Some of us are going to the Botanic Gardens to see the wonderful exhibition called "Harvest" at the Museum of Economic Botany. Come and join us and bring your own sandwich for lunch. We will meet on Tuesday June 16th, at 11am outside the door to the museum. If you are late wander in and find us.
The Adelaide Botanic Gardens has several beautiful old buildings and one which has been recently restored is the Museum of Economic Botany. It was featured the other night on "Postcards" and here is an excerpt from the show, with a link below:
Botanic Museum of Economic Botany: Keith browses this the collection in the Adelaide City region of South Australia
In the middle of the Botanic Garden on North Terrace there is a beautiful little cluster of attractions. The Mediterranean Garden is coming along very nicely, the lotus pond now has its own glass palace around it and now the third development completes the set - the Museum of Economic Botany has been beautifully restored.
It's an imposing Greek revival temple smack bang in the middle of the soft swathe of green. And a temple of sorts to Doctor Richard Schomburgk, the garden's second and perhaps most influential Director.
Peter Emmett, Project Director: "This is a brilliant 19th century space. The late Victorians had a great sense of theatre. We're talking about 1881, pre-cinema obviously so the theatricality of these public spaces is pretty amazing."
Doctor Schomburgk saw part of the Botanic Garden's role as educating about botanic diversity particularly the agriculture sector. So, at a cost of 3-thousand pounds he commissioned the museum to showcase his ever-expanding collection. One hundred and twenty eight years later it's still doing just that!
Peter Emmett: "Schomburgk in particular is really strong about crop diversity - so he was trying to encourage farmers to grow fruits and sorghum and try all these different sorts of things and not just have this monoculture of wheat."
After a huge restoration job, which included peeling away a 1940s coat of 'hospital grey' paint - the museum has been returned to its former glory… and many of the original items collected by Schomburgk himself are back on display, arranged in the very showcases he designed.
Read more here: http://www.postcards.sa.com.au/features2009/botanic_museum.html
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1 comment:
The exhibition is great Kate, we shall meet you inside there is so much to read.
There are seeds collected and the labels from before I was born!!!
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