More Secrets - Canberra's Forgotten Arboretums

So I promised you that if anyone sent me anymore “secrets of Canberra” I would publish them here and let you know.  Most of you are familiar with the controversy that is John Stanhope’s National Arboretum. 

I personally think it was a good idea.  I know there was a huge cost involved.  Yes, I’m sure we could have spent it on lots of other worthy projects.  No, it was not the smartest thing to attempt to establish in the height of a drought.  But, let’s face it, you don’t get a national asset like Commonwealth Park or the Governor General’s residence by pinching pennies and thinking small.  You need vision and you-know-whatsits of steel.

Anyways, tonight as we had dinner with the family the subject of Environa came up.  Most of the people present had never heard of it before but Charles’ Aunty Bev, who knows quite a lot, knew about it and she knew about Erica’s hidden Parliamentary Triangle suburb. 

As we discussed the things people don’t know about Canberra, Bev tossed me another one.

Stanhope’s arboretum is not Canberra’s first.  She claims that originally there were 52 or 53 – some of them out of town, some of them around town.  She’s even been into the bush where one of the original ones is still going strong, quite forgotten by the world.  Over the course of time many of them have disappeared through development, natural disasters or neglect. 

I’m on the trail now to find some of them.  So far we have:

* Lindsay Pryor Arboretum (burned out in the January fires)

* Westbourne Woods (still largely there)

* The Cotter Block Arboretum

* York Park Oak Plantation (still kind of there)

* Bendora Arboretum (still there and magnificent despite a bunch of fires)

* Glenloch Cork Oak Plantation (now the largest Cork Oak plantation in the southern hemisphere)

Know of any of the others?  More info as it comes to light!