On her first day of work at the Royal Botanic Garden in 1959, botanist Barbara Briggs wondered what she had got herself into, concluding it would just be "a temporary thing".
Fifty-seven years later Dr Briggs, 81, is one of Australia's foremost botanists and the organisation's longest-serving female scientist.
"I have been fortunate to work in biology during the time when the use of DNA methods have given a far more complete and robust knowledge of evolutionary relationships than I ever expected to see," said Dr Briggs.
"It has been a 'golden age' of new understanding in biology."
Monday marks the 200th birthday of the garden, which has long-benefited from such a prime location, close to other cultural institutions, Dr Briggs said.
"I value the diversity of this place, [in] not only science but also history and education and as a valued space for Sydney and Australian people."
It is thanks in part to the area's poor soil that the garden survived. The site of the first farm, food production was forced to move to Paramatta after failed crops.
"Had it been a farm, I believe it would have been subdivided and sold for building," Dr Briggs said.
In a career littered with achievements, the botanist counts about 80 new species she has named and others she has reclassified.
It was her skill that was put to use in the 1960s by authorities investigating the kidnapping-murder case of eight-year-old Graeme Thorne, when she was tasked with identifying a one centimetre-wide leaf taken from the rug in which the body was wrapped.
"It was a common native species and did not help in solving the case, but it did teach me that a tiny leaf fragment could be identified when you really try," Dr Briggs said, adding that it demonstrated how botanical expertise could have more far-reaching applications than most people realise.
Now-retired, but still assisting at the garden, Dr Briggs said she hoped the next two centuries would bring with them more environmental understanding, pointing to climate recordings "being broken year, after year".
"I hope the sea level doesn't rise and Sydney doesn't become too choked for people to come and visit the Garden," she said.
"But I also hope it continues to be a place that scientists are proud to work at and that it will continue in its role of providing education, green space and plant diversity."
- with Daisy Dumas
