The Friends of Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden are marking a milestone birthday in 2026. Photo: Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden.
Derek Anderson has a little bit of his local botanic garden right in his front yard.
He planted an Acacia blayana sapling after coming across the tree at the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden (ERBG) before it was burnt in the 2019 blaze.
“The history behind that is there’s a guy named John Blay, who was an adventurer. … He followed a track, which was an old Indigenous trading track, with a donkey and a dog.
“He was travelling along, and found this plant he didn’t recognise. He got it identified and discovered it was a new species of an Acacia, which is a wattle.”
Derek’s ties to the ERBC began in the early 2000s, when he and his wife left Sydney and moved to Broulee, on the NSW South Coast.
After arriving in the coastal community, the pair started volunteering.
Derek said the Friends of Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden (FotERBC) was an obvious addition to their roster.
The group supports the garden through its “conservation, recreation and education” efforts and raises money to support its initiatives and infrastructure projects.
For the past two years Derek has been the group’s president and is overseeing celebrations for the FotERBG 40th anniversary.
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In 1986, the Friends and Eurobodalla Council partnered to create the gardens, which span a section of Mogo State Forest near Deep Creek.
After decades of development and rebuilds after bushfires, the ERBG boasts four themed naturescape gardens, guided tours, more than eight kilometres of tracks (including a Wellness Walk), a vistor centre and shop, play space and a cafe, located across a 42-hectare forest site.
“The idea is we as an organisation, support the garden manager and his staff – not in the running of the garden, but so he can run the garden.”
Derek said the garden continued to flourish, despite being burnt severely when a February 1994 bushfire destroyed all but one building.
More recently, the ERBG was devastated by the 2019/20 bushfires on New Year’s Eve, with more than 95 per cent of the site seriously impacted.
The Friends are focused on “conservation, recreation and education”, Derek says. Photo: Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden.
The garden also has a unique claim to fame – unlike at some other gardens, all plants are local.
“The plants in there only come from this region,” Derek said.
FoTERBG members are among the many hands helping them to grow, alongside the paid staff and volunteers.
While there’s a strong coastal contingent making up the Friends, Derek said many also come from the ACT.
“Canberra people come down here a lot, especially during the holidays,” he said.
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The Friends have organised a range of talks, history deep-dives in their regular newsletters, an art exhibition and other events set to start later this month and last throughout the year, as they mark the milestone.
“It will be a big year for us, and we have someone who’s come on board and is creating a beautiful timeline poster for 40 years of the garden,” Derek said.
“It looks really, really good, and we’re going to give some of them away, so we’ve got a few things organised for the year.”
The Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Garden is on the corner of the Princes Highway and Deep Creek Dam Road (just south of Batemans Bay).
People can join the Friends by completing a membership form. The celebrations will start on 24 January for FotERBC members only, before their other events occur throughout the year.
