Fast Facts

Description

The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan, est. 1988, showcases Australian flora amongst rolling hills and lakes in Sydney’s suburban south-west. It is the largest botanic garden in Australia. Situated on former farmland, it contains remnant Cumberland Plain Woodland, a now endangered ecological community of the region.

The Trust’s horticultural research facilities are based at the Garden, including the NSW Seedbank that will be a key component of the Trust’s new research and conservation facility, Plantbank, when it is completed in November 2012.

The Garden’s abundant native animal and birdlife, picnic areas, barbecues, lakeside lawns, walking and cycling tracks and large contemporary sculptures make it a popular recreational destination for the local community. Due to its large size, it allows access to cars and bikes, and it is also the only botanic garden in the world with mountain bike trails.

The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan, has free entry.

• View Fast Facts for the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney (including the Domain)
• View Fast Facts for the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah
• View Fast Facts for the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust

How to contact us

The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan
Narellan Road
Mount Annan NSW 2567
Phone: 02 4634 7900
Fax: 02 4634 7950
(International code + 61 2 4634 7900)

Location

   Click on map to enlarge

The Australian Botanic Garden is about one hour’s drive 57 km south-west of Sydney, between Campbelltown and Narellan.

Map of the Garden

  Click on map to enlarge

Facts

Size of Garden: 416 hectares

Annual visitation: 116,168 (Visitor demographics: NSW 97%, Interstate 3%, International 0%. Figures at 30 June for 2010-2011 financial year. The introduction of free entry to the Mount Annan estate has had a significant impact on visitation. Forecast estimates for growth from the 2011-12 Treasury budget allocation were: 2011-2012: 200,000, 2012-2013: 220,000)

Number of plant species: 4,000+

Number of plant specimens: 69,766

Plant species in the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan: download alphabetical list (at October 2011)

Plant species in the three Botanic Gardens: download alphabetical list (at October 2011)

Number of trees: 46,500 (includes 35,000 maintained trees that pre-date the establishment of the Botanic Garden)

Oldest trees: Remnants of Cumberland Plain Woodland over 200 years old: Ironbarks (Eucalyptus crebra), western boundary; Forest Red Gums (Eucalyptus tereticornis), northern end of the Eastern Valley; Kurrajongs (Brachychiton populneus), Central Valley and south of the Volcano; Large Grey Box (Eucalyptus moluccana), Wattle Garden.

NSW Seedbank collections: The NSW Seedbank was originally a facility for collecting seeds to create the Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan. It has been collecting and contributing seeds as part of the global Millennium Seed Bank partnership effort since 2003. Status of the collection as at 30 June 2011: No. seeds stored (estimate): over 10,000,000; Australian plant species (18% of approx. 25,000 species): 4,599;
NSW plant species (40% of 5,810 known NSW species): 2,327; NSW threatened species (36% of 608 listed as threatened): 222; Annual target no. species for collection and preservation: 60; Temperature at which seeds can be dried and preserved: -18°C; Temperature at which seeds are cryo-preserved (where dry preservation cannot be used): -196°C

Garden artworks collections (sculpture): 7

Annual temperature range: minus 4 to 40°C

Average annual rainfall: 700 millimetres

Wildlife: Ringtail and Brushtail Possums, Swamp Wallabies and Wallaroos, over 170 bird species

European history of the estate

The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan opened on 2 October 1988. It was also a project for the Bicentenary of Australian settlement. The land in one of Australia’s earliest farming areas had been purchased for the Glenlee Estate in 1820 and sold in the 1850s to James Fitzpatrick whose descendants ran a dairy farm until 1978.

See also History of the Australian Botanic Garden.

Traditional owners & occupants

The land of Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan has Aboriginal communities whose ancestors - the D’harawal - were the original occupants and who are recognised as the traditional owners. The area around Mount Annan was known as Yandel'ora, 'the land of peace between peoples'. It is where meetings between different tribal nations were held and laws made.

State heritage listing

The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan has no State Heritage listed buildings.

Special features

Go to The Garden

Visitor information

Go to Visitor Information for information on Planning your visit

• Hours & admission
• How to get here
• Visitor facilities & disability access
• Visitor code
• Tourist links

Venue hire

Many areas within the Garden, including the Restaurant, are available for weddings, birthdays and corporate events. For information on charges and requirements go to Visitor Information and Venue Hire.

Research

Our scientists undertake research in horticulture.

Horticultural research studies the culture, propagation, pathology and selection of plants. Current research focuses on conservation, seedbanking, Rainforest seed research and terrestrial orchids.

For further information on research go to Horticultural Research.

The Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust

Mission

To inspire the appreciation and conservation of plants.

Objectives

The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Act 1980 defines the Trust’s objectives as to:

• maintain and improve Trust lands, the National Herbarium of NSW and the collections of living and preserved plant life owned by the Trust
• to increase and disseminate knowledge about the plant life of Australia and beyond, and of NSW in particular
• encourage the public use and enjoyment of Trust lands by promoting and increasing the educational, historical, cultural and recreational value of these lands.

