Sarah Konoski

What about the gum trees inside, you know, the ones that get made into furniture?

Do you have much of that in your place?

So this is a part of the world that's deep in your bones now, Steve, but it's not where you grew up.

Where was home for you as a kid?

Your dad, when he was moving up and down the east coast of Australia, that was partly through his work in prawn fishing.

How did he get involved in that?

it let them stay out because what there could be communication letting people on land know that everything was okay was that was that the change but also talk to the mothership and say we've got a got a full load we're coming over to you unloading at sea and then carrying on trawling while at sea did you ever go out on the boats with your dad when he was doing that work

So then you find yourself in Perth and your mum and dad have headed off to work in Singapore and you're there finishing high school and about to embark on a university degree.

Was it going to always be botany, biology, natural sciences?

A nuclear physicist?

What instrument did you play?

What did that mean for your university marks, MUD?

Is there an easy answer to that, Steve?

Well, you can save us all our hard work and just reach to the cut to the chase.

Well, back when you were still just a baby scientist, you got interested in kangaroo paws, and that's the plant, I should specify, not the part of the animal.

Where did kangaroo paws first make a big impression on you?

And in that, what did you learn about the role that animals play in the growth of those beautiful plants?

Good for your health and fitness, Steve.

So how did you go, Steve, from kangaroo paws and cat paw to eucalyptus?

Yeah.