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Botanic gardens herbarium at Mount Annan wins top architecture award

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2023 Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Award

One of the newest facilities at the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan, the National Herbarium of New South Wales, has won a top architecture award.

The AILA has awarded the design of the National Herbarium of NSW the  AILA 2023 NSW Australian Institute of Landscape Architects Awards in the category of Health & Education.

Designed by Australian architects and design studio Architectus the building was inspired by the seed pod of the waratah, the floral symbol of NSW.

The National Herbarium of New South Wales at the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan. (2023, I Willis)

The citation for the award states:

The landscape design expresses a unique perspective of the nature of an herbarium: this place is not only dedicated to researching the science of plants and their ecosystems, but also making this knowledge accessible to the community. In a fluid and bespoke language, the design makes use of the site’s microclimates and topography to imbue ecosystems diversity and experiential richness with an holistic clarity. It beautifully dissembles the institution’s scientific remit to encourage visitor awareness of plants, ecology, and landscape.

https://aila.awardsplatform.com/gallery/nbaZWrEE/YqRZlowG?search=8a05d209e52fb180-20
The front profile of the National Herbarium of New South Wales at the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan. The shape of the roofline was influenced by the seed pod of the waratah. (2023, Desmond Chan & Levi Pajarin)

Opening in 2022,  the AILA website states:

The National Herbarium of NSW houses more than 1.1 million plant specimens. Lacking the requisite environmental controls to maintain the collection and outgrowing its historic location, the Herbarium relocated to the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan. With deep insulated walls protecting and preserving valuable plant specimens for future generations. Complementing the building’s aspirations, a bespoke landscape showcases significant and meaningful plants from the collection in living form. Reinforcing connection to Country, this offers a place for reconciliation and gathering and a celebration and living showcase of the collection’s diversity.

https://aila.awardsplatform.com/gallery/nbaZWrEE/YqRZlowG?search=8a05d209e52fb180-20

Problems at the herbarium at Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney

Before relocating the National Herbarium to the ABG Mount Annan, the plant collection was located in the Robert Brown building at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney. The collection faced several issues, including pest control.

The Robert Brown Building at the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney that housed the herbarium collection had several problems that endangered the plant collection. The plant collection was moved to the new herbarium building at Australia Botanic Gardens Mount Annan in 2022. (RBG Sydney, 2020)

The National Herbarium website states that the existing Robert Brown Building at the RBG Sydney was constructed in 1982.

The website continues:

the Herbarium’s storage capacity in the Robert Brown Building will also be exhausted by 2022. It is time critical that we create a new facility to fix these deficiencies and ensure our collection can grow and be utilised by other Herbaria around the world.

https://www.australianbotanicgarden.com.au/about-us/major-projects/building-a-new-herbarium-1

Relocation of herbarium to the Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan

In 2013 the garden trustees (RBG&DT) engaged RP Infrastructure to consult and develop a business case for a new facility and proceed as project managers. In 2015 Sydney architects Sam Crawford was hired to conduct a feasibility study on the relocation from RBG Sydney to ABG Mount Annan.

The state government supported the movement of move from the Sydney site to Mount Annan. The website states:

To safeguard the growing collection, which also includes a significant amount of historical plant specimens collected in 1770, the State Government supported the construction of the new state-of-the-art Herbarium facility with a $60 million investment in 2018.

https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/stories/2022/world-class-herbarium-unveiled
The public entry to the foyer display area of to the National Herbarium of New South Wales at the ABG Mount Annan (I Willis, 2023)

New building

The herbarium building has six protective vaults that are environmentally controlled and provides new labs, equipment, and quarantine facilities.

The collection was moved to the ABG Mount Annan in 2021 and digitised as part of the project. The collection can be accessed online.

The exterior forecourt of the National Herbarium of New South Wales at the ABG Mount Annan and the location of the art installation Life Blood (I Willis, 2023)

History of herbarium plant collection

The collections of the National Herbarium of New South Wales date from 1770, made by botanists Sir Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on Captain James Cook’s first voyage to the Pacific. By 1900, the Herbarium contained 15,000 named species – almost all the species then known in NSW.