The Trust is required to give particular emphasis to encouraging and advancing the study of systematic botany and plant conservation.

Statute

The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust is a statutory body in the State Government of NSW established by the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Act 1980. It is responsible for the management and stewardship of the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney and the Domain; the Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan; and the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah. The Trust also manages the National Herbarium of NSW, the NSW Seedbank and the Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Exhibition Centre at each of the three sites, respectively.

Organisational Structure

View Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust Organisation chart.

The Trust Board reports directly to the New South Wales Minister for the Environment and has responsibility for all Trust assets and programs.
There are seven Trustees. The Chairperson is Greg Martin. Other Trustees are John Egan, Professor Lesley Hughes, Tim Jackson, Sibylle Krieger, Tom Pinzone and Vanessa Priest.

The Trust Executive responsible for management of the organisation are

• The Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust Executive Director: Professor David Mabberley
• Trust Science and Public Programs Director: Dr Brett Summerell
• Trust Development and Planning Director: Janice Pullen
• The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney & Domain Director: Mark Savio
• The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah Branch Director: Rob Smith
• The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan Branch Director: Caz McCallum

Click here for more information on the Trust, Trustees & Trust Committees.

Annual budget

The annual recurrent budget for 2011-12 is $42.6 million, of which $22.3 million, or approximately 52 per cent, is provided by the NSW State Government. In addition, $14.6 million capital funding is budgeted to be received from Treasury in the 2011-12 financial year.

The Trust also generates revenue through grants, donations, contributions, sales of goods and services and other revenue. In 2011-12 the total earned revenue budget is $18.6 million. 

The main sources of non-Government revenue are: parking at Sydney (20%), lease revenue (27%), hire of facilities (15%), retail sales (7%), grants and contributions (19%). Within grants and contributions are grants from State and Federal Government, donations and sponsorships. The Friends of the Botanic Gardens contributed approx. $400,000 in 2010-11 and the Royal Botanic Gardens Foundation contributed $400,000. Of the total grants received, approx. $1 million was for Science including Community Education.

The Office of Environment and Heritage provides corporate shared services to the Trust. This includes information technology support, transactional processing for accounts payable, payroll, recruitment and human resource advice. This support was valued at $1.4million when these services were transferred to OEH (then the Department of Environment and Conservation) in 2003-04.

Volunteers

• 627 volunteers contributed to Trust programs in the year 2010–11. Volunteers assist in
• Orientation and on-site interpretation including daily free guided walks for the general public
• Herbarium specimen mounting
• Plant pathology lab and field routine work
• Library routine work
• Bush regeneration in natural areas
• Fauna monitoring (Grey-headed Flying-foxes)
• Friends fundraising events and activities including Growing Friends daily plant sales

In 2010-11 volunteers contributed over 40,200 hours of their time to support Trust programs. The financial contribution of volunteer hours to the organisation is almost $1 million. Click here for more information on volunteers.

Trust Administration

Both the Royal Botanic Garden and the Domain are managed by the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust.

The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust is a statutory body of the New South Wales Government established under the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Act 1980, variously amended. Staff of the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust are employed by the NSW Office of Environment & Heritage, Department of Premier and Cabinet. For further information go to Organisation & Businesses and Our people.

Staff numbers

The Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust

• Executive Director & support 7.50
• Director, Foundation 1.00
• Business Services (including administrative support, retail and rangers at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney) 25.01
• Development & Planning (including fundraising, finance, marketing, project officers) 8.51
• Executive & Support Units total 42.02

Science & Public Programs 

• Director & support 3.50
• Scientific research programs and collections management (based at the National Herbarium of NSW, the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney) 41.50
• Horticultural Research (based at The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan) 3.60
• Design & Editorial Services 6.00
• Community Education unit (majority based at The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney) 12.01
• Science & Public Programs Branch total 66.61

The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney

• Director & support (including wildlife management, collections admin., project officers) 5.54
• Horticulture 63.78
• Infrastructure & Maintenance 10.65
• Venue Management 8.40
• Branch total 88.37

The Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan

• Director & support 3.00
• Horticulture 32.26
• Admin. & Technical Support 8.00
• Visitor Services, Retail, Events & Marketing 7.43
• Community Education 1.00
• Branch total 51.69

The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah 

• Director & support 2.00
• Horticulture 25.41
• Visitor Services (including Rangers) 7.07
• Retail 1.96
• Community Education 1.22
• Branch total 37.66

Total FTE* staff across the organisation = 286.35

*All staffing figures are Full Time Equivalent (FTE). In 2010-11 there were 25 Honorary Research Associates and 30 supervised students working with the Science and Public Programs branch.