Flecker Botanical Gardens
| Flecker Botanical Gardens AKA Cairns Botanic Gardens |
|
|---|---|
 Location of Flecker Botanical Gardens
AKA Cairns Botanic Gardens in Queensland 
Location of Flecker Botanical Gardens
AKA Cairns Botanic Gardens in Queensland |
|
| Location | Collins Avenue, Edge Hill, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia |
| Coordinates | 16°53′57″S 145°44′51″E / 16.8991°S 145.7476°ECoordinates: 16°53′57″S 145°44′51″E / 16.8991°S 145.7476°E |
| Design period | 1870s - 1890s (late 19th century) |
| Built | 1886 - 1960s |
| Official name: Flecker Botanical Gardens, Cairns Botanic Gardens, Edge Hill Nursery, Fitzalan's Botanical Gardens | |
| Type | state heritage (landscape, built) |
| Designated | 2 February 2007 |
| Reference no. | 602541 |
| Significant period | 1880s-1982 (fabric) 1880s-1960s (historical) 1880s - (social) |
| Significant components | natural landscape, bridge - foot/pedestrian, paving, wall/s - retaining, gate - entrance, office/administration building, garden - layout, fernery, pathway/walkway, garden - rainforest, trees/plantings, lawn/s, garden - bed/s, road/roadway |
Flecker Botanical Gardens is a heritage-listed botanic garden at Collins Avenue, Edge Hill, Cairns, Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1886 to 1960s. It is now known as Cairns Botanic Gardens, and also known as Edge Hill Nursery, and Fitzalan's Botanical Gardens. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 2 February 2007.
The Flecker Botanic Gardens, a public reserve south of Mt Islay in the Mt Whitfield Range, was established in the mid-1880s as part of a recreation reserve, just a decade after the town of Cairns was first surveyed in 1876 as a port to service the Hodgkinson goldfield. Although never officially gazetted for botanic garden purposes, botanic gardens were developed in the recreation reserve at its inception. The work of botanist Eugene Fitzalan in the 1880s and 1890s, Cairns City Council nurserymen and curators from the 1920s and naturalist Dr Hugo Flecker from the 1930s to the 1950s, has contributed to the development of the gardens as a significant botanic and recreation space in Cairns. Of cultural heritage significance the garden area is bounded by Collins Avenue and McCormack, Goodwin and McDonnell Streets.
In 1884 the Cairns Progress Association had advocated for a botanic garden to be established in the vicinity of Cairns. During the 19th and early 20th centuries botanic gardens were considered important for recreation, the preservation of indigenous vegetation, the display of native flora and fauna, and the acclimatisation of economically useful plants. In November 1886 an area of about 71 acres (29 hectares) west and south of Mt Islay, comprising suburban sections 71, 74, 75 and 76 (surveyed in 1885), was gazetted as a temporary reserve for recreation under the control of Cairns Municipal Council (established in 1885). This land comprised the southern and western foothills of Mt Islay and a lowland swamp.
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