Southern Highlands Branch: Coach Trip to E G Waterhouse Camellia Gardens and Bare Island

Departing Mittagong RSL 7.30 am – Returning approximately 5.30 pm.

Cost: $85 – includes coach travel, morning tea, lunch and Bare Island Tour.

Itinerary
The E. G. Waterhouse National Camellia Gardens, located in Caringbah, overlook beautiful Yowie Bay. In 2014 the gardens were recognised by the International Camellia Society as a Camellia Gardens of Excellence as one of only sixty Camellia Gardens of Excellence in the world and were opened by Lady Cutler on 18 July 1970 to commemorate the bicentenary of the arrival of Lt James Cook at Kurnell in 1770. The Gardens, named after Professor Eban Gowrie Waterhouse a distinguished Australian linguist and expert on camellias, contain one of the largest collections of camellias in Australia.

With over 400 cultivars and species of camellias the gardens provide a unique value to Australian horticulture and are in season during autumn and winter with Camellia sasanqua blooming from autumn to early winter followed by Camellia japonica from late autumn through winter and Camellia reticulate in bloom from mid-winter to September/October.
Please note – The gardens are established on a steeply sloping site making some sections inaccessible or difficult to access for people who have limited mobility. However, access is available to the specially designed Senses Garden and to most of the lower sections of the garden.

Lunch – Ramsgate RSL Club.

Bare Island, located within Botany Bay close to the bay’s northern headland, is one of Sydney’s most picturesque venues and is nationally significant as an almost completely intact example of late nineteenth century coastal defence technology. It is one of the more substantial and impressive of the many fortifications built around Australasia. Captain Cook first spotted the area now known as Bare Island in 1770, and referred to it in his journal as ‘a small bare island’. The fort built in the early 1880s to protect Sydney’s back door was in operation until 1908. In 1912 Bare Island became a retirement home for war veterans continuing to operate until 1963 when it was transferred to the New South Wales Parks and Wildlife Service for use as a museum and tourist attraction.

We will take a guided tour crossing a 130-year-old wooden bridge to enter a world of fine engineering and great deception to hear about the unpredictable history of Bare Island Fort.

Enquiries / bookings: Ray Bradley (E) rbb1945@bigpond.net.au (T) 02 4861 4090 or (M) 0416 191 905.

Payment: no later than Monday 5 July. No refunds will be made after that date unless the seat can be resold.

Payment details are included on the booking form in the May issue of Inflorescence.

The Committee reserves the right to amend the itinerary without notice.

The tour will be restricted to a maximum of 40 passengers.