Kings Park and Botanic Garden

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Australia - Western Australia - Kings Park

Institution Code: KPBG

BGCI Member: Yes

About the Kings Park and Botanic Garden

Kings Park and Botanic Garden covers 400 hectares and comprises three main areas - the bushland (approximately 267ha), botanic garden (17ha) and developed parkland (approximately 62ha) in addition to roads and car parks, restaurants and cafes.

Main Address:
Kings Park and Botanic Garden
Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority
1 Kattidj Close
Kings Park
Western Australia 6005 Australia

Telephone: 61 (0)8 9480 3600
Fax: 61 (0)8 9322 5064
URL: www.bgpa.wa.gov.au
Primary Email: enquiries@bgpa.wa.gov.au

Staff Details

  • Director's Name: Alan Barrett (Executive Director)
    Curator's Name:
    Plant Records Officer's Name: Amanda Shade
  • Total Staff:
    Horticultural Staff Number: 68
    Educational Staff Number: 4
    Research Staff Number: 16
    Administration Staff Number: 11

About the Garden

  • Institution Type: Botanic Garden
  • Status
  • Status: Private: No
    Status: State: Yes
    Status: Educational: Yes
    Status: Municipal: No
    Status: Satellite: Yes
    Status: Trust: Yes
  • Date founded: 1895
  • Physical Data
  • Natural Vegetation Area: Yes
    Natural vegetation area: Size: 260 Hectares
  • Landscaped Area: Yes
    Landscaped Area: Size: 77 Hectares
  • Total Area: 400 Hectares
    Latitude: -31.964312
    Longitude: 115.831467
    Annual Rainfall: 800 mm
    Altitude: 50.00 Metres

Features and Facilities

  • Herbarium: Yes
  • Micropropagation/ Tissue Culture Facilities: Yes
    Seed Bank: Yes
    Published Plant Catalogue: No
    Computer Plant Record System: Yes
  • Open to public: Yes
    Friends society: Yes
    Retail Outlet: Shop: Yes
    Retail Outlet: Plant Sales: No
    Disabled access: Yes
  • Number of Visitors: 5800000
    Number of Volunteers: 1500

Plant Collections

  • Special Collections:Over 90 % of collection is Australian flora. Western Australian native flora (2,800 species), aromatic and fragrant garden, metropolitan garden.
  • Invasive Species Monitoring: Yes
    Invasive Species Policy: Yes
    ABS Policy: Yes
    Plant Collection Policy: Yes

Conservation Programmes

  • Conservation Programme: Yes
    Medicinal Plant Programme: No
    Ex Situ Conservation Programme: Yes
    Reintroduction Programme: Yes

Research Programmes

  • Biotechnology: Yes
    Plant Breeding: Yes
    Conservation - Biology: Yes
    Conservation - Genetics: Yes
    Data Management Systems and Information Technology: Yes
    Ecology: Yes
    Ecosystem Conservation: Yes
    Education: Yes
    Ethnobotany: No
    Exploration: Yes
    Floristics: Yes
    Horticulture: Yes
    Invasive Species Biology and Control: Yes
    Molecular Genetics: Yes
    Pollination Biology: Yes
    Restoration Ecology: Yes
    Seed/Spore Biology: Yes
    Systematics and Taxonomy: Yes
    Sustainability: Yes
    Pharmacology: No
    Agriculture: No
    Land Restoration: Yes
    Urban Environments: Yes

Education Programmes

  • Visitor/Education Centre: Yes
    Education Signs in Garden: Yes
    Public Lectures/Talks: Yes
    Education Booklets/Leaflets: Yes
    Guided Tours: Yes
    Permanent Public Displays: Yes
    Special Exhibitions: Yes
    Courses for School Children: Yes
    Courses for University/College Students: Yes
    Courses for General Public: Yes
    Education Programme: Yes

Restoring Damaged Mining Sites

Growing global demand for raw materials will accelerate mining of coal, aluminum and rare earths, especially in Australia.  These deposits often lie below species-rich forests and shrublands that are of great conservation value.  Kings Park in Perth has been working with mining companies to find ways of replacing the soil and forests using cutting-edge science as well as innovations in the mining process.  It is now possible to restore over 90% of the plant species found in a mined Jarrah Forest, producing a complex forest structure in 15 to 20 years that is suitable as habitat for rare birds and mammals.  Just as important, the restored forest provides a much better watershed for capturing the available precipitation than the forestry-type plantations that were commonly installed in the past. 

 

Sinosteel iron ore mine close to Morowa, Western Australia. Photo credit: Barney Wilczak

In addition, over 600ha of species-rich native woodland and shrubland communities are under active restoration in Kings Park and associated lands. Kings Park is involved in over 70 restoration projects, mostly in degraded landscapes in the arid, semi-arid and Mediterranean-climate areas of Western Australia, but also local- to regional-scale restoration projects in the Middle East and North Africa. These projects occur in ecosystems as diverse as Western Australian marine seagrass meadows, species-rich Kwongan shrublands and arid spinifex grasslands, and Libyan juniper woodlands.

Please contact Ben Miller for more information about this project.

 

 Studying the effects of soil composition on restoration at the Sinosteel iron ore mine, Western Australia. Photo credit: Barney Wilczak

 

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