Our Features

The Williamstown Botanic Gardens contains many historic features that have been carefully restored for future generations.

The Gates

The original gates were obtained from a South Yarra mansion 'Fairlie' and erected in 1907.
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New Gates

The Botanic Gates were commissioned and installed at the entrance of the Williamstown Botanic Gardens at Osborne and Giffard Streets, Williamstown in March 2010. 

The Gates of Ceremony (Osborne Street)
The Gates of Ceremony are inspired by the majestic trees within the garden. The trunks are strong and upright, aspiring to the sky. They are also deemed architectural due to their scale, elegance and interaction with the surrounding period architecture. 

The Gate of Earthly Delights (Giffard Street)
The Gate of Earthly Delights is a smaller scale gate. Its design explores the more intimate and hidden aspects of the garden. In its form it is more curvaceous and sensuous, echoing not only the sinous vines and root forms within the undergrowth but also the ebbs and flows of the nearby ocean.

Alfred Thomas Clark Statue

This year the Alfred Thomas Clark statue celebrates 130 years of watching over the Williamstown Botanic Gardens. Surrounded by mature Moreton Bay figs (Ficus macrophylla) and situated in the centre of the gardens, the statue carved in Carrara marble by Enrico Lucchinelli, was unveiled at a public ceremony on Saturday 25th July, 1891 in front of a crowd of 300 people. The event was widely reported in papers of the day noting that Mr Clark was a well-respected businessman and politician. 

The work was sculpted in Italy from a photograph and funded through public subscription.
 
Mr Clark (1845-1888) served as the representative for Williamstown in the Legislative Assembly of Victoria from 1871 to 1887 and founded the Williamstown Advertiser  newspaper in 1874. Alfred T Clark died in 1888 at sea aboard R.M.S Oceana, near Colombo on his way to England. 
 
The statue was restored by an expert conservator in 2007 to repair and replace parts of the statue that incurred damage over the years and the surrounding fence was reinstated using photographic evidence and helped by the discovery of the location of remnants of the original fence posts still in the soil. 

The Lake

The lake, inspired by William Guilfoyle's work at the  Melbourne Botanic Gardens, was established in 1904.
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Palm Avenue

The Palm Avenue was originally planted with New Zealand cabbage trees. These were replaced with Washington Palms in 1988.
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150th Anniversary

FOR 150 years, the Williamstown Botanic Gardens has been a popular spot for walks, picnics, weddings or reading on a lazy afternoon.

The  150th anniversary provides opportunities to take the Gardens forwards for the next 150 years. 

This  includes:
  • restoring the pond and providing water from sustainable alternative sources
  • creating an annexe to the Gardens beside the bay opposite the pinetum, next to the Hatt Reserve junior cricket ground
  • implementing the interpretation strategy
  • adapting to the impacts of climate change.
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