Malmsbury Botanic Garden and Lake

Malmsbury, Victoria, Australia, Australia

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The Malmsbury Botanic Garden and Lake is one of Victoria's earliest regional botanic gardens, established in the 1850s with land first reserved in 1855 and work commencing in 1863, located in the historic township of Malmsbury off the Calder Highway on the route from Melbourne to Bendigo.

The 6.3-hectare garden encompasses a wonderful collection of trees and shrubs, including both native and predominantly exotic vegetation, with the central focal point being an ornamental lake featuring a formed island at its center and a bluestone fountain built in the 1930s from stone salvaged from a nearby demolished mill that has been restored in recent years.

The garden honors the traditional owners, the Jaara people of central Victoria, and includes a variety of notable specimens such as a pair of bunya bunya pines on the National Trust register of significant trees, Californian Redwoods, Strawberry Trees, Sugar Gum, and Dutch Elms planted at the front of the lake as a memorial to soldiers of the First World War from 1914–1918.

The site features walking tracks, informative signs, a fenced children's playground, excellent picnic facilities with barbecue areas, public toilets, and an arboretum planted in 2003 comprising mainly endemic vegetation of the Malmsbury area that links the gardens to the local sporting oval via a path beneath a bridge crossing the Coliban River, which runs along the western side of the gardens.