The Fernery in Rosalind Park: A Garden Feature of Nineteenth-Century Bendigo
Hidden beneath the shade of towering River Red Gums in Rosalind Park lies one of Bendigo’s most distinctive historic garden features — the fernery. For generations of residents and visitors, this shaded garden has offered a quiet retreat within the city. Its story, however, begins long before the creation of the park itself.
The land that now forms Rosalind Park lies within the Country of the Dja Dja Wurrung people, the Traditional Owners and custodians of this region of central Victoria. For thousands of years, the creek systems and woodlands around present-day Bendigo supported a rich cultural landscape. Seasonal waterholes along Bendigo Creek provided water, food resources and meeting places, while the River Red Gums that still stand in the park today formed part of this living environment.
The discovery of gold in 1851 brought rapid and dramatic change. Mining activity reshaped the landscape, and the area that would later become Rosalind Park formed part of the Government Camp precinct, where officials administered the rapidly growing goldfields settlement of Sandhurst (now Bendigo).
By the 1860s, as the town began to stabilise after the early decades of gold mining, civic leaders looked to transform parts of the former camp into public parkland. In 1861 land was formally reserved and handed to the local council for the creation of a public park. Over the following decades, paths were laid out and avenues of trees planted as the reserve was gradually shaped into the landscaped park we know today.
During the late nineteenth century, Bendigo’s parks were regularly improved as part of a broader effort to beautify the city.
Among the additions proposed during this period was a dedicated fern garden. In 1879, local botanist and fern enthusiast G. S. Mackay suggested that part of the Lower Reserve could be transformed into a fernery, taking advantage of the shaded environment beneath the existing trees. Writing to the newspaper, he proposed:
“The Lower Reserve might be converted into a fernery which would become a pleasing attraction to the many visitors who would throng to see it.”
— G. S. Mackay, THE BEAUTIES OF AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION Bendigo Advertiser, 12 July 1879
The idea was soon adopted. Around 1880 the fernery was established on land near a bend of Bendigo Creek, in an area sometimes known as “The Willows.” The site had once contained a billabong, and several mature River Red Gums were retained to form a natural canopy over the garden.
Beneath these trees, gardeners planted a collection of ferns and other shade-loving plants. Gravel pathways, rockeries, bridges and water features were added, creating a picturesque garden space where visitors could wander beneath dense foliage. The design reflected a broader Victorian-era fascination with ferns, sometimes called “fern fever,” which saw ferneries created in botanic gardens and public parks across Britain and Australia.
In Bendigo, the fernery soon became one of the park’s most distinctive features. Visitors were drawn to the cool, sheltered environment it provided — a striking contrast to the dry climate typical of the region.
Today the fernery remains an important part of the landscape of Rosalind Park. While the park reflects nineteenth-century ideas about civic improvement and garden design, it also sits within a much longer cultural landscape connected to the Country of the Dja Dja Wurrung.
Recognising this deeper history helps us understand Rosalind Park not only as a historic civic garden, but also as part of a landscape that has been cared for and valued for thousands of years. The fernery, shaded by the same River Red Gums that once grew beside the creek’s waterholes, continues to connect Bendigo’s past with the present.
Rosalind Park: From Camp Hill to Bendigo’s Oasis with hosts Felicity and Martin Woodward.
Victorian Heritage Database. Former Government Camp Precinct (Rosalind Park), Bendigo.
Friends of Bendigo Botanic Gardens. Dovyalis Newsletter, Winter 2015 — notes on the proposal for the fernery by botanist George Mackay.
National Library of Australia. Bendigo Advertiser, digitised issues available through Trove.
Bendigo Historical Society Online Collection – Victorian Collections
