Larni Garingilang, celebrating heritage, community and nature 

Sympathetically design the hub in line with the garden’s listing on the Victorian Heritage Register.

Our approach explored reconnection to the site’s pre-colonisation environmental state and incorporating the Heritage Gardens and the Garden for the Future. The proposed botanical concept references the past through the strongly Indigenous plant palette. It also looks to the future by aiming for remediation and repair of the land and strengthening the connection to the Traditional Owners of the land.

A mulberry tree located within the site forms a central node for the visitor centre design and harks back to the original market gardens established on the site in the gold rush era.

Through the botanical collection we have weaved the ecological, cultural and environmental history of Bendigo, pre-colonisation, post-colonisation and future direction of the site into the garden beds. These garden beds reflect the six seasons observed by the Dja Dja Wurrung people who traditionally used the Indigenous flora for food and medicine.

The central hub is designed to serve the dual functions of tourism and provide the local community with a meeting place. Amenities include:

• Visitor information centre providing essential visitor services and housing interpretive displays and spaces to exhibit artworks.
• Café centred on using fresh, healthy and tasty local produce.
• Multi-purpose and scalable space designed to enable shared use with schools, community and business groups to foster local activation and engagement with the site and maximise asset utilisation.

This project supports our client’s vision to maximise the botanical gardens asset, with upgraded amenities that cater for increased visitation and engagement of many different community and stakeholder groups. The design sensitively conveys the site’s cultural significance, history and connection to Traditional Owners, promoting understanding by current and future generations.