Does anyone out there Know the Dendrobium Hilda Poxon story. Who was she.?

Hi Graham, (and then sent on the WT at AON)

You requested information about how Dendrobium Hilda Poxon was named and the lady it was named after.

Sometime in the mid-1970’s, I purchased seedlings of a hybrid listed as WSB101 Den. tetragonum var. giganteum x Dendrobium speciosum var. speciosum from Mackinney’s Nursery at Sunnybank, Brisbane. Mackinney’s were the agent for Wayside Nursery (hence the code WSB) and Jim Mackinney told me these seedlings were a remake by Ira Butler of the cross.

After these seedlings had flowered, I also purchased the same cross from V & N Jupp who had used different parents from those used by Ira Butler.

When all seedlings showed superior form compared with those available at that time, I sought permission from Noel Jupp to register his cross, but Noel advised me that Ira Butler had made his cross before he, Noel Jupp, repeated the cross, and I would need to list Ira Butler as the originator of the cross. By this time, Ira Butler had died, so I applied to the RHS to registered the cross as Dendrobium Hilda Poxon to honour a much-loved creator of the native orchid society in Toowoomba, and acknowledging that Ira Butler was the originator.

Within a week of me receiving acknowledgement from the RHS that they (the RHS) had accepted the registration of the name Den. Hilda Poxon, I received a letter from ANOS Sydney requesting that I withdraw my application to register the hybrid as Den. Hilda Poxon. It appears that Noel Jupp had in discussion with people in Sydney let them know of my request to him for permission to register his cross, and they wished to name the hybrid themselves. Sydney ANOS did not know that the RHS had already accepted my registration of the name, hence their request for me to withdraw my registration had arrived too late for me to withdraw. Sydney folk were not at all happy when I refused to withdraw my registration of the hybrid because the RHS had already accepted the name.

Hilda Poxon was responsible for the creation of the Toowoomba Group of ANOS in 1969. By the mid-1970’s, this group had morphed into the Native Orchid Society of Toowoomba Inc. (NOSTI) – it celebrates its 50th Anniversary on 27th July 2019. Hilda was a dedicated grower of Australian native orchids and had invited the founder of ANOS, Bill Murdock, to Toowoomba to address people interested in growing Australian native orchids in the mid-1960’s. From that public meeting, ANOS Toowoomba Group was formed in 1969. Hilda became the first Life Member of ANOS Toowoomba. When the Queensland Government decided that all clubs must become incorporated, ANOS Toowoomba tried to incorporate under the name ANOS Toowoomba Inc., but the powers that be in Brisbane assumed that such a group must be Australia-wide and the National body of ANOS, and so they would not allow the use of the name ANOS Toowoomba Inc. Hence ANOS Toowoomba morphed into the Native Orchid Society of Toowoomba Inc. (NOSTI) in the mid-1970’s. I can not remember when Hilda Poxon died, but she was an elderly lady in 1969 in her 60’s then and was dead by 1980.

Regards,

Noel

I was In high school in 1977 and my love of orchids was already firmly entrenched. I grew up on a farm in southwest western Australia and loved to watch the spider orchids emerge in the spring. So nice to hear some info about the lady with this name and the spider orchids that have her name. Different type but still beautiful

Hi Wayne.
Re Den Hilda Poxon. In the Sept 1977 issue of The Australian Orchid Review there is a small piece about the name registration and I quote "It has been registered by Dr N. J. Grundon of Toowoomba and named after a member of the Darling Downs Native Orchid Society. "

Regards
John