The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney is a heritage-listed major botanical garden, event venue and public recreation area located at Farm Cove on the eastern fringe of the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia.

Opened in 1816, the garden is the oldest scientific institution in Australia and one of the most important historic botanical institutions in the world. The overall structure and key elements were designed by Charles Moore and Joseph Maiden, and various other elements designed and built under the supervision of Allan Cunningham, Richard Cunningham, and Carrick Chambers. The garden is owned by the Government of New South Wales and administered by the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust. The Botanic Garden, together with the adjacent Domain were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.

The Garden and The Domain are open every day of the year and access is free. Its position on Sydney Harbour, the Sydney Opera House and the large public parklands of The Domain ensure it is one of the most visited attractions in Sydney. The garden is bordered by the Cahill Expressway to the south and west, Macquarie Street to the northwest, Art Gallery Road to the east, and Sydney Harbour to the north.

Establishment and development

The first farm by European settlers on the Australian continent, at Farm Cove, was established in 1788 by Governor Arthur Phillip. Although that farm failed, the land has been in constant cultivation since that time, as ways were found to make the relatively infertile soils more productive. The Botanic Garden was founded on this site by Governor Macquarie in 1816 as part of the Governor's Domain. Australia's long history of collection and study of plants began with the appointment of the first Colonial Botanist, Charles Fraser, in 1817. The Botanic Gardens is the oldest scientific institution in Australia and, from the earliest days, has played a major role in the acclimatisation of plants from other regions. After a succession of colonial botanists and superintendents, including the brothers Richard and Allan Cunningham, both also early explorers, John Carne Bidwill was appointed as the first Director in 1847. Charles Moore was possibly the most influential Director, with his responsibility spanning 48 years, from 1848 to 1896. Moore was succeeded by Joseph Maiden who added much to Moore's maturing landscape, and served for a period of 28 years.

thumb|140 px|Charles Moore

In 1848 John Carne Bidwill was appointed (the first such title) Director, by Governor Fitzroy. Meantime in England horticulturist Charles Moore (1820–1905) was appointed Director by the English Government. Bidwell was succeeded the following year by Moore. Bidwill was offered the post of Commissioner of Lands, Wide Bay. Moore was a Scotsman who had trained in the Botanic Gardens of Trinity College, Dublin. Moore remained Director for 48 years (1848–96) and did much to develop the Botanic Gardens in their modern form. He boldly tackled the problems of poor soil, inadequate water and shortage of funds to develop much of the Gardens as we see them today. The Palm Grove at the heart of the Garden is a reminder of his skill and foresight, as is the reclaimed land behind the Farm Cove seawall which significantly expanded the area of the Garden. Moore renovated paths throughout the upper gardens, built new paths in lower garden and added were added to the lower gardens between 1848 and 1858. Between 1848 and 1879 Moore organised construction of the sea wall and reclamation of Farm Cove's tidal flats (work proceeded in two stages) to expand the Lower Garden, the wall being built of stone recycled from demolished Old Government House in Bridge Street, and a long walk was established along Farm Cove. Ornamental ponds in the lower garden were laid out using Farm Cove creek, water supply for upper gardens was aided by water pipe installed from Macquarie Street. The zoo was Sydney's first and operated in the Gardens from 1862 until 1883, when most of it was transferred to Moore Park.

From 1882 on Director Joseph Maiden added lighting (e.g.: on the sea walk on Farm Cove), seating, lavatories, drinking fountains and pathways. In 1883 the zoo was relocated to Moore Park; and of Outer Domain were incorporated into the Lower Garden, completing the ring of waterfront along Farm Cove. During the 1880s the Tarpeian Rock was a prominent, dramatic and significant sandstone cliff landscape feature on the north west boundary of the Domain facing Bennelong Point and the Sydney Opera House, cut for the extension of Macquarie Street. The Rock derives its name from the famous Tarpeian Rock on the Capitoline Hill in Rome from where prisoners were hurled to their deaths in ancient times. A stairway gives access from close to the Sydney Opera House to the top of the rock and The Domain. An early carving in the sandstone cliff is located about above the fifth step from the base of the cliff. The carving reads "The Tarpeian Way." It possibly dates from the time of construction in the 1880s.

Between 1896 and 1901 Director Maiden installed new lighting, seating, lavatories, fountains and pathways. Lighting along the sea walk and the lower garden installed, making the ring of water front of the lower gardens complete. In 1897 the Governor Phillip fountain was built near Macquarie Street/Garden palace gates. In 1899 a new herbarium building (second storey added by Govt. Architect Vernon to existing building, ground floor adapted as lecture hall and library, museum and admin centre) was built; now the Anderson Building. The first of its kind in the world, it contained a spiral staircase to allow visitors to observe all levels of tropical plant growth within.

