Description of the attraction
Darwin Botanical Garden named after George Brown is located 2 km north of the business center of the city. The 42 hectare garden is renowned for its collection of plants from northern Australia and other tropical regions. It is one of the few botanical gardens in the world in which marine and estuarine plants grow naturally.
It was founded in 1886 and it was the third attempt by European settlers to create a place for the acclimatization of economically important plants in tropical climates. Like much of Darwin, the botanical garden was severely damaged during Cyclone Tracy in 1974 - 89% of the plants were destroyed. The restoration of the garden after the cyclone was carried out by George Brown, who has worked in the garden since 1969 and became Lord Mayor of Darwin in 1992. In 2002, for his services, the garden was named after him.
In 2000, the former Wesleyan Methodist Church - Darwin's oldest surviving building - was moved from Nacky Street to the Botanical Gardens.
The garden's collection includes flora of the monsoon territories of northern Australia, including mangroves, monsoon bindweed, plants of the Tiwi Islands and the Arnhem shores. Here you can also see tropical plants - cicadas, palms, adansonia, ginger and heliconia. All of the garden's plants are placed in themed zones: rainforest with a waterfall, mangroves, orchid plantations or in a garden with shade-loving plants. There is also a fountain, a children's playground with a treehouse and a visitor center on site. A special hiking trail reveals the traditional use of native plants by the Aborigines.
