Williamstown Botanical Gardens

I checked out the Botanical Gardens today and found that they are in appalling condition. Weeds growing everywhere and overgrown plants. The water feature is still unfilled despite the amount of rain we have had. A sign stated that there is an investigation into some major leaking but there wasn't any date attached and no timelines. I was in the Ballarat gardens the other day and found that they are in great shape despite the drought. I would be embarrassed to take a visitor to the Willy gardens at the moment. Is this the way we look after our horticultural heritage? These gardens were one of Victoria's first gardens and have played an important part in my life as a long time resident.

Talk to Cr Angela Altair. Send her a message. The squeeky wheel gets the oil.
George 3018

Apart from the Royal Botanic Garden in Melbourne & Cranbourne, I know there is a botanical garden in St. Kilda. So perhaps this is the other only botanical garden in a Melbourne's suburb and it will be something special and ought to be treasured.

You may also want to drop these guys a line;

http://home.vicnet.net.au/~wbotanic/index.html

Thanks for the info I found the friends of the gardens website which makes me wonder with an active group like that how come they are in the state they are in. I think a friends group is very useful but sometimes it can release the council from their responsibilities.

Billybear wrote:Thanks for the info I found the friends of the gardens website which makes me wonder with an active group like that how come they are in the state they are in. I think a friends group is very useful but sometimes it can release the council from their responsibilities.

I had emailed a number of the "Friends" groups in the past, with absolutely no reply. Some of the email addresses are even invalid. For example, in this website for the Friends of Cherry Lake:
http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/hbplants/web/friendsofcherrylake.html

Michelle Gooding, the Park Ranger, was listed the person of contact. However, she was no longer working there for a long time and the site was not updated to reflect the new person to contact.

Sometimes, it makes me ponder whether some of these "Friends" groups are still active.

The water feature in the gardens hasn't had water for a good five years or so, and that sign has been there for a long time too. I remember there used to be some poor old birds cooped up in a sad and dark aviary. That was an embarrassment, but I think the coop has been dismantled now.

I visited the Williamstown Botanical Garden about a month ago and was quite impressed with how well it looked.
The water feature is still out of action, presumably there are little or no funds for repair work. But it is a shame that people are willing to comment on matters but will not spend the time to contact their local representative for answers. They could then post their answers to forums such as this one and show themselves to be doers rather than complainers!
As for "Friends of Such and Such" websites and contact details being out of date, well, it reminds one of the traffic that this site is experiencing. As a long time user of the Internet, I'm no longer surprised by the ephemeral nature of websites and their users.

I asked Hobsons Bay council about the water feature and received a gracious reply from Shelley Wood, the gardens head gardener.Shelley tells me that designs have been approved, tenders let and the work expected to be finished by the end of the year.

I noticed earlier this week that work has started on the water pool/feature.
It looks like they are relining the pool with a reinforced concrete shell.