In 1980 the Royal Botanic Gardens Trust Act was passed by Parliament, seeking to prevent further erosion of the grounds and excisions of land (the in 1916 had diminished to in 1980). Also in 1980 Centennial Park, which until then had been administered by staff of the Botanic Gardens since Moore's directorship, became autonomous under its own Trust. During 1992 and 19933 the Palm House glasshouse was reconstructed to its 1912 form and adapted to become an exhibition space. About 50% of its original glazing was recycled on the south side, also s patterned glass was reused. In the mid-1990s a fourth level was added to the Robert Brown building (National Herbarium), providing more work spaces and shelving for 20,000 more red herbarium boxes and a sloping roof to stop leaks. During 2000 to 2001 the Conservatorium of Music was redeveloped with new underground extensions, demolition of trial grass beds and incorporation of new roof garden areas to gardens over the new Conservatorium. A new land bridge was built (completed in 2005) over the Cahill Expressway/Eastern Distributor redevelopment, linking the Art Gallery of NSW, Mrs Macquarie's Road, The Domain and Botanic Garden, with small additional land area and new native plantings to The Domain. The trust is also responsible for the adjoining public open space of The Domain as well as the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan in western Sydney and the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah in the Blue Mountains. While the Trustees provide oversight of the lands under legislative guidelines, the day-to-day operational management of the Garden is undertaken by staff. In 2014 it was announced that the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust would be known as the Botanic Gardens & Centennial Parklands, widening responsibilities to take in the heritage-listed Centennial Parklands that includes Centennial, Moore and Queens parks.

Description

The Royal Botanic Garden consist of of closely cultivated land surrounded by of open parklands comprising The Sydney Domain. The Garden forms a large natural amphitheatre, wrapped around and sloping down towards the 'stage' of Farm Cove. It is divided into four major precincts called the Lower Gardens, the Middle Gardens, the Palace Gardens and the Bennelong precinct. Within the four major precincts are many smaller gardens and features as well as large amounts of lightly wooded lawn areas. Located approximately in the middle of the four precincts is the Palm Grove Centre which offers a restaurant, cafe, visitors centre and bookshop. A large and complex public botanic garden, largely of late 19th-century character; being not only an historic site of the first importance but containing within it numerous structures which have been nominated separately by the National Trust of Australia (NSW). A predominantly nineteenth century character of landscape layout strengthened by large mature trees. Traditionally designated as four areas reflecting its development.

The single most distinct landscape feature in the Garden is the historic hand-hewn sandstone seawall that curves around Farm Cove from Mrs Macquarie's Point to the Opera House, delineating the garden from the harbour and providing a focal point for visitors, joggers and photographers.

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File:Sydney Opera house 3.jpg|The Garden around and behind Farm Cove

File:The Mare & Foal Lawn view 2017.jpg|Farm Cove

File:Sydney from domain.jpg|The Garden from Mrs Macquarie's Point

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The layout of the Gardens is exceptionally important, each area (the Middle garden, the Lower Garden, the Palace Lawn etc.) reflects an important stage in the development of the Garden and the current fashion in landscape design almost from the founding of the colony. The squared beds of the Middle Garden are traditionally believed to reflect the first furrows and shortly thereafter the first garden plots of the new settlement. The old Garden Palace grounds is the area bordering Macquarie Street and the Conservatorium of Music (former Government House stables). The Middle Garden is the first farm site. The Upper garden comprises the southern section housing administrative offices and National Herbarium on Mrs Macquarie's road as well as the nursery and depot area bordering the Cahill Expressway. The Lower Garden comprises the rest of the area extending north of the Middle Garden to Farm Cove. It is named after Daniel Solander (1733–1782) who was a student of Linnaeus and held positions at the British Museum, including working in the library. He was employed in 1768 by Joseph Banks to accompany him on HMS Endeavour on James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific. On their return to England in 1771 he became Banks' botanist and librarian.

The library is the oldest botanical research library in Australia. The library has a collection of horticultural, botanic and taxonomic literature and is located within the National Herbarium of New South Wales which has samples collected by Banks and Solander on the voyage with James Cook amongst more than 1.2 million plant specimens.

Flying foxes

thumb|Flying Foxes at the Botanic Garden

The Royal Botanic Garden was for decades home to a large colony of native grey-headed flying foxes, a large species of fruit bat. The colony (estimated to be over 20,000 strong at times) caused significant damage to the trees used for roosting, especially around the Palm Grove Centre where dozens of historic trees were killed or severely damaged.

In May 2010, the trust announced a plan to evict the colony from the gardens by driving them away with repeated playing of extremely loud recorded noise. This plan was subsequently held up for several years by court action instigated by an animal welfare group but approval was finally given to the trust to proceed in June 2012. By June 2013 the bats had entirely left the Garden and the damaged trees had started to recover.

