• urban design
• town detail
  • Sir Joseph banks Pleasure Garden, Botany
  • Kuranda, Queensland
• |
• town & community development
  • Gordonvale, Queensland
  • Abbott + Spence Street, Cairns CBD
• |
• master planning
  • Paiam, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea
  • Elora Mea, Papua New Guinea
  • Kuranda, Queensland

• town detail

Sir Joseph Banks Pleasure Gardens
Botany Bay

The famous pleasure grounds by Botany Bay were the main attraction of the old Sir Joseph Banks Hotel in its heyday in the 19h Century. In the 1840's and 1850's, the Sir Joseph Banks Zoological and Botanical Gardens featured the colony's first zoo, arbours, walkways, sports areas including Australia's first professional foot racing tract, playgrounds, amphitheatre and a large lunch pavilion.

Over forty years since its decline in the 1920's, Botany ciuncil decided to undertake an interpretative recreation of the former flamboyant Victorian Pleasure Gardens as its 1988 Bicentennial Project. As landscape architect for Botany Council, Andrew Prowse designed the supervised the $1.2million rebuilding if these gardens in Victorian era style featuring a sports oval, thematic botanic gardens, a maze, pergolas and a lifesize bronze statue of Sir Joseph Banks. Australia's first zoo is also commemorated by a sculpture zoo animal playground.

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