Williamstown Botanic Gardens

 

Williamstown Botanic Gardens are one of Victoria’s first public gardens.

 

In the newly developing colony of Australia, botanic gardens were established as a way of assessing how well familiar plants would grow, as a place for reliving the English landscape and as a place for social outings and walks.

 

Today the gardens are a place to enjoy the peace and beauty of a mature formal garden and learn about our horticultural heritage.

 

The gardens comprise:

 

Northern section - formal garden beds and lawns

Southern section - Parker Reserve Pinetum, a collection of Pine trees. A popular shady place for picnics.

 

The gardens are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register as significant for their historical, aesthetic,scientific (horticultural) and social significance to the state of Victoria.

 

They are also listed on the National Register and classified by The National Trust of Australia (Vic.)

 

History

In March 1856, following a petition by Williamstown residents, a 10 acre site was formally set aside for a public park and pleasure ground.

 

The gardens were designed by Edward La Trobe Bateman, who also designed the Carlton Gardens adjacent to the Exhibition Buildings in the city of Melbourne. By 1859 the gardens had been set out, beds had been trenched and plantings had begun.

 

Donations of plants, seed and cuttings came from Ferdinand von Mueller, a director of the Melbourne Botanic Gardens, and Daniel Bunce, first curator of the Geelong Botanic Gardens.

 

Being so close to the sea, the site was exposed to coastal winds. Shelter plantings of wattles and other fast-growing species were first established to protect the rare and vulnerable plants that were then introduced.

 

The gardens were formally opened on the 2nd January 1860. Mr S. Thake was appointed as curator in 1889 and made major changes including:

 

Relocating the main entrance from Osborne Street to its current position.Construction of the ornamental lake in 1904 and installation of the iron entrance gates in 1907.

 

Four 12 tonne cannons, which came from Fort Gellibrand, were added to the gardens and then relocated to The Strand during the 1970s. The remnants of a bandstand built in the 1930s can still be seen.

 

Williamstown Botanic Gardens is managed by Hobsons Bay City Council. It is bordered by Osborne Street, Giffard Street and the Esplanade in Williamstown, Victoria, Australia