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Swainsona formosa, Sturts Desert Pea

Join Us

BGANZ is the chief body representing the interests of botanic gardens and arboreta in Australia and New Zealand. It promotes the interests and activities of Australian and New Zealand botanic gardens and arboreta, and botanic gardens/arboreta generally, and enhances the state of botanic gardens and arboreta for the benefit of the community.

 

Our member structure has recently been reviewed. There are three different categories:

Institutional Member:  An Institutional Member is any institution holding documented collections of living plants for the purposes of scientific research, conservation, display and/or education. This excludes documentation used primarily for the purposes of tree risk management, and/or commercial use, e.g. school or public tree risk inventories and commercial nursery inventories. There are 2 subcategories based on geographical location: 1) Australia and New Zealand and 2) Other region.

For more details, please see the Institutional Member Brochure.

To join, please complete the BGANZ-Institution-Membership-form 2024.

 

Associate Member: An Associate Member is any organisation aligned with botanic gardens and arboreta, but does not hold documented plant collections. Examples of eligible organisations may include gardens without documented collections, parks and reserves, zoos, educational institutions, cemeteries, nurseries, Friends of botanic gardens, etc. There are two subcategories: 1) Associate and 2) Associate (Friends of Botanic Gardens).

For more details, please see the Associate Member Brochure.

To join, please complete the BGANZ-Associate-Membership-form 2024  or the BGANZ-Associate-FRIENDS Membership-form 2024.

 

Individual Member: BGANZ welcomes individual members. An Individual Member is any person with an interest and can show relevancy to the horticultural industry. Please note, if you are an employee of an Institutional member you receive full benefits through the Institutional membership.

For more details, please see the Individual Member Brochure.

To join, please complete the BGANZ-Individual-Membership-form-2024. A seniors discount is available.

 

Membership fees are due on 1 July each year and are non-refundable. For memberships commencing partway through the financial year, a pro rata fee will be charged.

Please email secretariat@bganz.org.au if you have any questions about joining BGANZ.

2024-2025

Member Benefits

One of the major aims of BGANZ is to build capacity and actively support regional botanic gardens. We offer membership to botanic gardens, arboreta, herbaria, Friends associations, industry organisations, institutions and individuals. BGANZ Members receive a wide range of fantastic benefits, including the opportunity to network and connect with like-minded institutions and individuals in your professional community.

Benefits differ between member categories and are outlined in the three member brochures linked above.

You will be joining a network of national and international botanic gardens, a wide range of institutions and associated professional bodies and groups such as Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI), universities, local councils, garden Friends’ groups and other organisations with an interest in horticulture.

You will also receive subscription to The BOTANIC GARDENer, which is published electronically twice a year. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to submit your own feature articles and news items for publication.

Other member benefits may include:

  • Training and development opportunities
  • A weekly eNewsletter
  • Professional development supported through BGANZ Prizes and Awards programs
  • A purpose-built botanical gardens plant database, Hortis, for individual member botanic gardens. Institutional and Associate BGANZ members are eligible for an exclusive special offer: doubled editing capacity for the first year of your subscription
  • Development of a Living Collections Toolkit, an online/interactive resource to allow regional gardens to better manage their living collections.

And much more! Join today and gain access to all the benefits.

Building capacity

Shared Knowledge

Networking, training and development opportunities

The greatest membership benefit for BGANZ members is the potential for networking with other botanic gardens, with the opportunity to learn from the experience of others, and to have access to a wide variety of shared knowledge and resources.

BGANZ was awarded funding in 2021 by the Victorian State Government (as part of its Growing Victoria’s Botanic Gardens program) to develop a Victorian Regional Gardens Plant Record Management System. The Hortis plant collection database platform is a purpose-built botanic gardens plant database for individual botanic gardens capturing information on plant numbers, species diversity and rare and threatened species held within collections. The grant facilitated the design, development, implementation and training for the database, which has since been successfully rolled out to almost 30 BGANZ member gardens. The database has greatly enhanced the accuracy of collections. Institutional and Associate BGANZ members are eligible for an exclusive special offer: doubled editing capacity for the first year of your subscription.

