The Royal Botanic Garden established in Sydney, is a heritage-recorded botanical garden, event venue and public enjoyment area. It is located at Farm Cove on the eastern outskirts of Sydney’s central business district, New South Wales, the local government area of Australia’s Sydney City.

Overview

Founded in 1816, the garden is Australia’s oldest research institution and one of the world’s main historical botanical institutions. The most distinguishing aspect of the Garden’s design is the traditional hand-hewn sandstone seawall that stretches across Farm Cove from Mrs. Macquarie ‘s Point to the Opera House, delineating the garden from the harbour and offering a subject for tourists, joggers and photographers.

The Garden forms a large natural amphitheatre, wrapped around it and sloping down into the Farm Cove ‘point.’ It is divided into four main districts classified as the Lower Gardens, the Upper Gardens, the Palace Gardens and the Bennelong districts. The highest point is the Garden Palace grounds has outstanding views and are preserved as grass fields, flower gardens, Australian shrubs and plant plants. Initially, the field was enclosed by a paling fence to graze the Governor’s property. An ornamental fence was installed along Macquarie Lane, and the Garden Palace, established in 1879 and demolished by fire in 1882, stood in the grounds.

Exceptionally important is the layout of the Gardens, each area reflects an important stage in the development of the Garden and the current fashion in landscape design almost from the colony ‘s founding. The Middle Garden square beds are historically believed to represent the first furrows and soon afterwards the new settlement’s first garden plots. The field surrounding Macquarie Street and Music Conservatory is the former Garden Palace grounds. The first Farm site is the Center Field. The Upper Garden is composed of the administrative offices and the Regional Herbarium containing the southern portion. The Lower Garden comprises the rest of the area that extends north to Farm Cove through the Middle Garden.

Getting There

Located right in the city of Sydney, Australia it is just a short walk from Circular Quay and Hyde Park. Visitors can take help of the public transportation system in the city or drive down if they are hiring a car to drive around. Martin Place is the closest town stop. Other stations outside the Royal Botanic Gardens are St James and Circular Quay, where tourists can walk past Sydney Opera House before accessing from the north end of the Royal Botanic Gardens.

Flora And Fauna

Throughout the western Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens, tens and thousands of flying foxes (a cat-size variant of the fruit bat) have set up base. They roost in the trees by day, waking at dusk to search for seeds, nectar and fruit and spend the evening hours swooping through the air.

Such Grey-headed Flying-foxes (Pteropus poliocephalus) are endangered in Australia because of depopulations over the past 30 years and are classified as a “vulnerable” group. The huge bats are Australian native and unique with wingspans sometimes exceeding 3 feet. They ‘re joined by a smaller Black Flying-fox group (Pteropus Alecto). Although normally nomadic, it was known before that the flying foxes set up camp in the Botanic Gardens, with reports going back all the way back to the 1850s. For 20 years the current bat colony has been in place, following a 70-year bat colony hiatus before that. Today the population is projected at as much as 22,000 bats.

The tropical gardens are really stunning, and a popular place to see married people. The bats stay hanging in the trees during the daylight so you can feel adventurous but don’t worry about flying them into your hair.

Things To Do

The garden has an additional 5,000 plant forms under cultivation. Much importance has been put on planting Australia’s native plants, particularly woody ones, and hence, its Australian trees collections are comprehensive. However, there were also plantings of many exotic varieties. Other specialities include palm trees, cycads, ferns, and orchids.

Exploration of traditional plant uses and culture and tasting some bush foods are the major highlights of the Royal Botanical Garden. The visitors get an opportunity to discover the area’s rich Aboriginal history.

Colourful birds, fruit bats and water dragons are amongst the other wildlife that can be found in this region.

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria plays a leadership role in plant conservation through environmental studies, uncommon and vulnerable plant preservation projects, and landscape review.

Filled with beautifully landscaped gardens and water features, an entire day can be spent here easily.

The majestic Moreton Bay fig trees with their huge trunks, canopies and tropical air roots are another major highlight of the Royal Botanic Garden.

Best Time To Visit Australia

The best time to visit Australia itself would be during the warmers days in December to February. It is the peak season time and attracts visitors from all around the globe. If thin crowds and off-peak rates are the goals of your trip, then off-peak season between February and march or October and November would be the ideal time to plan the trip. The days are considerably warm and relatively dry. Whether it’s blazing sunshine, cloudy, breezy, nighttime or even misty, there’s always something to see up here at the highest point in Sydney. Visiting the tower close to sunset is best recommended as one can catch spectacular skyscraping views from the vantage point.

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