Flecker Botanical Gardens

The lush vegetation along Collins Avenue at Edge Hill hides the beautiful Flecker Botanic Gardens. Established in the mid-1880s, caretaker botanist Eugene Fitzalan operated his private Edge Hill Nursery on the south side of Collins Avenue. The area had been Chinese market gardens and Collins Avenue their road to the wharves. Fitzalan collected Queensland wet tropic plants, with nine plant specimens named after him. He had a particular interest in orchids and also propagated roses, hibiscus, and numerous local species. He retired in 1897 and others continued to manage the garden until 1906, when it moved across Collins Avenue. In the early 1930s, the North Queensland Naturalist Club initiated the establishment of Botanic Gardens to house their herbarium. Its founder, radiographer Hugh Flecker was also known for his research into marine stingers. He identified the deadly box jelly fish Chironex Fleckeri. The property provides a showcase of tropical plantings, walks and recreation for residents and tourists, and continues to propagate endangered wet tropics species. Construction of a Chinese Friendship Garden on the lakes began in May 2015, acknowledging Cairns’ sister city relationship with Zhanjiang in the Guangdong Province from where most North Queensland Chinese immigrated.