John Ellement

[Tyrone]

Last night John Ellement, a long time member of the Western Australian plant and palm scene passed away after losing his fight with cancer.

John was an unassuming, quietly spoken, hard working man who I had the privilege of knowing for a while. He started "Palms Galore", a well known palm nursery in WA and had been a member of the WA Palm and Cycad Society for a very long time. After he sold Palms Galore he started Wattleup Wholesale Nursery which continued to grow palms and cycads and was situated on a lake. He planted many palms, cycads and even a giant Pandanus on this lake and it later became known as Palm Lake.

John was often seen rescuing older palms and cycads from demolition sites and peoples gardens for replanting in other peoples properties. He taught me a lot about transplanting large palms. I would often act as the dogman on the HIAB on his truck as we bagged up 400L Foxtail palms when I used to work in the nursery industry. He was a wealth of knowledge on moving large giant heavy plants, and he was very very good at it. I always enjoyed working with John. He was great to work with.

From as long as I knew him, he was a healthy living sort of guy who never smoked. You'd often see him with a piece of fruit in his hand like an apple or banana, but never with a hot dog or fast food of any sort. I never saw him actually take a rest. He just worked and worked. He was always doing something. It was because of this that it was such a shock to many that he had become unwell.

My thoughts go out to his partner Ann, his family and his friends. He definitely left a legacy behind and I will always remember John with fondness and a smile, of good times well spent.

His passing is a great loss to all those who knew him and to the WA Palm, Cycad and plant community.