Queenstown Gardens

Queenstown Gardens
Entrance to Gardens on Park Street
Type	Botanic gardens
Location	Queenstown, New Zealand
Coordinates	45°02′16″S 168°39′35″E / 45.037704°S 168.659836°ECoordinates: 45°02′16″S 168°39′35″E / 45.037704°S 168.659836°E
Area	14.75 hectares (36.4 acres)
Created	1867[1]
Operated by	Queenstown Lakes District Council
Open	All year
Website	Official website

The Queenstown Gardens, located next to the town of Queenstown, New Zealand is a botanical garden which contains a variety of exotic and native trees and plants as well as a large pond and a range of facilities. Some of the facilities in the Garden include Tennis, Lawn Bowls, Skate Boarding, BMX Biking, Skating, Disc Golf and Ice Skating/Ice Hockey (See External Links).

There is a variety of trails in the garden with views of the surrounding mountains and of Lake Wakatipu and the Frankton Arm as well as Queenstown itself.

The most visible large tree species in the garden is that of the Douglas fir of which there are many large specimens. This tree also forms a protective forest that surrounds much of the gardens. There is also a Rose Garden just past the tennis court.

Heritage Trees

The heritage trees planted by the first Mayor of Queenstown, J. W. Robertson, and protected in the gardens are:

• Black Oak (Quercus velutina)
• Red Oak (Quercus rubra)
• Grand Fir (Abies grandis)
• Algerian Fir (Abies nordmanniana)
• Monkey Puzzle (Araucaria araucana)
• Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla)
• Wellingtonia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)

History

The first two trees planted at the garden were English oaks in 1866 by the first Mayor of Queenstown to commemorate the incorporation of the borough, but it wasn't until 1867 that the gardens were officially opened and the major planting began. The band rotunda near the Park Street entrance was originally established in 1891 but rebuilt in 1999 by the Queenstown Lions Club.

Memorials

There are two significant memorials in the gardens:

• The Scott Memorial unveiled in 1913 is a tribute to Robert Falcon Scott and the men who died during the Antarctic expedition of 1912.
• The Rees Memorial was built in 1978 by the Queenstown and District Historical Society to commemorate the arrival of the areas first settler William Gilbert Rees who arrived in 1860.^[2]

External links

• Tennis Club
• Bowling Club
• Queenstown Skate Park
• Disc Golf Course (The first permanentely marked course in New Zealand)^[3]
• Queenstown Ice Arena (Home of the Southern Stampede and the Queenstown Ice Hockey Club)

References

1. "Reserve Management Plans". Queenstown Lakes District Council.
2. "Reserve Management Plans". Queenstown Lakes District Council.
3. "Fun Facts About Queenstown (Bullet 10))". Destination Queenstown.