A small herbarium and botanical museum was first established in 1853 when botanist Sir Charles Moore was the director of the RBG Sydney (1848-1896).

The number of botanical specimens grew significantly under the next director of the RBG Sydney, Joseph Maiden.

The first dedicated herbarium building was opened in 1901. By 1970 the herbarium held over 1 million specimens spread across five buildings.

The herbarium collection has grown to incorporate several other institutional collections, and they have included,

Collections from the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (now the Powerhouse Museum), Hawkesbury Agricultural College, the University of New South Wales moss collection, the NSW Forestry wood collection, and more recently collections from the John Macarthur Agricultural Institute.

James 2018
An aerial view of the National Herbarium of New South Wales at ABG Mount Annan. The PlantBank is on the RHS rear of the Herbarium, and the nursery greenhouses are on the left rear of the image. This view clearly shows the herbarium roof line and the influence of the shape of the waratah seedpod (2023, Desmond Chan & Levi Pajarin)

‘Jewel in the crown’

The herbarium collection is currently,

 valued at $280 million…More than 8000 new plant specimens [are] being added to the Herbarium every year. The world-renowned collection underpins vital scientific research and is essential for informing decisions about the conservation of our natural environment.

https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/science/national-herbarium-of-new-south-wales

In 2020 the Herbarium became part of the Australian Institute of Botanical Science that

consists of the physical and virtual scientific collections, research, services and facilities, and our staff at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan and the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah.

Summerell 2020

The Herbarium is the site of the placement of Life Blood, an art installation.

A jewel in the crown of the Macarthur region the National Herbarium at the Australian Botanic Gardens at Mount Annan is a valuable addition to the scientific international status of the gardens.

References

Shelley A James 2018, ‘National Herbarium of NSW: This is Your Life!’ The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, Sydney, 25 June. https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/stories/2018/national-herbarium-of-nsw-this-is-your-life!

Charles Moore (botanist). (2022, April 8). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Moore_(botanist)

Brett Summerell 2020, ‘The Australian Institute of Botanical Science’. The Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, Sydney, 24 August. https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/stories/2020/the-australian-institute-of-botanical-science

Updated on 24 June 2023. Originally posted on 23 June 2023 as ‘National Herbarium at ABG wins architecture gong’

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Crazy Colourful Koalas on the Prowl

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Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail

Prowling crazy colourful koalas are on the loose in the Australian Botanic Gardens in Mount Annan and other notable spots in Campbelltown.

The cute one-metre-high fibreglass sculptures, called Hello Koalas, are loose across the garden landscape. They are a sight to behold after being a  hit at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney in 2019.

The artworks are part of the Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail, jointly hosted by The Australian Botanic Garden (ABG), Mount Annan and Campbelltown City Council. Running from April 1 to April 30, the art installation is on loan from the Port Macquarie area.   

This is Wollemia The Vital Scientist by artist Lisa Burrell for the 2021 Hello Koala Sculpture Trail at The Australian Botanic Gardens Mount Annan. Wollemia will make sure that the Garden scientists are growing new Wollemi trees for the future. (I Willis)

Engaging public art installation

On a visit to the ABG this week, I watched how the sculptures touched the hearts of everyone who walked past them.

The Hello Koalas seemed to immediately grab the attention of everyone who walked past them, from the very young to the very young at heart. The koala characters appeared to melt the coldest heart with their bright colours and crazy artwork.

 There is an element of surprise to the sculptures, and there is an immediately identifiable joy in people’s reactions. Young and old pose for selfies and family pics with the koala characters.

Families sought out the elusive koala characters across the ABG after picking up the free trail map.  The kids were making sure that they found all of the 22 koalas in the garden.

