Cooktown Botanic Gardens

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Australia - Queensland - Cooktown

Institution Code: COOK

BGCI Member: No

About the Cooktown Botanic Gardens

Heritage listed, the gardens were established in 1878 in the Gallop Botanic Reserve on the edge of Cooktown and contains walking trails to Finch Bay and Cherry Tree Bay. The major collection is the Banks & Solander collection, containing living specimens of those collected in 1770 by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on board the Endeavour with Captain Cook. Other sections include Fruit Trees, a Palmetum, Bushfoods, Timber Trees, Australian Natives, Wetlands, Open Forest, Syzygiums and Society for Growing Australian Plants section.

Main Address:
Cooktown Botanic Gardens
Walker St
P.O. Box 3
Cooktown
Queensland 4895 Australia

Telephone: +61 497 913 762
Fax:
URL: www.cooktownandcapeyork.com/do/nature/plants/botanic_gardens
Primary Email: psymes@cook.qld.gov.au

Staff Details

  • Director's Name: Peter Symes
    Curator's Name: Peter Symes
    Plant Records Officer's Name: Peter Symes
  • Total Staff:
    Horticultural Staff Number: 3
    Educational Staff Number:
    Research Staff Number:
    Administration Staff Number: 1

About the Garden

  • Institution Type: Botanic Garden
  • Status
  • Status: Private: No
    Status: Municipal: Yes
  • Date founded: 1878
  • Physical Data
  • Natural Vegetation Area: Yes
    Natural vegetation area: Size: 56 Hectares
  • Landscaped Area: Yes
    Landscaped Area: Size: 5 Hectares
  • Total Area: 62 Hectares
    Latitude: -15.471335
    Longitude: 145.258278
    Annual Rainfall: 1552 mm
    Altitude: 24.00 Metres
  • Locality: Information
  • Locality: Garden Name:
  • Local Address: Entrance off Finch Bay Rd
  • Locality: City: Cooktown
  • Locality: State: Queensland

Features and Facilities

  • Herbarium: No
  • Micropropagation/ Tissue Culture Facilities: No
    Published Plant Catalogue: Yes
    Computer Plant Record System: Yes
  • Open to public: Yes
    Friends society: No
    Retail Outlet: Shop: Yes
    Retail Outlet: Plant Sales: No
    Disabled access: Yes

Plant Collections

  • Accession Number: 1121
    Cultivation Taxa Num: 945
  • Special Collections:About 50 % of the collection is Australian flora with a focus on dry tropics and rainforest taxa from the local region and Cape York Peninsula. Main collection is the display of species collected by Banks and Solander in Cooktown in 1770. Other collections include: First People's Grove; Vera Scarth-Johnson Garden; Heritage (mostly exotic) Plantings; Tropical Fruit; Palmetum; Timber Trees; Aroid garden; Syzygiums; Wetlands.
  • Invasive Species Monitoring: Yes
    Invasive Species Policy: Yes
    Plant Collection Policy: Yes

Conservation Programmes

Research Programmes

Education Programmes

  • Visitor/Education Centre: Yes
    Education Signs in Garden: Yes
    Guided Tours: Yes
    Courses for School Children: Yes