Previous October Find of the Month


October 2022

In the Name of Science

Planning for Canberra's Botanic Gardens

Visitors enjoying the gardens - 19871

In October 1970 the Canberra Botanic Gardens were officially opened by the then Prime Minister John Gorton and the Minister for the Interior Peter Nixon. This seems to be a late development given that the city planning that began much earlier in the century would follow the principles of a ‘garden city’ design. In Canberra’s case, planning a garden city and establishing a separate botanic garden didn’t happen side by side. The first real steps towards Canberra’s own botanic gardens occurred in the mid 1930s, well before the opening in 1970. This month’s Find of the Month draws from records that document some of the early planning to set aside land for assembling, propagating and growing plants for scientific study.

As all gardeners know, mature gardens aren’t produced overnight. Site selection, plant selection, prevailing conditions and availability of labour resources are just some of the factors that need to be considered when planning a garden. This is even before any collection or planting begins. It is therefore not so surprising that the planning for Canberra’s Botanic Gardens started well before they were officially opened. In 1933 the ACT Advisory Council recommended to the Minister for the Interior ‘that a start be made with laying out portion of the site set apart for Botanical Garden…’

Information sheet - Helichrysum Bracteatum 19702

For the next two years Alexander Bruce, Superintendent of the Parks & Gardens Section of the Department of the Interior worked with Dr Bertram Dickson from the Council for Scientific & Industrial Research to research the feasibility and expected cost of the proposal. On 4 September 1935 the ‘Dickson Report’ was presented that laid down the groundwork for the establishment of the gardens which would be separate to:

the area marked…as Canberra Gardens, near the Stadium and Aquarium, which should be ornamental gardens tending to be quite formal in design. Nor does it coincide with the Continental Arboretum scheme suggested by Mr Burley Griffin for the surroundings of West Lake and the lower Molonglo reaches. Instead the area recommended…invades that part of the area set aside for University purposes which approaches the lower slope of Black Mountain and also the residential area alongside the site of the laboratories of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

Planning map showing gardens site3

The report emphasises the important scientific role of the gardens. While conceding that aesthetic landscaping should be part of any public park development it warned that ‘authorities would be well advised’ to develop botanic gardens with a balance between aesthetic and scientific goals in mind but should certainly not be developed to the ‘neglect of the scientific phase’. The report made other recommendations about the type of plants that were to be collected and tested, the need for an annual budget and the staffing requirements. The use of native plants was the focus, but Dickson also thought that trials on exotics might be beneficial.

Botanic Gardens - Specimen photography - March 19884

The report then lay idle for some years as other developments took priority. Lobbying for the development of Canberra’s botanic gardens re-emerged following Lindsay Pryor’s appointment as Superintendent of the Parks and Gardens Section of the Department of Interior in 1944. It is clear that he considered Bruce and Dickson’s report as a valuable starting point. On 23 February 1949 he wrote to the Assistant Secretary of the Canberra Services Branch proposing that

A botanic garden should be developed in Canberra in accordance with the general scheme and allocation of site which has been made previously. It is considered that such a garden should have as its primary objective, the assembly and growing of all native and exotic plants which can survive in Canberra. These should be assembled as a collection for scientific study and reference by all who are interested in plants. It is important to emphasise that such an establishment should not be expected to serve the purpose of a public recreation park for which proposals have already been made in another area.[v]

Waratah - Botanic Gardens - October 5

Pryor goes on to recommend that work should start by engaging two officers, a Curator and a Chief Propagator, both of which would be best imported from either Edinburgh or Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. This recommendation was changed in a later letter to the Assistant Secretary with the suggestion that only the position of Curator be advertised and ‘filled by a suitable applicant’. The same file includes another interesting letter from Pryor suggesting that

It is very desirable that the steep slopes of Black Mountain,…exempt from cutting under current forest policy should be declared a flora reserve which will form a background to the Botanic Garden. It is desirable that such an area should be preserved in a condition as natural as possible without stock, burning or trespass so it can be used for scientific purposes and provide an interesting variation in the surroundings of the city.

In September 1949 the Canberra Times reported on what is considered to be the start of work on Canberra’s Botanic Gardens. The article ran under the headline ‘First Tree Planted in Canberra’s Botanical Garden Area’ and described Prime Minister Ben Chifley and Sir Edward Salisbury, Director of the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, planting the garden’s first two trees.

From these humble beginnings the gardens have grown to what we now know as the Australian National Botanic Gardens. The gardens and its scientists and gardeners have produced valuable research and publications while also creating a pleasant retreat for Canberrans and tourists to unwind and relax.

Visiting school group. 6

References

i National Botanic Gardens. Department of the Capital Territory. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra 1980 – p.8.

ii ibid. p.4.

iii Botanical Gardens in Canberra – A report dealing with scope site, buildings costs of maintenance, etc. Dr B T Dickson – 1935. p (ii).

iv ibid.

v ArchivesACT, LF1031. Town Planning – Botanic Gardens Development.

vi ibid.

vii Canberra Times. First Tree Planted in Canberra’s Botanical Gardens. Wednesday 14 September 1949. p. 1. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2823181

Images

1 – ArchivesACT – ACT3, 6423

2 – ArchivesACT – RTA-452 – Publication – Master Copies – Commonwealth Series A7411/3 – A-CAN

3 – ArchivesACT – LF1031 – Town Planning – Botanic Gardens Development

4 – ArchivesACT – ACT3, 3728

5 – ArchivesACT – ACT3, 3714

6 – ArchivesACT – ACT3, 3712

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