Colac Botanic Gardens

Colac, Australia, Australia

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The Colac Botanic Gardens are a beautifully designed regional botanical garden located at the corner of Fyans and Gellibrand streets along the southern banks of Lake Colac in Colac, Victoria, Australia, established in 1865 with the garden formally laid out in 1868 by Daniel Bunce (Director of the Geelong Botanic Gardens) and later redesigned in 1910 by William Guilfoyle, the renowned director of Melbourne Botanical Gardens.

Covering approximately 16 hectares in an elevated position with stunning lake views, the gardens are one of Victoria's largest regional botanic gardens and contain over a thousand plant specimens, more than any other provincial garden in Victoria, including rare species found only in historic botanic gardens and living collections of wattles, oaks, cypress, pines, palms, and Bush Tucker plants.

The gardens feature a 1.1-kilometer carriageway for cars, runners, walkers, and cyclists, walking paths weaving through feature garden beds and trees, open lawn areas, mature oak trees along the perimeter providing shade, a viewing platform overlooking Lake Colac toward Warrion Hills, a children's playground with sensory garden and accessible play equipment, barbecue areas, a fountain, and the popular Botanic Café housed in the former curator's cottage from around 1924.

Listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and classified by the National Trust in 1990, seven trees in the garden are on the National Trust of Victoria's Significant Trees Register, and the site is of historical, aesthetic, and scientific significance, also home to a large colony of grey-headed flying foxes, with gates open from 10am to 4pm daily and dogs on leads welcome throughout.