Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 12—Culture and recreation 503
The ABS also conducted a survey in respect of
1997–98 of all museum locations other than the
260 non-government locations surveyed in
respect of 1996–97. The 1997–98 survey of
selected museums included: those operated by
non-profit organisations and staffed by
volunteers; those operated by owners or working
proprietors who did not employ staff; and those
which were small parts of government and
corporate organisations (such as local
government museums (again) and universities).
There were 1,473 of these museum locations
operating at 30 June 1998 (table 12.5). Of these,
195 were art museums, including craft museums,
public galleries and displays of art and craft
works. There were also 283 historic places,
including house museums, which housed
heritage collections open to the public. Of the
995 other museums, there were 117 transport
and maritime museums, 779 other social history
museums/displays, 84 natural history and science
museums/displays and 15 Indigenous keeping
places.
Botanic gardens, zoological
parks and aquaria
Botanic gardens
Botanic gardens and arboreta (tree collections)
are scientific and cultural institutions established
to collect, study, exchange and display plants for
research and for the education and enjoyment of
the public. Some botanic gardens augment the
living botanical displays with a herbarium (a
scientific collection of dried preserved plant
specimens used for the accurate classification and
identification of plants and plant material and for
taxonomic studies), and some botanic gardens
(those in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney) use
annexes to extend the range of cultivated plant
displays.
At the beginning of the 20th century, at the time
of Federation, Australia had about 30 botanic
gardens. Most of these were established with the
support and encouragement of Ferdinand von
Mueller, Victoria’s Government Botanist in the
second half of the 19th century.
At the beginning of the 21st century Australia has
about 100 botanic gardens and about
20 significant arboreta. Most of these botanic
gardens and arboreta were developed after the
Second World War. There were two periods of
focused development when public funding
became available for such projects: the lead-up to
the Captain Cook Bicentenary in 1970 and the
Australian Bicentenary Year of 1988. Many of the
recently established gardens operate under the
auspices of local government community groups
and have a conservation focus.
There are major botanic gardens in each capital
city, managed by the State or Territory
Governments (except for Brisbane, which is
municipal, and Canberra, which is
Commonwealth). The Commonwealth also
manages the Booderee Botanic Gardens at
Jervis Bay on behalf of the traditional Aboriginal
owners of the land, the Wreck Bay Aboriginal
Community Council, under arrangements in
place since December 1995.
The Council of Heads of Australian Botanic
Gardens (CHABG), with its secretariat located at
the Australian National Botanic Gardens in
Canberra, coordinates the liaison between the
various botanic gardens in Australia and
represents these gardens in national and
international matters.
The Australian National Botanic Gardens occupies
a 90 hectare site on the lower slopes of Black
Mountain in Canberra. It contains the national
collection and one of Australia’s most
comprehensive displays of living native plants.
Officially opened in 1970, in September 1991 it
was proclaimed a reserve under the National
Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1975, which
provided legal protection for the collections. It
now operates within the framework of the
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Act
1999. The Australian National Botanic Gardens
maintains about 100,000 plants constituting about
6,500 species, one-third of the vascular plants
recorded for Australia. It receives about 330,000
visitors each year, with peaks in October for the
spring flowering and January for the holiday
tourist season. It is on the Register of the National
Estate in recognition of its importance as a
research and teaching-based botanic garden
established to display and interpret Australian
flora. The Australian National Herbarium,
containing the dried specimens of the living
plants in the Gardens, is managed jointly with
CSIRO Plant Industry as part of the Centre for
Plant Biodiversity Research. It currently houses
over one million herbarium specimens.
Attendance at botanic gardens
The 1999 Survey of Attendance at Selected
Culture/Leisure Venues showed that almost
5.4 million people (36.1% of the Australian
population aged 15 and over) attended a botanic
garden at least once in the 12 months ending
30 April 1999 (table 12.6).