Albury Botanic Gardens
The Albury Botanic Gardens are Albury-Wodonga’s only Botanic Gardens, providing an important horticultural, botanical, educational, tourism, recreational and cultural resource for the region. They are often referred to as Albury’s “Jewel in the Crown”.
The Gardens opened in 1877, are nestled in the heart of the city’s CBD, close to the magnificent River Murray and riverside parks. They feature an impressive collection of more than 1000 plant species, set amongst sweeping lawns. The Australian sub-tropical rainforest trees, over 100 years old are spectacular, combined with the palms and exotic trees from last century.
Historic monuments include the rotunda, the main entrance gates, the curator’s cottage and monuments commemorating local history. The Children’s Garden is an amazing secluded retreat, opening in June 2012.
An estimated 250,000 people visit the Gardens each year, many coming for a meal or picnic, for gentle exercise or simply to enjoy the ambience.
Albury City Council, which manages and maintains the Gardens, regards them as one of its most important and valuable community assets.
Phone: 02 6043 5699
http://www.alburycity.nsw.gov.au/www/html/165-botanic-gardens.asp
pscannell@alburycity.nsw.gov.au
Open: All day.
Getting There: The Gardens are located at the corner of Dean St and Wodonga Place, Albury, NSW 2640. Halfway between Canberra and Melbourne, on the Hume Hwy.
Entry: Free. There is visitors parking and bus bays outside the Gardens and shops and restaurants are all within walking distance.
Auburn Botanic Gardens
Just 17 kilometres from Sydney CBD, the Auburn Botanic Gardens covers over nine hectares of lush parklands and has been a popular attraction since opened in 1977. The Gardens house a mix of local native plant collections as well as many display garden beds.
The Park features a spectacular Japanese stroll garden that circles a lake with traditional landscape features including waterfalls, decorative bridges, torii gates as well as a broad range of Japanese origin trees and shrub species.
Other popular attractions include:
- A sunken rose garden with many varieties of roses flowering between mid October to mid June
- A scented garden with an undercover wedding pavilion
- The Australian Woodland and Rainforest gardens set around a shady billabong
- Tree lined reflection pool
- The Fauna Reserve where you can see native animals such as kangaroos, wombats, wallabies and emus
- An Aviary that showcases Australian arid, woodland and rainforest species as well as colourful Asian birds
- Peacocks, swans, geese and native birds wander freely around the garden
- Art Gallery featuring works and exhibitions from the local community
Each year the Gardens host two popular festivals being the Cherry Blossom Festival in mid to late August and the Colours of Autumn Festival in mid to late May. Guided walks are available for interest groups and schools by prior appointment.
LatestGardenand local event updates are available at www.auburn.nsw.gov.au
Open: 9.00 am – 5.00 pm Winter; 9.00 am – 6.00 pm daylight savings time weekends only. Open every day except Christmas Day.
Getting There: The Gardens are located on the corner of Chisholm and Chiswick Roads, Auburn.
Entry: $4 Adults; Children under 16 and Auburn City Council residents free;
There are free visitors parking on site and picnic facilities.
Hunter Region Botanic Gardens
An unusual and beautiful site: a botanic collection of over 3,000 specimens set in 133ha of native coastal woodland graced with large impressive trees, rich understory vegetation and two wetlands, remnant swales of ancient Inner Barrier coastal dunes which overlay the Tomago aquifer.
Located on the Pacific Highway just 4.5km north of the Hexham Bridge, this volunteer managed and maintained botanic garden is neither council nor state owned. It is a not-for-profit public company of volunteers and supporters with a mission ‘To grow, study, conserve and promote plants, in particular plants of the Hunter Region’.
Established to counter the loss and destruction of native flora caused by mining, agriculture, industrial and urban development, the HRBG is committed to the collection, display and preservation of Hunter flora.
The site offers both a botanic collection and the experience of environmentally rich coastal woodlands and wetlands. The botanic collection is displayed in theme gardens contained within 30ha, bordered north and south by wetlands.Approximately 100ha are held as conservation zones, with the Southern Conservation Zone and rainforest accessible by boardwalk.
