George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens Visitor and Event Centre now open

Aiming to attract new visitors to the green space, the new $9.9 million George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens Visitor and Event Centre is now complete.

Providing a hub for visitors to learn about the Gardens’ history, buy locally crafted goods from the retail store and immerse themselves in the new multimedia room, with its wet and dry season experience, the Centre includes an internal air-conditioned event space with folding glass doors that open to the Gardens and a new terraced Mini Amphitheatre.

The visitor experience is further enhanced with the launch of a new mobile app featuring two self-guided walks - the multimedia - Our Tree Walk ‘Every Tree Has a Story to Tell’ and the educational Matboerrma Walk ‘Larrakia Stories’.

The Matboerrma Walk showcases 12 trees and their traditional Aboriginal uses with stories told by Larrakia people. The app is available from the Apple and Google Play stores, and visitors can download it via the Event Centre’s free Wi-Fi.

The Friends of the Darwin Botanic Gardens have also produced a booklet titled ‘Darwin’s Botanic Gardens’, which will be available in the retail store.

Opening the Centre at the weekend, Northern Territory Chief Minister, Michael Gunner stated “our Government has delivered 45 jobs through this important $9.9 million Turbocharging Tourism project, and we will continue to see the flow-on effects through the delivery of events and programs at the Gardens.

“Creating new tourism products and investing in our facilities is crucial to ensuring the Territory meets the needs of today’s visitors, in a globally competitive tourism market.

“That’s why we invested in Turbocharging Tourism, to create jobs and deliver more money into the pockets of Territorians.”

Jason Hanna, owner of the Centre’ Eva Café, added “the Event Centre is a fantastic place for functions and an enormous value-add for local event planners.

“By having such an excellent all-season, all-purpose venue, the opportunities for weddings, conferences and small gatherings just got a whole lot more exciting.

“The Event Centre also provides another great choice for local businesses to hire a space they can tailor to suit their function needs.”