Adelaide Botanic Gardens (1855 - )

Summary

The Adelaide Botanic Gardens was established in 1855, and opened to the public in 1857. The first Director (initially styled Superintendent) was George W. Francis (1855 - 1865). He was succeeded by Richard Schomburgk, under whom the Gardens flourished. Several still-surviving avenues of trees were planted; one of the botanical wonders of the time, the Victorian waterlily (Victoria amazonica), flowered in its specially-constructed glasshouse; the Museum of Economic Botany opened in 1881; and large amounts of land were placed under the Gardens's management. The Gardens suffered a decline in the early 20th century as a consequence of economic circumstances and two world wars. It was under Director Noel Lothian (1948 - 1980) that the Gardens revived. There are now two regional gardens, Wittunga Botanic Garden (opened 1975) and Mount Lofty Botanic Garden (opened 1977). The State Herbarium of South Australia is situated within the Gardens. Both the Gardens and Herbarium are administered under the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium Act of 1978, under the oversight of the Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium.

Details

The Gardens has published the Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens (ISSN 0313-4083) since 1976: it was renamed Swainsona in 2018. The contents is largely research papers on the systematics and taxonomy of Australian flora.

Directors:
George William Francis 1860 - 1865 (styled Superintendent 1855 - 1860)
Richard Schomburgk 1865 - 1891
Maurice Holtze 1891 - 1917
John Bailey 1917 - 1932
Harold Greaves 1932 - 1948 (initially styled Curator)
Noel Lothian 1948 - 1980
Brian Morley 1981 - 2000
Stephen Forbes 2001 - 2016
Lucy Sutherland 2016 - 2021
Michael Harvey 2021 -

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Handbook of the Adelaide Botanic Garden (Adelaide: Government Printer, 1964), 64 pp. Details
• Adelaide Botanic Gardens, 1857 - 1907: Adelaide Botanic Gardens, South Australia: an official souvenir prepared in connection with the jubilee celebrations October 19th 1907 (Adelaide: Adelaide Botanic Gardens, 1907), 38 pp. Details
• Adelaide Botanic Gardens, The Botanic Garden, Adelaide, South Australia: centenary volume 1855 - 1955:history, guides and catalogues of plants (Adelaide: Government Printer, 1955), 412 pp. Details
• Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Catalogue of plants 2010: Adelaide, Mount Lofty and Wittunga Botanic Gardens (Adelaide: Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, 2010), 297 pp. Details
• Aitken, Richard, Seeds of Change: an Illustrated History of Adelaide Botanic Garden (Richmond: Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium/Bloomings Books, 2006). Details
• Best, Barbara J., The life and works of George William Francis, 1800 - 1865: founder and first Director (Adelaide: Government Printer, 1965), 137, 16, 20 pp. Details
• Best, Barbara J., George William Francis, first Director of the Adelaide Botanic Garden: a biography (Adelaide: Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and the author, 1986), 182 pp. Details
• Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and State Herbarium of South Australia, Adelaide Botanic Garden catalogue of plants (Adelaide: Botanic Gardens of Adelaide and State Herbarium of South Australia, 1988). Details
• Francis, George W., Catalogue of plants under cultivation in the Government Botanic Garden, Adelaide, South Australia (Adelaide: Government Printer, 1859), 44 pp. Details
• Lethelan, Taylor Cullity, Botanic Gardens of Adelaide: Draft Site Master Plan Report, Adelaide Botanic Garden and Botanic Park, Mt Lofty Botanic Garden (Adelaide: Botanic Gardens of Adelaide, 2005), 189 leaves pp. Details

Book Sections

• Payne, Pauline, 'Richard Moritz Schomburgk. Second Director of the Adelaide Botanic Garden 1865-91' in The German Experience of Australia 1833-1938, Harmstorf, Ian, ed. (Bedford Park, South Australia: Australian Association of von Humboldt Fellows, 1988). Details
• Payne, Pauline, 'Picturesque Scientific Gardening: Developing Adelaide Botanic Garden, 1865-1891' in William Shakespeare's Adelaide, 1860-1930, Brian Dickey, ed. (Adelaide: Association of Professional Historians, Inc, 1992), pp. 126-146. Details

Journals

• 'Journal of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens', 1976. http://www.environment.sa.gov.au/Science/Science_research/State_Herbarium/Resources/Publications/Journal_of_the_Adelaide_Botanic_Gardens. Details

Journal Articles

• Cox, Anna, 'Directors of the Adelaide Botanic Garden 1891-1948', Friends of the Botanic Gardens of Adelaide Gazette, 9 (4) (1986), 67-89,. Details
• Haegi, Laurence, 'Botany and science at Adelaide's Botanic Gardens since the founding of the State Herbarium', Swainsona, 30 (2022), 53-68. https://data.environment.sa.gov.au/Content/Publications/JABG30P053_Haegi.pdf. Details
• Payne, Pauline, 'This Fairy Palace: the Palm House in Adelaide Botanic Garden', Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, 21 (1993), 91-104. Details

Theses

• Payne, Pauline, 'Dr Richard Schomburgk and Adelaide Botanic Garden 1865-91', Thesis, University of Adelaide, 1992. Details

See also

• Emmett, Peter, Harvest: an exhibition about plants and place from South Australian collections, Santos Museum of Economic Botany, Adelaide Garden, 30 May - 23 August 2009 (Adelaide: Botanic Garden of Adelaide, 2009), 45 pp. Details
• Emmett, Peter and Kanellos, Tony, eds, Santos MEB Museum of Economic Botany: the Museum of Economic Botany at the Adelaide Botanic Garden, a Souvenir (Adelaide: Botanic Gardens of Adelaide, 2010), 186 pp. Details
• Kanellos, Tony, Imitation of life: a visual catalogue of the 19th century fruit models in the Santos Museum of Economic Botany in the Adelaide Botanic Garden, a collection of papier maché models made by Heinrich Arnoldi & Co. Gotha (Adelaide: Board of the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium, 2013), 384 pp. Details