Remembering Randy Sing

Randy Sing was a long-time staff member at the Royal Botanic Gardens and oversaw a large-scale pruning operation for dozens of old figs in the Domain. He sadly passed away recently and will be much missed, writes David Bidwell.

Randy Sing was a much-loved and long-serving member of the horticultural team at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. Over his 34-year career, Randy played a vital role across the Gardens, most recently as Nursery Supervisor.

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, arboriculture operations in the Botanic Garden and Domain were run by Randy. There had been considerable disquiet over several sequential and high-profile limb failures from old fig trees around the estate, particularly in the Domain, and the arboriculture team, led by Randy, were tasked with assessing and mitigating the risk from those trees.

A large-scale pruning operation was organised for most of the dozens of old figs in the Domain, which as the principal events venue was – and still is – the main risk concern. Randy donned a hard hat and Hi-Viz to lead a large team to bolster the small team of arborists.

He drew from all his staff resources, supplemented by external consultants and a large hired elevating work platform to carry out a major pruning operation over two weeks, to lighten the load on many of the very old trees, prior to the upcoming season of major public events.

This is just one of countless examples of how Randy creatively encouraged collaboration within his teams and encouraged many of us to work on tasks that were outside our usual work areas.

Randy was a driving force behind every exhibition at The Calyx since its launch in 2016, with his quiet leadership and deep expertise helping bring each display to life. Randy also rebuilt our Amorphophallus titanum collection, making last year’s spectacular bloom of ‘Putricia’, the corpse flower, possible. The bloom drew 27,000 visitors to The Palm House and reached over a million people online.

Randy passed away suddenly not long after retirement, and he will be very much missed by myself and so many of his current and former colleagues at the Botanic Gardens going back over several decades.

He was a loved friend and colleague to many, and made a significant impact at the Gardens, especially on the young apprentices he nurtured and motivated. His legacy will continue to resonate through all those whom he influenced. Heartfelt condolences go to Randy’s partner, Maureen, and their family. A Life Celebration was held in late March.