Home > About Us > About the National Arboretum Canberra
What is the Arboretum?
An arboretum is a park planted with trees to become an exceptionally beautiful place
for enjoyment, recreation, education and research. The National Arboretum
Canberra is located on a 250 hectare site just 6km from the centre of Canberra,
Australia and near Lake Burley Grifin. In 1915, Walter Burley Griffin suggested
establishing an international arboretum.
In 2004, Taylor Cullity Lethlean (landscape
architects) and Tonkin Zulaikha
Greer (architects) won the ACT Government's design competition for the
arboretum. The winning design was called
100 Forests and 100 Gardens. The forests feature trees which are threatented,
rare and/or symbolic, and which can survive on this site.
Planting of trees
The
National Arboretum Canberra is well on its way with established forests
of cork oak (Quercus suber) and Himalayan cedars (Cedrus deodora) and by the end
of 2010, new plantings of over 60 forests including the Wollemi pine (Wollemia
noblis), Camden white gum (Eucalyptus
benthamii), mesa and burr oaks (Quercus
engelmanii and
Q. macrocarpa), ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba), giant squoia (Sequoiadendron
gigantum), Moroccan cypress (Cypressus
antlantica) and dragon tree (Dracaena draco).
A further 40 forests will be planted in the next few years.
Take a tour!
The best way to experience the National Arboretum Canberra is on a bus tour. Our friends at
Murrays Coaches have kindly sponsored the bus tours and generally run every second sunday of the month. Booking are essential, so
book a bus tour now.