Nestled at the base of Mount Keira, the Wollongong Botanic Garden is already one of our most treasured community assets.
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It’s beauty, diversity and setting all combine to make it the most perfect complement to our rapidly growing and developing city.
Yet it is a community asset which has so much more to give. It has so much more potential.
Certainly the Wollongong City Council recognises that, in many ways, what we have now in the Wollongong Botanic Gardens is just the beginning.
The potential for our garden to grow in more than just the ecological or environmental sense is still largely untapped.
The council has revealed draft plans, a 20-year master plan, to ambitiously overhaul the site to be even so much more.
The draft master plan involves a long sought after and talked about garden cafe, a new restaurant and better aesthetics.
Things also highlighted in the draft master plan include a new public entry to the site from Northfields Avenue, better visitor services and increased parking.
It is hoped the wonderful existing Sir Jospeh Banks Glasshouse will be refurbished as part of a 50th anniversary project in 2021.
Other highlights include the completion of the Rainforest Walk and an upgrade of the Gleniffer Brae function centre and parking.
All worthwhile improvements that would add greatly to our gardens.
For the last 47 years our garden has served us well but it is time we gave it a spring clean to serve us well for the next 50 years.
CONGRATULATIONS TO DUO
Congratulations go to Illawarra Mercury photographers Sylvia Liber and Georgia Matts who have been nominated for the 2018 News Media Awards.
We are truly blessed as a region and as a newspaper to have the quality of photographers we have working with our newsroom.
There’s something in the water of the Illawarra. We seem to have a disproportionate number of amazing photographers and our newsroom team are among the best in the country.
The prestigious annual awards will be held in Sydney in September at a gala function at the Hilton Sydney when the winners are announced. Good luck Sylvia and Georgia.