vinc history

Originally known as Trees Galore, VINC started life in 1983 as a small project at Moreland High School. After a few years a modest nursery was established at CERES in Brunswick before moving to our current home at Yarra Bend Park in Fairfield in 1995.

Through the 1990s and 2000s, VINC steadily built relationships with Melbourne's land managers, councils and conservation organisations. As awareness of the importance of local provenance in revegetation grew, so did demand for what VINC offered: plants propagated from seed collected within the specific ecological zones where they would be planted, ensuring genetic fitness and long-term survival. VINC developed particular expertise in rare and threatened species, becoming a trusted partner in recovery programs for plants at risk of local extinction.

Today VINC grows more than 400,000 plants a year from our base at Yarra Bend Park, supplying more than 150 organisations across greater Melbourne. We have grown more than nine million plants over our 40 years, and our reputation for plant quality, species diversity and provenance integrity is stronger than ever.

And we are just getting started. In late 2026 we will sign a 21 year lease with Parks Victoria that will double the size of our nursery, giving us the long-term security to plan boldly for the future and to dramatically scale our contribution to nature recovery across Melbourne and beyond.