The Biggest Botanic Garden In Australia Is An Hour From Sydney, It’s Free To Visit.5 Videos Info Article.

416 hectares of gardens make Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan the biggest such space in the country, and one of the most important.

Sydney is pretty blessed with beautiful parks and gardens, and we’ve even got the handily-placed Royal Botanic Garden right in the heart of the city.

But to find the biggest botanic garden in Australia, you don’t need to stray far from the CBD – in fact, with the right traffic, you could be there in under an hour.

We’re talking of Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan, a sister site to the Royal Botanic Garden, and one of the most important conservation sites in New South Wales. Happily, it’s entirely free to visit, so here’s all you need to know before a day trip to the gardens!

What can you see at Mount Annan?

One of three botanic gardens under the Botanic Gardens of Sydney umbrella – you’ll find the third at Mount Tomah in the Blue Mountains, which happens to be the highest botanic garden in Australia –

Mount Annan is home to important Australian flora from across the country. There’s a whopping 416 hectares of space here, which has been filled with lawns, lakes, and manicured gardens.

It’ll take you a long time to explore it all, but almost all of the gardens are walkable and wheelchair accessible, and you’re allowed to cycle around the tracks to see as much as possible.

Some of the highlights include the spectacular Connections Garden, which hosts an annual wildflower display in the springtime, filled with thousands of colourful paper daisies.

It’s described as a ‘roofless museum’, and is one of the most jaw-dropping sights in a garden full of them. Many of the smaller gardens here are arranged around the species of plants they host, including the Wattle Garden, the Fruit Loop Garden (which hosts plants used in traditional medicine and food), and the Kurrajong Arboretum.

If you’re lucky, you’ll see animals enjoying the gardens as much as you; swamp wallabies, eagles, falcons, goshawks, snakes, and lizards are all known to frequent the site.

Personally, I love the ethos of the Bottlebrush Garden, where you’ll find more common plants that you might pick up from your local garden centre.

Here, the focus is on sustainability, reusing, and recycling; the garden promotes water efficiency through drip irrigation and the use of water-wise plants, which will gain even greater importance in a water-scarce world.

Like many of the gardens here, the Bottlebrush Garden features barbecue areas and picnic shelters where you can fuel up, and relax on a sunny day.

Other spots to make a beeline for include Sundial Hill, where you can gaze back over to Sydney and across to the Blue Mountains, and the poignant Stolen Generations Memorial in the north of the gardens, which was designed by the sculptor Uncle Badger Bates and pays tribute to First Nations families separated by cruel government policies.

Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan sits on Dharawal Country, and the site was chosen by members of the Stolen Generations to help reconnect them with the land, and to help visitors to reflect and learn from history.

A range of activities can help you explore the gardens even further, ranging from nature photography sessions to the slightly less sedate mountain bike trail.

Keep an eye out for bushcraft lessons during the school holidays, and if you’d like to dig more into the ecological and conservation side of things, we’d suggest a tour of the Australian PlantBank, which is helping to preserve seedlings for future generations.

Oh, and if you can resist the temptation of the daily plant sales, you’re a stronger person than I. Find out more about their events

How to get to Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan

The most direct route to the gardens is to drive; from Sydney’s CBD, it’s just under an hour.

Parking is available on site, but the roads around the botanic garden are public roads, so you can tour the gardens by car if you’d like to spare the walk. We’d recommend bringing a bike and taking a leisurely cycle to appreciate the gardens fully, though.

On public transport, you’ll take a slightly more circuitous route by catching the T8 train towards Campbelltown.

Macarthur station may be closer as the crow flies, but you’ll want to get off a stop earlier at Campbelltown station, as buses run from here towards Mount Annan, which will get you close to the gardens – although there’s a two kilometre walk between the bus station and visitor centre to factor in. However you get here, it’s a pretty beautiful day out!

MORE INFO HERE FOR YOU TO FOLLOW UP IF YOU WANT TO