At the heart of any organisation, there are people who hold everything together – for Green Adelaide, Joyce Osborne is one of them. Affectionately known as our in-house “people wrangler”, Joyce’s email and diary management helps keep us sailing smoothly towards a cooler, greener, wilder Adelaide.
Read on to get a taste of Joyce’s work and discover the journey that led her to working in the environment sector – it might come as a surprise.
‘Working in this sector has opened my eyes to how the environment has been treated. I don’t have all the qualifications of our environmental experts, but I’d like to think that my small contribution in the scheme of things will help to create a better future for my grandchildren and their children.
I’m the Executive Officer of the Green Adelaide Board, Executive Assistant (EA) to the Director of Green Adelaide, Brenton Grear, and EA to the Presiding Member of the Board, Professor Chris Daniels.
My days involve a lot of email and diary management – I often hear people refer to me as a people wrangler!
I am responsible for preparing agendas and minutes for board meetings, overseeing documents and letters before final approval, and ministerials (briefings to the Deputy Premier Susan Close or responses to requests from her office).
I am also the Freedom of Information (FOI) Officer for Green Adelaide.
There are plenty of other adhoc things that come my way on a daily basis that keep things interesting too.
For example, Green Adelaide is taking the lead on organising the 2025 Landscape Forum and I’m currently coordinating that – but I also just recently packaged up and delivered books to schools.
Of course, there’s also solving random queries from staff!
I have worked in the environment sector for 18 years. All previous roles in the Department for Environment and Water (and the various names it has previously had) before my current one were as an EA to various executives.
The environment sector wasn’t originally on my radar. My background was in health, initially as a nurse – which seems like a lifetime ago now.
When my children were young, I worked in a winery as a function coordinator – which is where my love of event management started – before moving back into health administration.
I was looking for an EA position and was fortunate enough to win my first role in the then Department for Environment and Heritage.
I have worked in the many iterations of the department since then.
The best part of my job is working with a passionate group of professionals. I am in awe of many of the things they do and have learned so much.
I’ve enjoyed volunteering at our Green Adelaide Science Alive stand for the last two years. I love seeing the interaction of the kids with our exhibits.
This year I became a master in making origami seed packets! This was one of the activities we had at the stall, and the packets were used for us to give away free native seeds for plants that attract butterflies.
I have always enjoyed event management – I have a Diploma in Event Management – and I was lucky enough to be able to assist with the World Urban Parks Congress last year. In particular, I helped organise the final day that was hosted by Green Adelaide.
It was a great week meeting some fascinating and inspiring people from around the world.
The environment we inhabit is special and caring for it is something that should be inherent in all of us. If we all did our little bit, we would have a better environment for current and future generations.
My favourite animal is the kookaburra. It brings back happy memories of a Halls Gap holiday and summers on the river around some very tame kookaburras.'
Want to work in the environment sector? Be inspired by our staff or tune in to our podcast for an enviro-exclusive on the people, projects, and news of metro SA. Our host, Communication Manager Melissa Martin, interviews a local expert each episode.