About Us

The botanic garden is the product of decades of hard work by the local community, the Friends of the Garden, and the City of Coffs Harbour, firstly to protect the site and then to restore it after years of use as a waste dump. Now transformed into themed garden areas with self-guided discovery walks it is a place to explore a rich heritage of plants and the use of plants in our lives. 

Opened in September 1988 the botanic garden is a place for learning and conservation, where visitors of all ages can discover something new  about plants, plant communities and the habitats they provide for wildlife. 

The garden plays an important scientific and conservation role as a safe haven for rare and endangered plants, especially for the north coast region of NSW. This involves keeping a ‘living collection’ of rare and endangered plants, an extensive reference collection or library of dried plant specimens in the Herbarium, native seeds in the Seedbank and a database.

More than half of the botanic garden area is retained natural forest representative of the plant community types common along the Coffs Coast and NSW north coast regions. The remaining areas near the garden entrance and at the far end of the main path are planted gardens with Australian species and plants from all around the world. See the garden map for the locations of the various garden areas and discovery walks. To join the Friends of the Garden or volunteer at the garden see Support the garden.

The Botanic Garden is on a Crown Land reserve and is managed by the City of Coffs Harbour under a Plan of Management.

The City of Coffs Harbour and the Friends of the Botanic Garden cooperate under a Memorandum of Understanding which outlines their respective roles and responsibilities.

Our Floral Emblem – the Geebung Flower

The floral emblem of the North Coast Regional Botanic Garden is the stylized flower of a local plant, the Broad-leaved Geebung (Persoonia stradbrokensis). This native shrub produces a small delicate yellow flower. It can be found scattered within the natural forests of the garden and also planted by the path between the carpark and the garden entrance.