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Sydney does a very good line in green spaces, but if you’re keen to explore somewhere off-the-beaten-track this spring, we’d suggest making a beeline for the Southern Highlands. On the outskirts of Bowral, the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens is a 13.5-hectare cool-climate garden with a pretty special backstory: it’s being built from the ground up by the community, rather than being purely established and funded by the government. Opened in 2013, the not-for-profit garden is still very much a work in progress, relying on volunteers, grants, donations, memberships and fundraising to bring its ambitious vision to life. And that’s part of the charm – you’re not just visiting a finished garden, you’re watching one grow.
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Where are the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens?
The Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens are at 1 Old South Road, Bowral, on the north-eastern corner of Kangaloon Road and Old South Road. It’s an easy addition to a Southern Highlands day trip, particularly if you’re already pottering around the storybook streets of Bowral. The gardens cover 13.5 hectares and are still developing, with some areas already established and others earmarked for future planting and landscaping.
What are the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens like?
The clue is in the name: this is a cool-climate botanic garden, designed around the Southern Highlands’ distinct seasons. Spring and summer bring colourful blooms, autumn brings the Highlands’ signature fiery foliage, and winter reveals interesting bark, berries and winter-flowering plants. There are also picnic shelters, open lawns and a fully fenced playground, making it an excellent outdoorsy option for a family day out.
What makes this place particularly special is its community ethos. The gardens are run by a not-for-profit organisation and are community-funded and operated, rather than being an ongoing government-funded botanic institution. The result is a fascinating living project that you can return to over and over and keep discovering something different.
What can you see at the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens?
Even though the full grandeur is a work in progress, there’s already a lot to explore – including four nationally recognised plant collections listed on the National Plant Collections Register. These include a Birch Grove with 23 varieties of Betula (silver birch), 21 types of Buxus (boxwood), a collection of dwarf Cornus (dogwoods) and the Tony Davis daffodil collection.
The gardens are also doing important ecological work, restoring the endangered Southern Highlands shale woodland that would originally have grown on the site. You’ll want to keep your eyes peeled for local wildlife – the gardens are home to blue fairy wrens, eastern spinebills, thornbills, lizards, native bees and other creatures.
Are the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens free to visit?
Yep – general entry is free. The gardens are open daily from 9am to 5pm, including public holidays, with free parking available. There can occasionally be admission charges for special events, so it’s worth checking ahead if you’re visiting for a particular festival or event.
You can also book a guided walking tour, which runs Monday to Friday excluding public holidays. Tours are led by volunteer guides and offer a deeper look at the garden’s plants, wildlife, history and development.
How do you get to the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens?
If you’re driving from Sydney, head south-west towards Bowral via the Hume Highway. Once you reach Bowral, the gardens are at the corner of Old South Road and Kangaloon Road, with off-street parking accessed from Old South Road near the Kangaloon Road roundabout.
Prefer to leave the car at home? Berrima Bus Services’ route 815 runs from Bowral and passes the gardens along Kangaloon Road, although the service doesn’t operate on Sundays.
The fenced garden is accessed via pedestrian Gate 2 from the Old South Road car park, while the unfenced eastern precinct can also be reached from Kangaloon Road, Alice Avenue and Robinia Drive.
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