The following is a summary of an article by Stuart Traynor, Trustee of the Olive Pink Flora Reserve, appearing in The Australian Garden Journal:

"The Olive Pink Flora Reserve…is situated on the east bank of Alice Springs' dry Todd River. The 16ha reserve was gazetted in 1956. Olive pink was granted an occupational lease on part of the reserve on condition that she act as honorary curator. She lived there in a galvanised iron shed until she died in 1975 at the age of 91.

"It was Miss Pink's intention that the reserve contain representative specimens of the desert flora of Central Australia. It was to this end that she and her Aboriginal gardener Jonny Jambijimba Yannarilyi worked. Following her death the reserve was renamed Olive Pink Flora Reserve and is managed today as a tribute to her vision and tenacity. It is currently Australia's only established arid zone botanic garden despite the fact that nearly three quarters of the continent is arid land.

"The reserve has over 300 of the Centre's 800 plant species on display. Sections of the reserve are being developed to represent distinct habits within Central Australia. These include a sand dune system, mulga woodland, a rocky waterhole and, below it, a creek floodout area. These areas are enchanced by the original vegetation of the rocky hills which surround much of the reserve.

"The reserve aims to increase appreciation of Australia's arid zone flora and encourage the use of indigenous native vegetation in Central Australian gardens and landscape design."

Sources used to compile this entry: Marcus, Julie, 'Miss Pink's Garden: The Creation of an Arid Zone Botanic Garden', Australian Garden History, vol. 10, no. 3, 1998, pp. 11-14; Traynor, Stuart, 'The Olive Pink Flora Reserve', The Australian Garden Journal, pp. 120-121.