Ballarat Botanical Gardens

Bevlea Ross — Sun, 03 Jan 2016 12:27:00 +0000

The Ballarat Botanical Gardens covers 40 hectares alongside Lake Wendouree. Within the central part of the garden is a ‘Gardenesque’ style of a Victorian pleasure garden and the Robert Clark Conservatory. The Botanical Gardens has mature trees, green lawns and winding pathways. White statues, flowers, extensive flower beds provide a feast for the eyes. A fernery takes up one corner, with open parklands encompassing the rest. The famous Ballarat Begonia Festival is held here in March each year. Seasonal plantings rotate through the rest of the year.

Hydrangea

Fuschia’s in a basket

At the south end of the gardens is the Ballarat Tramway Museum. Volunteers formed the museum to preserve the “tramway experience that existed on the streets of Ballarat from 1887 to 1971. Additionally, they operate trams along a public road and on an original section of the track. The volunteers use authentic methods of operation such as conductors, paper tickets, uniforms, tram stops—they even original style paperwork.

Tramway museum

Info Abounds

Stand Back

Further along, past the Tramway Museum, you will find the Australian Prisoners of War memorial. It’s a sobering sight to see the long marble wall snaking off into the distance. It is filled with the names of thousands of Australian servicemen and women captured during wartime.

Australian Prisoner Of War Memorial

I found my two uncles on the wall. Harold Baron Dickson and Stanley Bruce Dickson. They spent the remainder of the war in a German POW camp following their capture at Tobruk by German Forces. However, they came home safely at the end of the war, married and had children.

Australian Prisoner Of War Memorial

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Ballarat Botanical Gardens