The Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney

The Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust is the oldest scientific institution in Australia. We have in our care the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, which is the nation's oldest botanic garden, established in 1816 on the site of the first farm in 1788. The Trust also manages the Domain established in 1788 as the Governor's private domain. Now a public botanic park surrounding the Sydney Garden, it is used by 4 million people a year for leisure, physical fitness, soapbox oratory, political rallies, big concerts and other public affairs. The original inhabitants and traditional custodians of the lands of the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney and Domain are the Cadigal. In 1987, we opened the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mount Tomah in the World Heritage listed Blue Mountains. It is the nation's highest botanic garden, 1000m above sea level, and showcases cool climate plants from around the world. It includes large tracts of native bushland including an accessible area of temperate rainforest known as 'the Jungle'. The original inhabitants and traditional custodians of the lands of the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden are the Dharug. In 1988, we opened our Austalian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan in south west Sydney. It is the nation's largest botanic garden (416 ha) and is dedicated to native flora -- and consequently home to a wide range of native fauna. It includes natural areas of endangered native Cumberland Plain Woodland. The extensive living collections at our three Gardens and in the Domain are supplemented by the dried collections in the National Herbarium of NSW which houses 1.2 million specimens. The oldest specimens were collected by Joseph Banks on Captain Cook's Voyage of the Endeavour in 1770. The Australian Botanic Garden at Mount Annan is the site of the new PlantBank to be completed by late 2012. This purpose-designed sustainable building will include storage vaults for Australia's largest native seedbank along with advanced research and educational facilities. The original inhabitants and traditional custodians of the lands of the Australian Botanic Garden are the Dharawal. Our scientific research expands knowledge and conservation of NSW and Australian plant life. We also work to protect and nurture our much-loved Gardens so they continue to thrive and provide the people of the Sydney region and tourists from around the world with botanical landscapes where they can learn, relax and commune with each other and with nature for a further 200 years.