A Walk through the
Ballarat Botanical Gardens
Andrew Thomas Photographer
Ballarat Botanical Gardens Covering 40 ha (originally 99 acres), the land was first reserved for a public garden in 1857. The development of the Gardens site began in 1858, two years after the municipality of Ballarat was formed. A Committee of Management was established and a decision was made to convert the Ballarat Police Horse Paddock into a botanical garden. At the same time it was decided to construct a road on the west side of Yuille’s Swamp (Lake Wendouree) to be known as Wendouree Parade. By the 1880s a magnificent ‘gardenesque’ style central garden had become well established. It is still one of Australia’s most attractive cool climate gardens, where each season is distinctly marked by the mature trees. The north gardens includes a wetlands reserve and in the south gardens there is the Ex-POW Memorial Garden. The Ballarat Botanical Gardens is one of Australia’s most significant cool climate gardens. It contains a remarkable collection of mature trees and marble statues set among colourful bedding displays. The Statuary Pavilion houses Ballarat’s finest collection of marble statuary, the result of the Thompson Bequest. Charles Summer’s Flight from Pompeii is an elegant reminder of Ballarat’s wealth of the 1880s.
The Ballarat Botanical Gardens is one of Australia’s most significant cool climate gardens. It contains a remarkable collection of mature trees and marble statues set among colourful bedding displays.
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