Invitation to attend

The Australian National Botanic Gardens is excited to welcome you to the 2025 BGANZ Congress in Canberra, on Ngunnawal Country. The main congress venue will be Old Parliament House (OPH), with unique social events at both OPH and the gardens, and field trips from subalpine regions to the sea, as well as our national public institutions focusing on education and horticulture.

Congress attendees will have the opportunity to share knowledge and experience to advance the role of botanic gardens and arboreta as globally recognised centres of excellence for plant science, conservation, education, and outreach. We look forward to connecting and sharing about how our gardens and arboreta across Australia and New Zealand can expand our influence in these fields through capacity building, collaboration, and innovation.

Presentations will focus on four themes, with emphasis on how we can work together to uplift our capabilities to increase our collective impact in horticultural curation and management, education and outreach, conservation and science, organisational management, and planning for a sustainable future.

We look forward to seeing you at the BGANZ Congress 2025 and to showcasing our beautiful gardens, capital city and stunning regional surrounds.

Presentation Themes

Innovation

Advancing science, horticulture, conservation and special collections

Protecting plants and people

Biosecurity, sustainability, risk management and well being

Planning for the future

Collection development, climate adaptation and succession planning

Branching out

Engagement, inclusion, partnerships and outreach

Across all themes we invite speakers that share knowledge and experience of:

Best practice engaging diverse communities

including First Nations peoples.

Managing botanic gardens as viable business entities

Responding to economic pressures, organisational sustainability, Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) principles

Photo credit: Wollongong BG

Photo credit: Rebecca Harcourt

key Dates

Call for Abstracts

Open: 1 December 2024

Close: 30 April 2025

Registration

Open: end January 2025

Earlybird close: 31 July 2025

Congress Dates

3-5 November 2025

Page photo credits:
Philotheca long-leaf wax flower, Cranbourne BG - Rebecca Harcourt
Paper daisies, Geelong BG - Rebecca Harcourt

We acknowledge Australia's First Nations peoples as the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We respectfully acknowledge the role that First Nations people continue to play in shaping Australia's democracy. We also acknowledge the Ngunnawal, Ngunawal and Ngambri peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the region in which The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House is located.