Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne
Encyclopedia
Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne
The Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne are internationally renowned botanical gardens located near the centre of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, on the south bank of the Yarra River. They are 38 hectares of landscaped gardens consisting of a mix of native and non-native vegetation including over...
. It is located in the Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
suburb of Cranbourne
Cranbourne, Victoria
Cranbourne is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 43 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Casey. At the 2006 Census, Cranbourne had a population of 14,750....
, about 45 km south-east of the Melbourne city centre.
The Cranbourne division specialises in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n native plants. The total area of this division of the botanic gardens is 363 hectares, including heathlands
Heath (habitat)
A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...
, wetland
Wetland
A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....
s and woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
s. The gardens also provide habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
for native bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s, mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s and reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s, including some rare and endangered species.
A recent feature of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne, is the specially constructed Australian Garden, opened to the public on 28 May 2006. The Australian Garden features a number of exhibition gardens, sculptures and displays aimed to bring the beauty and diversity of the Australian landscape and plants to the public.
Beyond the Australian Garden, the bushland section of the garden contains 10 km of walking tracks, and includes the Trig Point Lookout tower, secluded picnic sites and free barbecues.
History
The indigenous AustralianIndigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
Boonerwurung people inhabited the area around Cranbourne in pre-European times. The site of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne was used for sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...
mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
from as far back as the 1820s, largely to supply the building of Melbourne and its suburbs. The military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
used the site from 1889 until the 1960s, with private licences also issued for sand mining, grazing
Grazing
Grazing generally describes a type of feeding, in which a herbivore feeds on plants , and also on other multicellular autotrophs...
and timber
Timber
Timber may refer to:* Timber, a term common in the United Kingdom and Australia for wood materials * Timber, Oregon, an unincorporated community in the U.S...
gathering.
In 1970 the site was named as a division of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, with a focus on Australian plant research and conservation. The gardens were not opened to the public until 1989. The Australian Garden was planned and developed over several years, finally opening to the general public on 30 May 2006, and attracting 15,000 visitors on the opening day.
The Australian Garden
The Australian Garden was designed by Taylor Cullity Lethlean Landscape Architects with Paul Thompson (Plant Design Pty Ltd). The Australian Garden has won a number of design awards already, but is still a work in progress, with a second stage covering an additional ten hectares scheduled to commence construction in late 2007 and to be completed by late 2011.
Red Sand Garden
The Red Sand Garden is the central feature of the Australian Garden. It features vibrant red sand with circles of saltbushAtriplex
Atriplex is a plant genus of 100-200 species, known by the common names of saltbush and orache . The genus is quite variable and widely distributed. It includes many desert and seashore plants and halophytes, as well as plants of moist environments...
and crescent shaped mounds designed to echo the shapes and colours found in Central Australia
Central Australia
Central Australia/Alice Springs Region is one of the five regions in the Northern Territory. The term Central Australia is used to describe an area centred on Alice Springs in Australia. It is sometimes referred to as Centralia; likewise the people of the area are sometimes called Centralians...
. The garden is designed to show seasonal flushes of wildflowers, as seen in the deserts of Central Australia.
Exhibition Gardens
There are five exhibition gardens aiming to demonstrate ways that Australian native plants can be used in the home garden.The Diversity Garden illustrates a variety of native plants from various climatic zones in Australia. The Water Saving Garden shows how to group plants with similar water needs and choose plants which require minimum watering in a garden. The Future Garden features various alternate ways of gardening, such as special plant choices and novel mulches. The Home Garden shows a number of gardens featuring native plants for some common types of homes found in Australia. The Kid’s Backyard uses natural plant materials recycled into a children's play area rather than the common plastic and metal constructions commonly found in Australian backyards.
Arid Garden and Dry River Bed
Drought
A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...
and flood
Flood
A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land. The EU Floods directive defines a flood as a temporary covering by water of land not normally covered by water...
. Thus plants have had to evolve
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
to cope with extended periods of intense heat and dry arid
Arid
A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
ity, and with either seasonal or irregular copious supplies of water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...
.
Eucalypt Walk
EucalyptEucalypt
Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera:Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora.In 1995 new evidence, largely genetic, indicated that some prominent Eucalyptus species were actually more closely related to Angophora than to the other eucalypts; they were split off into the...
s are an omnipresent feature of the Australian landscape, with around 700 species found in virtually all habitats. The Eucalypt Walk features five gardens displaying some well known eucalypt species, the Ironbark
Ironbark
Ironbark is a common name of a number of species in three taxonomic groups within the genus Eucalyptus that have dark, deeply furrowed bark....
Garden, the Box
Box (disambiguation)
A box is a container or package, often rectangular or cuboid.Box may also refer to:-People:* Ab Box , Canadian football player* Betty Box , British film producer* Cloyce Box , American football player...
Garden, the Peppermint
Agonis flexuosa
Agonis flexuosa is a species of tree that grows in the south west of Western Australia. It is easily the most common of the Agonis species, and is one of the most recognisable trees of Western Australia, being commonly grown in parks and on road verges in Perth.The species is commonly known as...
Garden, the Bloodwood
Corymbia ficifolia
Corymbia ficifolia or the red flowering gum also known as Albany red flowering gum is one of the most commonly planted ornamental trees in the broader eucalyptus family....
Garden, and the Stringybark
Stringybark
A stringybark can be any of the many Eucalyptus species which have thick, fibrous bark. Like all eucalypts, stringybarks belong to the Myrtaceae family. In exceptionally fertile locations some stringybark species A stringybark can be any of the many Eucalyptus species which have thick, fibrous...
Garden. These trees are currently in an immature state, but will continue to grow to mature trees over the next century.
Other Features
The Rockpool Waterway and Escarpment Wall are inspired by the types of waterways and escarpmentEscarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...
s that may be found in parts of central Australia, such as Uluru
Uluru
Uluru , also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs; by road. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park....
and Kings Canyon. There is also a display of Australian orchids
Orchidaceae
The Orchidaceae, commonly referred to as the orchid family, is a morphologically diverse and widespread family of monocots in the order Asparagales. Along with the Asteraceae, it is one of the two largest families of flowering plants, with between 21,950 and 26,049 currently accepted species,...
in an undercroft below the Visitor’s Centre, the Serpentine Path, and a Desert Discovery Camp in the Arid Garden for children to play and learn.
The Australian Garden also has a visitor information service within the Visitor Centre, guided walks and educational programs, volunteer master gardeners to help with advice on the use of Australian plants, a gift shop and licensed cafe.
Visitor information
Opening hoursThe Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne are open from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm every day of the year except for Christmas Day
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
. Entry to the bushland area of the gardens is free. Entry charges apply for the Australian Garden (refer to RBG official website for details). (Note: the bushland area of the gardens are closed on days of Total Fire Ban).
Access
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne are at 1000 Ballarto Rd, Cranbourne. Access by private vehicle is via the South Gippsland Highway. Cranbourne is reasonably well served by public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
ation, with a train
Train
A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...
line from Melbourne and a number of local bus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...
routes. Access to the gardens if using public transport may however require a substantial walk.
External links
- Taylor Cullity Lethlean Landscape Architects http://www.tcl.net.au