THERE is a cascade effect as life renews in the Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens in Daylesford.
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The gardens’ 150th anniversary will be celebrated today with the official opening of its historic rustic cascade.
The Governor of Victoria, Alex Chernov, will formally open the cascade, which is the centrepiece of the fernery at the heart of the botanic gardens.
It will mark an important milestone, not just for the botanic gardens themselves, but also the restoration work carried out by the Friends of Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens.
“It’s been a long time coming. The cascade hasn’t been operating for 40 years,” says Friends of Wombat Hill Botanic Gardens secretary Patrice O’Shea.
“It cost the Friends about $30,000. Overall, we’ve raised $120,000 to restore the fernery, which I think is phenomenal.
“The Hepburn Shire doesn’t have the rate base for such a major project, which prompted the Friends to get down and dirty, and do the work.
“It was a tiny organisation, now it is a really big organisation. We started with 20 people, now it’s 150. It seems to strike a chord with people.”
The fundraising effort started 18 months ago. The stone masonry work began in December, with other work around the project done by volunteers.
The rustic cascade is the first major project to be completed in the renovation of the gardens.
“This is only the start. There is a lot more of the fernery still to do,” Ms O’Shea says.
Apart from replanting ferns, a new irrigation plant is to be installed, while the slatted shade house will be rebuilt to cover the pump and pond.
The heritage-listed botanic gardens are an example of 19th century provincial garden design and landscaping, and is situated on the summit of an extinct volcano.
It was established 150 years ago, with plants donated by the Daylesford community and trees gifted by eminent botanist Baron Ferdinand von Mueller, and was designed by noted landscape designer William Sangster.
Ultimately, the intention is to return fish to the cascade pond at Wombat Hill and return the fernery to its original condition.
gavin.mcgrath@fairfaxmedia.com.au