Ballarat Botanical Gardens, located in Ballarat, Victoria's third-largest city, is the oldest inland botanical garden in Victoria, opening in 1857 on the west bank of Lake (Lake Wendouree).
Ballarat Botanical Gardens covers an area of 40 hectares, divided into three major areas, the garden-style Victorian botanical garden in the center of the park and the north and south are the open botanical garden buffer zone. In 2007, the botanical garden held a spectacular celebration of its 150 anniversary, attracting many visitors.
Ballarat Botanical Gardens's main features here are large modern greenhouses, war prisoners of war monuments and antiquities statues. Among them, the Sturdat statue collection consists of 12 white marble statues, which were donated by Italian Thomas Stoudat in 1844. The 12 statues all come from classic mythology: spring, summer, autumn, winter, Hercules. Pomona, Minadis, Herb, Flora Farnesselda, Mercury and Fallora. The Botanical Garden also contains bronze bust statues of successive Australian prime ministers, which are very interesting.
The southern side of the Botanical Garden set up an Australian War Monument for ex-prisoners in 2004 (Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial), was designed by Ballarat artist Peter Brizzard (Peter Blizzard). The 130-meter-long marble wall is engraved with the names of 35000 Australian prisoners of war.
Visitors can take a stroll through the Ballarat Botanical Gardens and enjoy the grand Ballarat Begonia Festival in March.
