New signs for Horsham Botanic Gardens

Published on 13 April 2022

Horsham Rural City Council has recently completed a project to install new interpretive signage at the Botanic Gardens.

The new signs offer contemporary information about each garden bed and the species held in the gardens collection.

Over 30 signs have been installed across the garden which also include illustrations and facts about the plants that are grown in each section.

Mayor Robyn Gulline says the new signs are a welcome addition to the gardens.

“The new cohesive signs across the Botanic Gardens will help visitors and regular users of the garden to interpret and appreciate the vast collection we care for here in Horsham”.

“The signs are easy to read and offer an attractive update to the signs that were previously installed throughout the gardens.”

The Horsham Botanic Gardens were established in the late 19th century based on the 1880 Masterplan designed by William Guilfoyle (1840-1912). William Guilfoyle is acknowledged as a major figure in the history and design of botanic gardens in Victoria.

During his career in Victoria, he designed seven botanic gardens including Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens. Elements of his original design for Horsham’s Botanic Gardens still exist in the retention of native box trees, the garden layout from the front entrance with wide serpentine paths and main triangular planting bed.

Since then, the gardens have changed to include beds referencing the local landscape including a Gariwerd (Grampians) collection and Mt Arapiles-Tooan State Park collection.

The new signage for the Horsham Botanic Gardens was jointly funded by the Victorian Government’s Growing Victoria’s Botanic Gardens Grants Program and Council.