Royal Botanic Gardens Cranbourne Fieldtrip
On Monday 23 February 2026 Geography Victoria organised an exploration of the Royal Cranbourne Botanic Gardens. A party of some 25 geographers assembled at the Gardens in the morning. Unfortunately, two of the prospective party were misled by the description “botanic” and attended the Melbourne Botanic Gardens instead. Given the approximately 40 kilometre distance between the two sites, that unfortunately put paid to their prospects of participating in the activity. Important lesson there for all potential geographers: Read the directions and check your maps carefully!
The party, less two, then embarked upon the day’s proceedings. We were blessed with gorgeous weather, absolutely perfect for wandering around these gardens: low to mid 20s, no rain (in contrast to the preceding and subsequent days) and little wind.
After a morning tea featuring Libby and Penny’s inimitable cookies and other delicacies, a not-to-be-missed feature of many Geog Vic excursions, we first travelled on a guided, motorised tour of the precinct in the battery electric mini bus conducted by the intrepid Peter. He treated us to an entertaining and informative trip. We learnt that the area had been a sand quarry providing sand prized in buildings world-wide. At the end of its useful life, some bright spark had the idea of turning the area into an Australian native garden. Detailed planning included architect-designed lakes, walkways, picnic areas, gardens and displays representing every region of Australia: from a large red centre to temperate, alpine and rain forests. The gardens as we now see them opened in 2006. Since then, it has been a series of forward steps and strategic retreats. At one time a bacteria that was harboured in the local soil manifested and caused a massive die-back, necessitating a clear-earth response to rip out and burn all the affected area and replant in clean soil imported from distant areas.
As our little bus rolled through the gardens Peter kept us entertained with similar interesting snippets from the gardens’ short but eventful history. He displayed a marvellous knowledge of the plants, with their Latin names simply rolling off his tongue.
Next up we had a guided walking tour, led by Alan, covering in more detail some of the areas canvassed in the bus tour. Some notable features included the Wollemi Pines sprinkled through various parts of the gardens. This species of remnant forest was discovered in NSW in 1994, and has since been successfully reproduced in various areas, including these gardens, to ward off extinction.
After the walk we gathered for our lunch (and more coffee, cookies and muffins) while entertained by a talk from Emma, the Gardens’ lead educator. The Gardens have a busy schedule of (at present mostly primary) school excursions. The children engage in activities such as netting insects from the lakes to identify some of the critters contributing to the biodiversity. These excursions are immensely popular with the children and are invariably followed by repeat bookings for the next year’s classes. The staff are slowly developing more sophisticated activities aimed at secondary level, incorporating geographical skills and environmental studies.
As with most of the Society’s excursions, this was an entertaining and informative experience, combining healthy outdoors’ activity with behind-the-scenes instruction in aspects of what makes our world tick. It combined geography with botany and economics and opened our eyes to another stunning asset of our wonderful city. Access to these gardens is free and available 364 days a year, closed only for Christmas Day. Adjacent to the Gardens is a picnic area with playground for the smaller fry, to say nothing of the numerous spots within the Gardens where visitors can sit, rest and eat.
Full marks go to Geography Victoria’s Penny and Libby, who obviously worked so hard to make this a memorable fieldtrip with their meticulous planning and home-made treats.
Chris Thomson – Member of Geography Victoria