23/05/2005 - A new $25
000 signed walk showcasing plants of the Sydney
region will boost the Australian National
Botanic Gardens reputation as the nation's
premier native plant museum, Parliamentary
Secretary to the Minister for the Environment
and Heritage, Mr Greg Hunt, said today.
"The Sydney Region Gully walk is designed
to take people on a short trip through one
of Australia's richest floristic areas,"
Mr Hunt said. "The beauty and maturity
of the Gully area represents 30 years of work
by Gardens staff and is a sensory adventure."
In the wild, the Sydney region boasts some
3 000 different plant species. The region
extends from Nowra to Nelson Bay on the central
coast of New South Wales, and as far west
as Rylstone. It includes Sydney, Wollongong,
Nowra, Newcastle, Singleton, Cessnock, Muswellbrook
and the Blue Mountains.
Mr Hunt said the Gardens had managed to provide
a snapshot of the area with 4 400 living plants
at its Canberra site, representing 625 species.
"The plants displayed represent everything
from the woodland and coastal areas to the
rainforests and upland heath," Mr Hunt
said. "It is an evolving exhibit that
invites touching, smelling and exploring.
Among the centrepieces are icons such as the
towering Gymea lily and the delicate Flannel
flower."
Mr Hunt said the walk would provide an important
site for scientific study, but also help educate
Australians about the values of our native
flora.
"Visitors can follow eyecatching and
informative signs that tell them more about
the geology of the Sydney area, how plants
grow in the region and how generations of
Aboriginal Australians have used those plants,"
he said.
"The quality of this approach to storytelling
is yet another example of why the Australian
National Botanic Gardens has won the Ecotourism
category of the Capital Region Tourism Awards
for the past three years."
