The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden turns 25!

This month the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah turns 25 and will be celebrating in style! We will have an exhibition charting our history in the Visitor Centre with photos from the early days of the Garden. Stroll through the Garden and see how much it's grown or perhaps take a guided walk with one of our volunteers highlighting the features of the Garden. Please phone ahead to confirm availability of volunteer guided tours

The Garden was until recently known as Mount Tomah Botanic Garden taking its name from the mountain on which it is located. The original owners of the land were the Darug Aboriginal people. 'Tomah' is reputedly an Aboriginal word meaning tree fern.

In 1804 the naturalist and explorer George Caley was the first European to visit Fern Tree Hill, now Mount Tomah. In 1823 Archibald Bell, with Aboriginal guides, found the route across the northern Blue Mountains now known as Bells Line of Road. He was followed later that year by botanist Allan Cunningham (Superintendent of the Sydney Botanic Gardens 1837/1838).

The first land grant in the area was made in 1830 to Susannah Bowen. The property was subsequently used for dairying and resting paddocks for cattle. Three sawmills also operated at separate locations, milling coachwood (Ceratopetalum apetalum), sassafras (Doryphora sassafras) and brown barrel (Eucalyptus fastigata). These species still dominate the rainforest sections of the mountain.

From 1934 the property now occupied by the Garden was acquired by the French-born horticulturist Alfred Brunet and his Australian wife Effie. They operated it as cut-flower farm to supply Sydney florists, specialising in bulbs and other cool-climate plants. In the early 1960s the Brunets proposed that their land at Mount Tomah should be donated to become an annex of the Royal Botanic Gardens. They presented the land for the Garden in 1972. With State and Commonwealth Bicentennial funds for development, the Garden opened to the public on 1 November 1987.

Since 1993 the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah has included 186 hectares of sandstone woodland and gullies to be maintained as a conservation area including Tomah Spur. For information on guided bushwalks to Tomah Spur please call 02 4567 3000.

Celebrations

When: 1-30 November 2012, *9.00 am to 4.30 pm daily (*9.30 weekends and public holidays)
Where: Visitor Centre , Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah
Cost: Free entry
Refreshments: Restaurant Tomah open every day. Bookings recommended on 4567 2060
Enquiries: Phone 4567 3000

THEN

NOW

Botanic Gardens Trust, Sydney, Australia

Home

The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden turns 25!

Celebrations