Native plant theme gardens comprise myrtaceae, grevilleas, conifers, lamiaceae, rutaceae, banksia, hakea, liliaceae, acacias, rainforest, ferns and palms. Selected exotic plant groups include succulents, bromeliads and orchids.
The Gardens Herbarium, which contains over 12,000 specimens, is a key entity in the collection and preservation of Hunter flora.
The Botanic Walk will take the visitor on a circuit through the theme gardens – distance 1.4km. For the more energetic some 8km of walking tracks provide a coastal woodland experience and if visitors tread quietly, the native fauna: macropods, monotremes, birds, reptiles and amphibians.
There are picnic lawns, electric barbeques, café, gift shop and reference library and each month a different artists work on display in the Visitors Centre gallery.
Open: 9am – 4pm daily. Closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day & Good Friday.
Getting there: 2100 Pacific Highway, Heatherbrae NSW 2324 (4.5km north of the Hexham bridge)
Information: www.huntergardens.org.au
(02) 4987 1655
Parking: $4 per car (no other charges), Bus groups $2.50 per passenger
Tours: Guides on site on Sundays, 11am - 2pm. Other times by appointment.
North Coast Regional Botanic Garden in Coffs Harbour.
The Botanic Garden covers about 20 hectares of Crown land about I kilometer from the central business district of Coffs Harbour, in Hardacre Street, off Harbour Drive.
Surrounded on three sides by Coffs Creek, the banks of the Creek are lined with naturally occurring mangroves. The tidal part of the creek forms part of the Solitary Islands Marine Park. One of the major botanic gardens on coastal New South Wales north of Sydney, there are displays of Australian native and exotic plants, including many rare and endangered species.
Established in 1985, the Garden is a remarkable blend of original dry sclerophyll forest, swamp areas, Australian native sections and exotic species as well as five different rainforest areas. Easily accessible paths and boardwalks lead visitors through landscapes as diverse as natural bushland, paperbark forests, rainforest, and mangrove habitats as well as the ever changing sensory garden.
Plants from different countries, but with similar climates to Coffs Harbour, are displayed in separate sections, allowing the visitor an “around the world” snapshot of the huge variety of the world’s flora from South Africa, through Asian countries to the Americas. The new Japanese section features the cultural beliefs of that country, as well as the flora, a beautiful and peaceful new addition which deserves its new title of “Friendship Garden”. The glasshouses introduce the visitor to arid species, orchids, bromeliads and tropical plants.
Picnic areas throughout the Garden.
Open: 9am – 5pm, and the Garden Shop, manned by volunteers, is daily 10am to 2pm during the week, and 9am to 4.30pm on weekends and holidays.
Guided walks available by appointment. The café is open from 10am to 2pm on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays
Getting There: From the Pacific Highway, follow Harbour Drive and turn onto Hardacre St and turn into Gardens from Coff St.
Entry: Free, with plenty of parking available.
The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust
The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan
The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan is Australia’s largest botanic garden at 416 hectares in size. The Garden features displays of Australian plants in both formal and informal settings within a typically Australian landscape. The Garden is home to a growing population of Australian animals including wallabies, wallaroos and more than 170 bird species.
The Garden contains remnant Cumberland Plain Woodland which is now considered a cricitally endangered ecological community. The Garden also houses horticultural facilities including the NSW Seedbank. A new world-class facility ‘PlantBank’ is currently under construction and is due to open in early 2013. PlantBank will provide new and exciting opportunities to enage visitors in science, explaining why something as tiny as a seed is so vital to our existence and why seeds hold the secrets for our future.
The Visitor Centre is located in the central precint opposite the 4.5 hectare Connections Garden, a series of terrace plantings exploring the interconnectedness of humans and the natural world. Also in the central precint are two ornamental lakes that lie in the valley of Annan Creek. The large adjacent lawns are popular for picnics, weddings and special events.
A recent addition to the Garden is the Mountain Bike trail located opposite the Big Idea Garden. With almost 11km of challenging trail, this has become a very popular attraction for mountain bike enthusiasts with a number of races held each year at the trail.
