An ancient Gondwanan Theme
200 million years ago, during the Jurassic period, the earth’s surface split into two supercontinents, the Laurasia and Gondwana. The Inala Jurassic Garden highlights the connection between the different plant families in South America, Africa, Madagascar, India, Antarctica, Australia and New Zealand, which were all created when the supercontinent separated. 

The Inala Jurassic Garden is a beautiful 5-acre botanic garden located on South Bruny Island in Tasmania, designed as a repository for over 750 species from over 50 plant families with a Gondwanan distribution, including many Tasmanian species. They are all planted in their family groups, to demonstrate their ancient connection. It is a garden of genuine living fossils.

Inala Noah’s Ark Projects
Inala Jurassic Garden is part of a global network of botanic gardens involved in research and conservation of endangered species with several ‘Noah’s Ark’ projects growing insurance specimens of endangered plant species, especially those with Gondwanan lineage. These include involvement in a project to grow Widdringtonia whytie, native to a mountain top in Malawi, and functionally extinct in the wild. In collaboration with Bedgebury National Pinetum in the UK, Inala is now growing these successfully, becoming an ark from which the species can be reintroduced to its homeland. 

Inala is also collaborating with Kew Gardens, the headquarters for the global conservation of Nothofagus, which is threatened by the diseases Myrtle rust and Myrtle wilt, and both Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and Botanic Gardens of Sydney are collaborating on projects with Inala. 

Global Genome Initiative

Inala Jurassic Garden is the only botanic garden in Australia, and one of just fourteen in the world, to receive a 2021 Global Genome Initiative for Gardens (GGI-Gardens) Award to help preserve genetic plant material. The GGI-Gardens Awards Program aims to promote partnership activities to preserve and understand Earth’s genomic biodiversity of plants. The Program provided funding to support sampling activities from living collections with unique families and genera of vascular plants not yet represented in Global Genome Biodiversity Network biorepositories. Since 2021 we have collected material from approximately 150 plant species growing in the Jurassic Garden, to contribute to the Global Genome Biodiversity Network database. 

Tropical Mountain Plant Science Project
We have joined a collaborative project to establish ex situ collections of Far North Queensland cloud/montane forest plants including Gondwanan species of flowering plants, conifers, ferns, mosses and other non-flowering taxa. The Tropical Mountain Plant Science Project aims to collect, store and propagate genetically diverse ex situ collections of tropical montane cloud forest plants and seeds, and research the potential for these plants to survive and/or adapt to predicted climate changes.

The locality of the Inala Jurassic Garden at higher latitude provides a suitable alternative to the altitudinal habitats of many of these montane species, and we are already successfully growing some of these species in the garden.

Tasmanian Endemics Project
The Inala Jurassic Garden is committed to the conservation of Tasmanian endemic plants. We are regularly increasing the number of threatened Tasmanian endemic and alpine species that are at most risk of increased threat by wildfire and other effects of climate change and human impacts.

These species include King Billy Pine (Athrotaxis selaginoides), Pencil Pine (A. cupressoides) and the natural hybrid between these two species (A. x laxifolia), several members of the Podocarpaceae such as the Huon Pine (Lagarostrobos franklinii), Mount Mawson Pine (Pherosphaera hookeriana), Mountain Plum Pine (Podocarpus lawrencei) and Creeping Strawberry Pine (Microcachrys tetragona). Other endemic Tasmanian montane/rainforest species such as Leatherwood (Eucryphia lucida), Dwarf Leatherwood (E. milliganii), Native Laurel (Anopterus glandulosus), Fagus (Nothofagus gunnii) and all Tasmanian Richea species are in the collection.

The Inala Nature Museum
At the entrance of the Jurassic Garden, you will find our Nature Museum, which has collections of sea shells, gemstones and fossils that have been collected by the owner Dr Tonia Cochran. You can also discover more about the story of the Gondwanan timeline, from the ancient past to the living present. Thoughtfully presented, this collection showcases many beautiful and rare objects. There are strong connections between the Nature Museum and Jurassic Garden, with many of the ancient fossils on display also featuring as living versions just outside in the garden.

Visit Inala Jurassic Garden
During your own visit to the Jurassic Garden, you can self-guide around the garden, book a tour with a guide or take part in one of our events and workshops that we run throughout the year.

We also have an active and fabulous volunteer group who help to maintain and expand the garden; you are most welcome to join us.

For more information
Please visit our website https://inalanature.com.au/about-the-jurassic-garden/