Timeline of The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah

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1 Timeline of The Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Mount Tomah 7000 BC Earliest dated rock art on Bells Line of Road (pictured above) Darug Traditional Tribal Group inhabits northern Blue Mountains including Mount Tomah ( Tomah is reportedly Darug for tree fern) 1804 Naturalist George Caley visits Fern Tree Hill, now Mount Tomah 1823 Archibald Bell discovers a route across Blue Mountains, afterwards known as Bells Line of Road 1830 First land grant in the area made to Susannah Bowen 1890 Estimated date for oldest eucalypt in Garden 1895 Philip Charlie purchases Mount Tomah 1934 Property acquired by Effie and Alfred Brunet and used as a cut-flower farm to supply Sydney florists 1936 Giant redwoods planted by Brunets in Garden 1954 Bells Line of Road receives major upgrade 1958 Pictured on the flower farm Anne Ingram, Alfred Brunet and Jean Ingram 1968 Bushfire burns some of the Brunet plantings 1972 Land presented by the Brunets to the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust 1972 Ron Grewcoe appointed as first Superintendent

2 1979 Bushfire burns areas which today are Gondwana and Plant Explorers Walks 1983 Trust receives Bicentennial Funding to commence development of Botanic Gardens at Mount Tomah and Mount Annan 1984 John Sandilands becomes second Superintendent 1985 Public Works Architects Geoffrey Britten and Oi Choong appointed as Garden designers 1985 Seed of the Puya berteroniana collected in Chile with the first flowering in Tony Curry appointed first Supervisor 1987 The Garden opens to the public under the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust Director Professor Carrick Chambers 1989 Restaurant and Visitor Centre extended 1991 Fire protection system installed around northern boundary of Garden 1991 Ron Horan, Garden Hortculturist, rediscovers site of George Caley s Acrophyllum astrale The Garden Shop separated from entry area Rob Smith appointed first Curator Manager of the Garden Opening of boardwalk and viewing platform with views to Sydney

3 Sundial in Formal Garden was unveiled to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Garden. Designed and constructed by John Ward and Margaret Folkard Wayne Cherry, Garden Records Officer, discovers new species Pentachondra dehiscens in Grose Valley Greater Blue Mountains Heritage Walk stops at Tomah to raise support for World Heritage listing 1993 Conservation Area of 189 hectares purchased to complement cultivated grounds of the Garden Bell Range Bushfire reaches northern edge of Botanic Garden (pictured above) 1994 First bed of Heath & Heather Garden opens with final bed completed in 1997 in time for 10th birthday 1994 Wollemi Pine discovered in Wollemi National Park by National Parks and Wildlife Ranger and then identified as a new genus and species by the Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust 1995 Mill Creek pump system installed 1995 Fire protections system extended to entire perimeter of Botanic Garden 1996 Plant Explorers Walk opens 1997 Gondwana Walk opens 1997 Frank Howarth succeeds Professor Carrick Chambers as Trust Director

4 1998 First Wollemi Pines planted at Garden by those associated with its discovery and identification, as well as local school children (pictured above) 1998 Over a million visitors to the Garden since opening 1999 Gill Appleton opens refurbished Garden Shop 1999 & 2000 Winner of Significant Regional Attraction for the Blue Mountains 2000 Greater Blue Mountains receives World Heritage listing. UNESCO Committee visits Mount Tomah as part of assessment Giant lyrebird sculptures donated to the Garden from Sky Garden First seasonal adventure quest starts International Year of Volunteering celebrated with a cocktail party for our volunteer guides and a commemorative bench installed in the Plant Explorers Walk Effluent treatment system commissioned 2002 Events program commences with Waratah Festival, Autumn Harvest and regular art exhibitions 2002 Kiosk with undercover seating built 2002 Sculpture of black cockatoo by Sylvio Aponyi donated to Garden

5 Cover of the Durag Connections booklet, Crossing the Blue Mountains painting by Robyn Caughlan 2003 De Ferranti Shelter opened 2003 Darug Connections Trail and booklet launched (pictured above) 2003 Depot refurbished 2004 Pedestrian bridge linking Garden to Conservation Area via North American Woodland opens th anniversary of George Caley s expedition to Mount Banks (via Mount Tomah) commemorated with a re-enactment and documentary 2004 Dr Tim Entwisle succeeds Frank Howarth as Trust Executive Director 2005 Refurbished Bog Garden opens with carnivorous plants 2006 The Botanists Way Project launched at the Garden 2006 Leif Rosengaard, Senior Ranger, retires after 18 years 2006 First Artist-in-Residency commences with sculptor Heather Jones and her exhibition Eucalypti Garden celebrates 20 years of serving the people of NSW with installation of a time capsule in Residence Garden to be unearthed in 100 years time 2008 Waratah Education Centre opened by Richard Neville author, social commentator and futurist 2008 Breen Sculpture Competition launched to select a sculptor for the Laughing Children s Garden the first of four children s gardens planned

6 2009 Lady Nancy Fairfax Walk opened at The Jungle (pictured above) by Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, Administrator of the Commonwealth, Sir Nicholas Shehadie and Hon. Carmel Tebbutt, Deputy Premier, Minister for Climate Change and the Environment 2009 The Jungle Lodge opens for short term accommodation 2009 Annual support of the Cancer Council s Daffodil Day commences with mass plantings of an additional 36 cultivars of daffodils at the Brunet Meadow 2010 Greater Blue Mountains World Heritage Exhibition Centre opened by Bob Debus, Member for Macquarie and Jack Thompson, Australian actor and passionate environmentalist 2010 Gwuulya Garri Dilya, the Laughing Children s Garden, opens 2011 The Spiral opened by retiring Executive Director of the Trust, Dr Tim Entwisle 2011 Professor David Mabberley succeeds Dr Tim Entwisle as Trust Executive Director 2011 Return to Artist-in-Residence program with Pochoir artist Mel Jones and her exhibition Journey In Nature 2012 The Garden wins Highly Commended Tourist Attraction Award in the Blue Mountains Lithgow & Oberon Awards of Excellence 2012 Rob Smith retires as Assistant Director of the Garden