The cover of the 2021 Hello Koala Sculpture Trail at The Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan. Inside the brochure was a map with all of the 16 Hello Koalas scattered across the garden with the location. (I Willis)

According to the trail map, families can be helped in the koala hunt by downloading the ‘Agents of Discovery’ by using the ABG QR code and then seeking out the koala characters.

A public art trail

The outdoor art installation trail is strategically placed across the garden landscape to ensure an exciting and wonderful experience of these ‘living sculptures’.

Each of the Hello Koalas has a name and is themed around culture, heritage and environmental issues. There is Captain Koala, Bushby, Flying Fire, Topiary and a host of others.

The trail map provides a host of information about the Hello Koalas location, their names, and the artist who created them.

The ABG art installation was ‘conceived and created in Port Macquarie by Arts and Health Australia’, which aims ‘to promote and develop the application of creativity and the arts for health and quality of life’.

This is Scoop the busy news reporter who spreads the word about the importance of looking after native animals. He is part of the Hello Koalas at the ABG Mount Annan 2021. Scoop is by artist Rebekah Brown. (I Willis)

Project director Margaret Meagher described the Hello Koalas as Wildlife Warriors and said, ‘The project aims to spread the message that we must care for our koalas and all native fauna and flora’.

Toads and Koalas

The individual Hello Koalas were designed and hand-painted by artists from Port Macquarie, Taree, Kempsey and Coffs Harbour. They are part of a larger public art installation [IW1] in the Port Macquarie area, where 77 Hello Koalas are located across the region. They recently featured in Port Macquarie’s  Summer 2021 Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail, and later on, this year will be part of the  5th Annual Hello Koalas Festival between 25-26 September.

Director Margaret Meagher was inspired to create the Hello Koalas by an animal trail that was part of the 2010 Hull arts festival in England. The trail celebrated the life and times of local poet Philip Larkin and his poem Toads. Festival organisers created the Larkin with Toads sculpture trail. After initial scepticism, the toads have been a huge hit winning tourist awards, gaining national press coverage and increased local tourism.

The Port Macquarie Hello Koalas Public Sculpture Trail was launched in 2014 at the Emerald Downs Golf Course and has experienced continued success.

Public art engages people

The Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail is just one type of public art.

Public art installations are a vital part of a vibrant community and add to its cultural, aesthetic and economic vitality. Public art promotes

‘a sense of identity, belonging, attachment, welcoming and openness, and strengthen community identification to place. [It creates] a tangible sense of place and destination’.

Director Margaret Meagher argues that public art fosters cultural tourism and community cultural development.  

Public art is an opportunity to showcase artist talent differently and generate broader community interest. This type of art installation can ferment interest in issues and engage the media, the public and the creative sector. Public art appeals to the imagination of adults and children and can bring the community together.

Successful public art encourages public engagement with art and can create a sense of ownership within the community. There can be increased visitation increase tourism that brings money into the area. It can contribute to placemaking, shaping community identity and a sense of belonging.  

Not a balmy idea

The Hello Koalas Sculpture Trail, at first glance, may be considered a balmy idea. In reality, it is a clever idea that on initial observations seems to have engaged people’s interest and imagination and created a unique art experience.

The ABG Hello Koalas brochure states:

Effectively, each Hello Koalas sculpture provides a blank canvas to convey evocative messages that celebrate the existence of native plants and animals and raise public awareness, across generations, of the importance of caring and preserving our natural world.

Royal Botanic Gardens chief executive Denise Ora is quoted as saying, ‘When we did this exhibition in Sydney in 2019, it was a huge success. There’s a really fun aspect and a real educational aspect’.

Camden Narellan Advertiser 7 April 2021

More public art in the Macarthur area

1. Camden Pioneer Mural, Camden

2. The Cowpastures Cows, Perich Park, Oran Park

3. Campbelltown Arts Centre

4. The Boys, Emerald Hills Shopping Centre

5.  Sculpture Park, Western Sydney University, Campbelltown.

6. Art Installation, Oran Park Library, Oran Park.

7. Forecourt, Narellan Library, Narellan

8. Food Plaza Forecourt, Narellan Town Centre.