The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden (AALBG) combines the natural arid zone ecosystems of the local area of Port Augusta with constructed garden ecologies from diverse arid zone ecosystems across Australia.1 The garden unfolds through a loose network of curvilinear paths that invite visitors to experience a mosaic of local and regional arid plant communities. Much like the arid lands of this continent, the AALBG deserves to be more widely known and celebrated, as both a pioneering work of arid zone planting design and a remarkable story of community-driven landscape architecture. First conceived of as an idea in 1981, the garden has been sending down roots since its construction in 1989. The year 1996 marked the opening of the garden to the public. While not the first or only arid botanic garden in Australia, it is perhaps the most spectacular.
Arid landscapes feature strongly in the Australian imagination, but with our propensity to cling to the coastline, we tend to know precious little about them. While not supporting the same density of life as tropical regions with their abundant rainfall, arid regions are nonetheless home to a range of remarkable life forms that have evolved to live in such extreme conditions through clever and efficient use of available resources, climate-specific adaptations, and approaches to ecological succession and reproduction that harness the particular environmental dynamics of their areas. The arid and semi-arid regions of Australia encompass some of the nation’s most extensive intact ecosystems, including the Central Ranges, Great Victoria Desert, Great Sandy Desert, Little Sandy Desert, Gibson Desert, Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields, Nullarbor Plain and the Flinders and Gawler Ranges. Conservation of these environments is key to addressing the current biodiversity crisis.