In an ironic coda, many of the bats displaced from the garden were found to have moved to a native bushland site on the north coast of New South Wales which was scheduled to be destroyed for an upgrade of the Pacific Highway, the main road linking Sydney with Brisbane. The destruction of the forest and displacement of that colony became a publicly contentious environment-versus-development issue in early 2014 and the building of the road was delayed pending a court-ordered federal government environmental assessment.

Heritage listing

As at 22 September 1998, the Royal Botanic Garden and The Domain collectively are of exceptional national, state and local significance as:

Associations

The Botanic Garden and The Domain demonstrate strong or special associations with the life and works of persons, groups of persons of importance in NSW's cultural and natural history, including:

  • Its association with the work and influence of key figures in the European scientific world such as Sir Joseph Banks, Sir William Hooker and Joseph Dalton Hooker at Kew Gardens, London;
  • Its association with the life and works of past Domain overseers, including David Wilson, August Kloster and James Jones, many of whom made significant contributions to the development of the Domain and other public areas in Sydney designed by the Directors of the Botanic Garden and their staff;
  • For its rich heritage of memorials as elements of urban design, including The Domain's Henry Kendall memorial seat, the Palace Garden Gates and wall, the Cunningham memorial island and obelisk, the monument to the forces of the Desert Mounted Corps wall, the Captain Arthur Phillip fountain monument and the sunken garden memorial to the Pioneers.

Scientific significance

The Botanic Garden and The Domain have scientific significance as:

  • Australia's oldest scientific institution (1816);
  • As a continuing centre for scientific research, particularly in systematic taxonomic botany;
  • Its historic centre for economic botany and experimental horticulture, being a key place for exportation of Australian native plants (most active period of exporting to Europe was up until 1820), and for the importation, acclimatisation, propagation and dispersal of plants establishing many of Australia's horticultural and agricultural industries, such as the wine and olive industries and experimenting with many others (opium poppies, eucalypt oil distillation);
  • Its demonstration of the extensive international colonial exchange network of botanic gardens in promoting plant exploration, discovery, taxonomy, propagation, dispersal and cultivation;
  • Its association with the work and influence of key figures in the European scientific world such as Sir Joseph Banks, Sir William Hooker and Joseph Dalton Hooker at Kew Gardens, London;
  • Its association with the work and influence of key figures in Australian botany such as Alan Cunningham, Charles Fraser, John Carne Bidwill, Charles Moore, Joseph Maiden;
  • Its rich (c110 species) and early (1860s) collection of temperate and subtropical climate palms, considered one of the finest in the world;
  • Its fine collection of trees from the South Pacific and other Pacific regions, including of the family Araucariaceae (e.g.: the genera Araucaria and Agathis) and figs (the genus Ficus).

;Central Depot

The Central Depot is of historical significance for its previous use as the kitchen garden associated with Government House (1813–1870) and its ongoing historic use as a centre for plant propagation, cultivation and display serving the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. It contains several rare late 19th and early 20th century glasshouses, and retains evidence of their original heating systems. The Central Depot is of research significance for its archaeological potential.

The archaeology within the Central Depot belongs to all of the identified time frames of the overall statement of archaeological significance for the Botanic Gardens. The early remains of the first farm, and the Macquaries' landscaping of the Domain all built by convicts, are of exceptional State heritage significance. Other archaeological evidence, glasshouses and the boiler room equipment and such, associated with the development of the Botanic Garden can contribute to the story of the Garden and has high Local archaeological significance.

;The Tarpeian Way

The Tarpeian Way is of State significance for its prominence as a quarried, weathered sandstone cliff face, with stone steps and iron railing, which defines the northern boundary of the Royal Botanic Garden and the southern boundary of the Sydney Opera House. The drama, scale and simplicity of the quarried sandstone face of theTarpeian Wall plays a crucial role in supporting the entry point and setting of the Sydney Opera House, where it provides an enclosing "backstage wall" to the open forecourt space. It is considered a "crucial element in [the World Heritage] Buffer Zone ... including its steps and upper perimeter fence. Although not legally on the Sydney Opera House site, it immediately borders and defines its southern edge and the open space of the forecourt. Because of its scale, location and configuration, it plays a crucial role in the approach and entry experience, setting, and definition, of the Sydney Opera House site."

thumb|left|The Tarpeian Way steps

A substantial rock cutting of the Bennelong headland, undertaken in 1880 at a cost of , it enabled the extension of Macquarie Street. 'Its vertical quarried sandstone face, with its steps and fence, is an historic artefact in its own right and retains the only visible evidence of activities on the Sydney Opera House site predating the Opera House itself.'

The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.

Within the Royal Botanic Garden there is a beautiful and varied collection of statuary, fountains, monuments, and structures representative of Victorian cultural attainments and garden embellishments. Magnificent garden on the site of Australia's first farm, now providing beauty and peace in contrast to the city skyline.