on the farm by Rita’s mother who has her own the self contained cottage close to the house.

Proteas may be a long way from what they are used to, but the Collins couldn’t be happier.

"There is a lot of joy in growing these plants particularly when they are really performing during the summer time," they said.