Open: From 10am – 5pm daily, closed Christmas Day. Phone: 02 4634 7935. Melaleuca House Café is open daily offering great value and service
Getting There: The Garden is located off Narellan Road, Mount Annan. Take the Narellan Road exit off the M5 South West Motorway.
Entry: Free.
The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney
Established in 1816, it is the oldest botanic garden and scientific institution in Australia. It is home to an outstanding collection of plants from around the world with a focus on Australia and the South Pacific. The Botanic Garden is set on Sydney Harbour, next to the Opera House. It sits at the heart of the city’s cultural domain of art galleries, museums and performing arts.
The Botanic Garden is surrounded by unfenced botanical parkland known as the Domain, which is accessible to the public 24 hours a day. Its green spaces, playing fields and harbour views play a central role in Sydney’s biggest festivals and cultural events and in the sporting life and physical fitness of the city workers and residents.
It all began in 1788 when Australia’s first farm, Farm Cove, was established by Governor Phillip. In 1816 the Botanic Gardens of Sydney was founded on this site by Governor Macquarie as part of the Governor’s Domain. Charles Fraser was appointed as the first Colonial Botanist in 1817, establishing the Botanic Gardens as the oldest scientific institution in Australia.
The National Herbarium of NSW, housed in the Robert Brown Building and built in 1982, is a major centre for Australian plant research. The extensive collection of nearly one million preserved specimens (dating back to plants collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander in 1770) provide reference material for studies of our native plants, their relationships and classification. Research includes field studies, DNA sequencing and scanning electron microscopy. Ecological research involves mapping and describing plant communities and studying factors that affect their survival.
The Herbarium provides a Botanical information service, including plant identifications and a public reference collection for native plant identifications. Open Monday to Friday, 9 am to 1 pm (closed public holidays), phone 02-9231 8155.
The Libraryhouses one of the most extensive collections of botanical, horticultural and ecological books, magazines, videos, photographs and publications, as well as material on related topics. The Library is only available for bona fide research work and appointments should be made with the Librarian, phone 02-9231 8152.
Open: October: 7 am-7.30 pm
November-February: 7 am-8 pm
March: 7 am-6.30 pm
April & September: 7 am-6 pm
May & August: 7 am-5.30 pm
June & July: 7 am-5 pm
Getting There: Located on the eastern edge of the central business district, the Royal Botanic Garden is bounded by Macquarie Street, the Cahill Expressway and Mrs Macquaries Road. Surrounding the Royal Botanic Garden is the open parkland of the Domain.
Entry: The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney (including the Domain) has free entry. Public access to exhibition spaces is also free with the exception of the Tropical Centre ($5.50 adult, $3.30 child, $11 family).
Wollongong Botanic Garden
The Wollongong Botanic Garden was established in 1971 and is located less then 5 kilometers from the city centre .
The Garden is set within 27 Hectares and contains a newly enhanced Illawarra rainforest, Woodland garden displaying a stunning array of deciduous trees and flowers , succulent and Australian dryland mound, and a new Indigenous experience garden and training centre.
Attractions at the Garden include the all abilities children’s play garden, Japanese bridge and rose garden, a popular venue for weddings and small events.
The Wollongong Botanic Garden also manages three annexe sites including the Mount Keira Summit Park located within the Illawarra escarpment and contains two world class lookouts, The Korrongulla Wetland located on the Shores of Lake Illawarra contains significant remanent vegetation and migratory bird species, and the Puckey's Nature Reserve which is located along the coastal edge at North Wollongong.
www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/botanicgarden
Open: Non Daylight Savings - 7.00am to 5.00pm every week day and 10.00am to 5.00pm every weekend and public holiday
Daylight Savings – 7.00am to 5.00pm every week day and 10.00am to 6.45pm every weekend and public holiday.
Getting there: Entry to the gardens’ main car park is from Murphy’s Avenue Keiraville which is only minutes from the F6.more information about the gardens
Entry: Free.