Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use Australian English Template:Infobox park
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV) are botanic gardens across two sites–Melbourne and Cranbourne.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Melbourne Gardens was founded in 1846 when land was reserved on the south side of the Yarra River for a new botanic garden. It extends across Template:Convert<ref name="Botanicour">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> that slope to the river with trees, garden beds, lakes and lawns. It displays almost 50,000 individual plants representing 8,500 different species.<ref name= Botanicour/> These are displayed in 30 living plant collections.
Cranbourne Gardens was established in 1970<ref name=atlas>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> when land was acquired by the Gardens on Melbourne's south-eastern urban fringe for the purpose of establishing a garden dedicated to Australian plants. A generally wild site that is significant for biodiversity conservation, it opened to the public in 1989.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On the Template:Convert site, visitors can explore native bushland, heathlands, wetlands and woodlands.<ref name=Botanicour/> One of the features of Cranbourne is the Australian Garden, which celebrates Australian landscapes and flora through the display of approximately 170,000 plants from 1,700 plant varieties.<ref name= Botanicour/> It was completed in 2012.<ref name= Botanicour/>
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria is home to the State Botanical Collection, which is housed in the National Herbarium of Victoria. The collection, which includes 1.5 million preserved plants, algae and fungi, represents the largest herbarium collection in Australia and wider Oceania.<ref name=collectionsize>Thiers, B. (2020 - continuously updated). National Herbarium of Victoria Collections Summary. Index Herbariorum. A global directory of public herbaria and associated staff. New York Botanical Garden’s Virtual Herbarium. Available from: MEL Collections Summary (accessed 21 August 2020)</ref> It also includes Australia's most comprehensive botanical library.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Governance and history
The gardens are governed under the Royal Botanic Gardens Act 1991 by the Royal Botanic Gardens Board,<ref name=atlas/> who are responsible to the Minister for Environment.
In 1846 Charles La Trobe selected the site for the Royal Botanic Gardens from marshland and swamp.<ref name=story>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1857 the first director was Ferdinand von Mueller, who created the National Herbarium of Victoria and brought in many plants.<ref name=story/>
In 1873 William Guilfoyle became Director and changed the style of the Gardens to something more like the picturesque gardens that were around at that time. He added tropical and temperate plants.<ref name=story/>
In 1877 Sir Edmund Barton, Australia's first Prime Minister and Jane Ross were married at the Royal Botanic Gardens.
In 1924 a shooting massacre occurred at the Gardens resulting in the death of four people.<ref>Massacre at the Botanical Gardens Retrieved 11 January 2020</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In June 2015 the Gardens brought together the elements of the organisation under the name Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, incorporating Melbourne Gardens, Cranbourne Gardens, the National Herbarium of Victoria and the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Horticulture
Living collections at Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne include:<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Aotearoa New Zealand
- Araucariaceae
- Australian Forest Walk
- Australian Rare and Threatened Species
- Cacti and Succulent
- Camellia
- Climate Ready Rose Collection
- Cycad
- Eucalypt
- Fern Gully
- Gardens House
- Grey Garden
- Guilfoyle's Volcano
- Herb and Medicinal
- The Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden
- Lower Yarra Rivver Habitat
- North American Drylands
- Palm
- Perennial Border
- Quercus
- Southern Africa
- Southern China
- Terrestrial Orchid Collection
Ecology
The gardens include a mixture of native and non-native vegetation which invariably hosts a diverse range of both native and non-native fauna. The gardens host over 10,000 floral species, the majority being non-native species. The gardens were the origin from which many introduced species spread throughout south-eastern Australia as seeds were traded between early European botanists in the mid-19th century, studying the Australian flora.
Native vegetation
From the establishment of the gardens in 1846, much of the native vegetation was removed as botanists such as Baron Von Mueller planted a range of species from around the world. While initially much of the native wetlands and swamplands in the gardens were left, around the turn of the 20th century these were re-landscaped to create the Ornamental Lake. Despite this, however, there are some large eucalypts remaining including the prominent Separation Tree, a 300-year-old River Red Gum, under which Victoria was declared a separate colony. In August 2010 the Separation Tree was attacked by vandals<ref>Police probe 'sickening' attack on historic tree - ABC News, accessed 2 September 2010</ref> and then attacked again in 2013, by 2015 it was dead and removal of the canopy and branches commenced.<ref name=age>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=guard>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne focus solely on Australian native plants.
Non-native traditional gardens
The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne were initially intended to be a horticultural exhibition for the public to enjoy, many seeds were traded between early European botanists such as Arthur and Von Mueller, who planted non-native species. The Queen and her grandfather, Dame Nellie Melba and Paderewski contributed plantings on occasions throughout the history of the gardens.
Plant science
Since its earliest days, the Royal Botanic Gardens is involved in plant research and identification. This is done primarily through the National Herbarium of Victoria, which is based at the Gardens. The Herbarium is also home to the State Botanical Collection, which includes over 1.5 million dried plant specimens,<ref name=collectionsize></ref> and an extensive collection of books, journals and artworks. Research findings are published in the journal Muelleria,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which is a scientific representation of the work done in the Gardens in any one year. More recently, the Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology has been established to look at plants that grow in urban environments specifically.
Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden
The Template:Convert Ian Potter Foundation Children's Garden is designed as a discovery area for children of all ages and abilities. The Ian Potter Children's Garden, named for the Ian Potter Foundation, is based in South Yarra, off the main site. This area is closed for two months of the year from the end of the Victorian July school holidays for rest and maintenance.<ref name="Potter">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2004 or 2005<ref name=about>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Magic Pudding sculpture, by Louis Laumen, was unveiled in the garden. The concept for the garden was developed by Simon H. Warrender (son of Simon George Warrender and Pamela Warrender), who also commissioned the sculpture, through Committee for Melbourne's Future Focus Group, which was founded by Pamela.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Simon Warrender announced the establishment of the annual prizes to be awarded by his Melbourne Prize Trust at the unveiling.<ref name=about/>
The Tan
Outside the exterior fence of the Royal Botanic Gardens is a 3.8km jogging loop known as the Tan Track or simply the Tan. It was built in the 1900s as a tanbark horseriding track; before later being converted for jogging and surfaced with a fine tan-coloured gravel, except along Anderson St which is paved. Clocks and distance markers were installed in 2011, and the track is the most well-known and well-used jogging track in Melbourne.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Gallery
-
Eastern Lawn
-
Fern Gully
-
A section of the gardens in winter
-
Oak Lawn
-
The Herb Garden
-
The Terrace Restaurant
-
The main entrance gate
-
Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne
.jpg){kind=link}
References
External links
- Pages with broken file links
- Pages using center with unknown parameters
- Botanical gardens in Victoria (state)
- Parks in Melbourne
- Tourist attractions in Melbourne
- 2006 Commonwealth Games venues
- 1846 establishments in Australia
- Environment of Victoria (state)
- Landmarks in Melbourne
- Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria
- Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA)