Botanic Gardens Trust, Sydney, Australia

Department of Environment and Climate Change NSW

Red Box Gallery

History

The Red Box Gallery, established in 2003, is located on Level 2 of the Brown Building at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney. The gallery is accessed from the Botanic Gardens Trust Reception on Mrs Macquaries Road.

The gallery is a central and unifying space within the Brown Building - linking the Botanical Information Service, Reception, lift and stair well - and is a natural meeting point within the building. The gallery also serves as a thoroughfare between Reception and aministration in the Anderson Building, with all visitors passing through. The gallery is climate controlled to museum standards.

The gallery was made possible as a result of a generous bequest from the estate of a former volunteer the late Nell Glenora Mackie. Nell was born 11 January 1917 and died on 27 June 2002. She was the only daughter of Alexander Douglas Mackie and Mary Eleanor Hall.

Nell, a member of the Friends of The Gardens since 1983, commenced her volunteer work in the Herbarium on 17 October 1989. She carried out volunteer specimen mounting for 12 years until ill health forced her to retire in late 2001.

Gallery aims

The main aims of the gallery are to

  • promote the Trust’s scientific work by bringing people into the National Herbarium.
  • create an exciting and contemporary exhibition space to unify the various sections of the building.
  • enable the Trust to display the many historic and educational items from the collections e.g. the Library and Herbarium collections (Banks and Solander and historic specimens) and the Banks’ Florilegium.
  • mount exhibitions that promote the Trust’s scientific work.

Gallery availability


The Red Box Gallery is primarily used for Botanic Gardens Trust exhibitions. However, the gallery may be made available for special exhibitions or functions. Details of the gallery are available on the Red Box Gallery information page and requests for its use should be directed to Louisa Murray on 02 9231 8171 or by email at Louisa.murray@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au

Exhibitions

From its inception in 2003 to September 2006, the gallery has mounted 18 exhibitions and has reached an audience of greater than 10,000 people. The exhibition program from November 2003 until December 2008 is listed below.   

Red Box Gallery

Red-Box-Gallery

 

 Exhibition      

 From To
Four Centuries Five Artists 19/11/03 27/02/04
2004 Margaret Flockton Award 15/03/04 02/07/04
Museums Light up Sydney 17/04/04 17/04/04
Discovering Explorers 09/08/04 29/10/04
Etienne Cohen* 07/11/04 21/11/04
Trust Staff Exhibition 05/12/04 24/12/04
Orchid Odyssey*  26/12/04 22/02/05
Panoramas Plants and People 07/02/05 29/05/05
Discovery after Dark 02/04/05 02/04/05
2005 Margaret Flockton Award 07/05/05 15/06/05 
plant + paper (Artist in Residence) 18/07/05 12/08/05   
Beijing Botanicals* 15/08/05 07/09/05
Margaret Preston 10/09/05 09/10/05
Woodbine Art* 11/10/05 17/10/09  
Domain Trees* 19/10/05 08/11/05
Flora Tasmanica* 14/11/05 03/12/05
Our Hidden Talents - Trust Staff exhibition 05/12/05 21/12/05
Botanic Gardens Treasures 09/01/06 30/06/06
2006 Margaret Flockton Award 06/07/06 29/09/06
Botanic Gardens Treasures 09/09/06 24/11/06
Our Hidden Talents – Trust Staff exhibition 01/12/06 21/12/06
Gaye Chapman (Artist in residence) 29/01/07 23/02/07
Heritage Week 03/03/07 11/03/07
2007 Margaret Flockton Award 15/03/07 15/06/07
Discovery after Dark 28/04/07 28/04/07
Carl Linnaeus exhibition 25/06/07 31/08/07
Botanic Gardens Treasures 10/09/07 23/11/07
Our Hidden Talents – Trust Staff exhibition 03/12/07 21/12/07

photo-synthesis (aranzeria) (Artist in Residence)

11/02/08

26/03/08
2008 Margaret Flockton Award Exhibition 03/04/08 20/06/08
Replant Exhibition 05/07/08 15/08/08
Florilegium Exhibition September November
Our Hidden Collections - Trust Staff exhibition 01/12/08 23/12/08

*Denotes non Botanic Gardens Trust exhibition
Botanic Gardens Treasures – a changeable exhibition displaying items from the Trust’s collections.
Museums Light Up Sydney/Discovery after Dark – Annual opening of Sydney’s cultural institutions, promoted by the NSW Premiers Department.

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