Cairns Botanical Gardens

Welcome to the Cairns Botanic Gardens, a lush, seventy-acre sanctuary dedicated to the preservation and exhibition of tropical flora from Australia and around the world. Situated in the suburb of Edge Hill, just a short distance…

We begin our tour in the Flecker Garden, the oldest and most traditional section of the botanic gardens. Named after Dr. …

Before us is the Watkins Munro Martin Conservatory, an architectural 'jewel box' designed to house the garden's most valuable and delicate tropical plants. This structure is a marvel of modern engineering, utilizing a…

The Gondwanan Heritage Garden offers a unique opportunity to walk through 'deep time.' This section of the garden is designed to tell the story of the evolution of Australia's flora, beginning with the ancient supercontinent of…

We now move to the Aboriginal Plant Use Trail, a critical component of the gardens that honors the traditional knowledge of the Yidinji and Yirrganydji peoples. For the indigenous inhabitants of the Wet Tropics, the rainforest…

The Rainforest Boardwalk provides a safe and accessible way to experience the 'inner sanctum' of a tropical swamp forest. This area is characterized by high water tables and dense, moisture-loving vegetation. …

Our final stop is the area surrounding the Freshwater and Saltwater Lakes. These bodies of water are critical habitats for a vast array of 'avian' species and provide a tranquil contrast to the dense greenery of the forest. …

As our journey through the Cairns Botanic Gardens comes to a close, we find ourselves back where we began, perhaps a little more humid but certainly more enlightened. We have traversed millions of years of plant evolution in the…