175 Years of Launceston Horticultural Society Print Page

The plaque commemorates 175 years of the Launceston Horticultural Society from 1838 to 2013.

The Launceston Horticultural Society is believed to be the oldest society of its type in continuous existence in Australia. It was a direct outcome of the great horticultural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in Britain coinciding with the development of the Australian colonies. More indirectly, it owes its origins to Sir Joseph Banks who, with William Jackson Hooker, set up the Royal Horticultural Society in London. Hooker (Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew) persuaded Ronald Campbell Gunn and Robert William Lawrence to collect Tasmanian plants for London herbariums and gardens.

Encouraged by the then Governor, Sir John Franklin (and Lady Franklin), Gunn decided to form a similar society in Launceston. The first meeting was held on 4 July 1838, R C Gunn becoming the first President, and the first show followed on 19 December the same year. The Society had 48 members initially, but by the end of the 1840s there were 122 subscribers. In January 1868 it amalgamated with a rival group, the Gardeners and Amateurs Horticultural Society (established 27 December 1849), and the new organisation had its first flower exhibition on 18 February 1868.

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