William Guilfoyle - Regional Botanic Gardens

Regional Botanic Gardens

Shortly after completing the major landscaping of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne in 1879, Guilfoyle designed several Botanic gardens in regional Victorian towns:

• Camperdown Botanic gardens which now features an arboretum, rare examples of Himalayan oak and a statue of Scottish poet Robbie Burns, which once stood at Tydenham Castle, near London. Several street-tree elm plantings in Camperdown were designed by Guilfoyle.
• Colac Botanic gardens in Queen street located on the shores of Lake Colac, were established in 1868, remodelled in 1910 by Guilfoyle and include a huge diversity of plants with many old and rare trees and a rose arbour.
• Hamilton Botanic gardens from 1881. Set in four acres (16,000 m²), the gardens are distinguished by rare botanic species, a superbly restored rotunda, a small zoo and playground and the ornate Thomson Fountain. The National Trust of Australia classified the gardens in 1990 with eight tree species listed on the Register of Significant Trees in Victoria.
• Horsham botanic gardens located by the Wimmera River.
• Koroit botanic gardens form part of a large, central recreational area.
• Warrnambool's botanic gardens featured wide curving paths, rare trees, a lily pond with ducks, a fernery and a band rotunda.