About Us

A Natural Escape for Visitors of All Ages

About The Botanic Gardens

The Hunter Region Botanic Gardens cover an area of more than 125 hectares, much of which has been preserved as natural bushland. The Gardens are managed, maintained and developed by a non-profit company of volunteers.

To welcome visitors, the Gardens have a Visitor Centre, cafe, gift shop and reference library. Devonshire teas and light lunches are served daily, or visitors can picnic in the Gardens. Walks and excursions are organised regularly, and there is a program of special events.

The Gardens are constantly growing as new displays are developed for recreational, educational and scientific purposes. Australian and introduced species are laid out in theme areas including acacias, banksias, myrtaceae, grevilleas, ferns, bushtucker plants, succulents and palms. Rare and endangered Australian species are also cultivated. Our orchid houses are extremely popular with visitors.

Many of the plants are suitable for the home garden, and the landscaping is an inspiration for the keen gardener. Expert personal advice is available on plantings and propagation, and a large selection of plants and herbs can be purchased at low prices from our plant stall.

Easy walking trails provide access to the natural bushland with its mature blackbutt, angophoras and swamp mahogany forests and its understorey of more than 150 native plants. Their forests are the natural habitat of goannas, wallabies, lizards, brushtail and ringtail possums, sugar gliders, bats and many birds.

History Of The Gardens

The site of the Gardens is in the country of the Worimi people, who used the area for hunting and collecting plants for food, medicine and other uses.

A Steering Committee to establish a Botanic Gardens for Newcastle was formed at a public meeting held in Newcastle City Hall on 9 June 1982. The committee considered a number of possible sites for the Gardens before accepting the current site offered by Hunter Water Corporation. The site is part of the Tomago Sandbeds which form part of Newcastle’s water supply.

Hunter Region Botanic Gardens Ltd was incorporated as a charitable corporation in November 1985, and the development of the site commenced on 12 May 1986. Work began with the clearing of a major infestation of lantana, the development of roads and trails, and the provision of services to the site. The current Visitor Centre, opened in 1989, was funded as a Bicentennial project.

Gardens volunteers, supported by sponsors and donors, have continued to develop the site over the following 40 years, focusing on studying, growing and presenting Australian plants, and particularly the plants of the Hunter Region. The Gardens has become a major tourist destination in the region, and a centre for botanical education.

Our Organisation

The Hunter Region Botanic Gardens was established on 11th November 1985 and is a Public Not for Profit Company Limited by guarantee.

The objectives for which the Company is established are:

To establish a botanic garden within the Hunter Region that would serve the people as a focus for the appreciation, study, research and enjoyment of horticulture, botany and related fields by the growing and display of plants, both native and introduced species, in landscaped and natural surroundings.

The Board of Directors of the Company consists of a Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretary, Honorary Treasurer and 7 Directors.

All Directors work on a voluntary basis and also have operational roles at the Gardens.

The members of the Board hold office until the next ensuing Annual General Meeting, when they retire and are eligible for re-election.

Our Current Directors are:

Chairman – Ken Page

Deputy Chairman – Kevin Stokes

Company Secretary – Robert Beautement

Treasurer – Robert Beautement

Alison Abbott

Lorraine Zions

Helen Howard

Annika St-Jean

Paul Neville

Neil Wilson

Kevin Riley

Our Senior Staff are:

Manager, Accounting Services – Diane Call

Manager, Fundraising and Events – Jeannie Lawson

Manager, Café and Catering Services – Trudy Lilley

Volunteer Coordinator and Membership Secretary – Louise Ingram

Our Patron is:

Emeritus Professor Tim Roberts AM

Professor Roberts, a distinguished scientist and educator, was awarded Member of the Order of Australia in 2022

for his significant service to environmental and life sciences and to tertiary education.

Tim Roberts was Director of the Tom Farrell Institute for the Environment at the University of Newcastle from 2010 until 2018. He continues to be active in research in the laboratory and has published some 130 papers.

Rare & Endangered Plants

The Hunter Region Botanic Gardens cultivates many rare and endangered plants. A major threat to the Australian flora is land clearing. The Botanic Gardens assist plant conservation by undertaking research and growing and conserving the seeds of rare and endangered plants. You can help conserve flora and the animals they support by supporting the Botanic Gardens, maintaining areas of native bush on private land, and not collecting or damaging plants from natural areas.

Examples of rare and endangered plants can be found in the Grevillea Garden, Lamiaceae Garden, Rutaceae Bed, Hakea and Banksia Beds, Plants of the Hunter Region, Liliaceae Bed, Acacia Garden, Parry Place, Succulent Garden, Australian Arid Plants Garden, Gundabooka Trail, Rainforest Area, Fern Gully and Palm Garden.

Natural Bushland

The Gardens feature a large expanse of natural bushland with several walking tracks up to 6km in length. The walks provide an opportunity to see local plants and wildlife including numerous birds, goannas, possums, wallabies.

The sandy soil supports forests of eucalypts dominated by blackbutts and bloodwoods with a tall sub-canopy of Banksias and Christmas Bush. The understorey of shrubs bloom with colourful wildflowers in spring. The Burrawang cycad is common throughout the gardens, and its seed cone is the basis for the design of the Garden logo. The site also contains two wetlands, one of which may be viewed from a specially constructed platform.

An area of bushland called the Gundabooka Trail is used to indicate the plants which were important to the local Kooris and were used for food, medicine and other purposes. Gundabooka is a Koori word for ‘meeting place’, and the trail includes a meeting area ideal for schools and tour groups.

July School Holiday Program Out Now