With excess funds from the Growing Victoria’s Botanic Gardens program grant, BGANZ Vic and BCARM are collaborating to develop a Living Collections Toolkit. The toolkit will support regional botanic gardens to better manage their living collections through an online/interactive resource hosted on the BGANZ website. Initially available to Victorian members, the toolkit will later be released to all members.

Professional development programs are mainly organised through regional group events. Members are encouraged to attend their nearest event.

Specialist Networks

BGANZ has several specialist groups that have been set up for the benefit of BGANZ members — Botanic Gardens Education Network Australia and New Zealand (BGEN) is the specialist development network for botanic gardens staff and volunteers working in the areas of education, interpretation, visitor and public programs, outreach and community engagement, and adult learning. The goal of BGEN is to provide a forum for people to share experiences and resources. Contact us to join the BGEN network.

BGANZ Collections and Record Management Working Group (BCARM) is the BGANZ Collections and Records Management group fostering collaboration and advocating for best practices in collections and associated records management (collections management) across the BGANZ. It supports the need for collective action across all BGANZ gardens to ensure the development of appropriate strategies for the security of the living collections.

BGANZ Arboriculture Group (BARB) is a pilot specialist group that works together in advancing tree management and conservation across the BGANZ network.

Communications Network. BGANZ is always on the lookout for members who want to contribute to the website and social media platforms we operate including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Contact Dr Rebecca Harcourt at media@bganz.org.au to see how you can get involved promoting botanic gardens in your region. We’re interested in hearing from all types of industry professionals especially those with different points of view. Join the conversation!

Regional Conferences

Regional Conferences provide a regional focused networking opportunity as well as the opportunity to hear about local and regional issues relevant to gardens. BGANZ Members pay a lower registration fee than non-members. Details for BGANZ NZ, BGANZ VIC, BGANZ QLD and BGANZ NSW/ACT network meetings and conferences will be listed on the events page as information becomes available.

Training and Development

A Professional Development group provides outstanding programs and opportunities for your development. Contact us for further information or visit our Professional Development page. BGANZ has introduced a number of Awards to support our members professional development. Click here for further information on Awards offered by BGANZ.

Biennial Congresses

BGANZ where possible provides attendance grants and reduced registration fees. The Congresses provide wonderful networking opportunities, technical and other information updates and the opportunity to hear about the latest big picture issues relevant to gardens.

The 8th BGANZ Congress will be in Canberra from 3–5 November 2025.

News updates and Vacancies

Informal news updates are circulated approximately monthly via email to all members, particularly if the next newsletter is still some time away. The news may include information on upcoming job vacancies within Australia and internationally, conferences, courses and other events, invitations to comment on draft documents and other relevant material. There is also an opportunity for BGANZ to send other broadcast emails to members, to ask a question, seek advice or seek a connection to some expertise. Join our mailing list today

Magazine – THE BOTANIC GARDENer

All members receive our by magazine THE BOTANIC GARDENer, published half yearly, sent to members by email or available electronically through our website. Generally there is a main theme for each issue and contributions are welcome. Please note not all articles have to relate to the theme. Deadlines are generally a month before publication. Interested in contributing? Get in touch.

The magazine

The BOTANIC GARDENer

The BOTANIC GARDENer – is an electronic magazine (also available in pdf) for botanic garden professionals – showcasing best practice in botanic gardens across Australia, and New Zealand. The BOTANIC GARDENer draws on the range of expertise and experience from industry experts across smallest regional botanic gardens to largest city botanical gardens. Featuring interviews, local and international garden features, local staff and membership news, professional development experiences and outcomes plus BGANZ Specialist Group (BGEN, BCARM, BARB) progress highlights, to name a few. To submit an article for the magazine or make a general media enquiry, please contact us at media@bganz.org.au.

View Magazines

Dahlia imperialis, Tree Dahlia
Dahlia imperialis, Tree Dahlia