Thurston Gardens
The Thurston Gardens are the Botanical Garden of Suva , the capital of Fiji . The entire garden ensemble, which also includes the Fiji Museum and the Clock Tower with an attached octagonal bandstand , is classified as Fiji's cultural heritage. For a long time the complex was only called the Botanical Garden . In 1976 the garden was finally named after Sir John Bates Thurston, the fifth governor of Fiji. He was in office from February 1888 to March 1897 and is considered to be the founder of the garden, which lies between Albert Park and the presidential seat, Government House.
history
Sir John Bates Thurston, himself a passionate amateur botanist and Governor of Fijis from February 1888 to March 1897, had the first Suva Botanical Garden laid out in 1881 on a slope between Rodwell Road and Waimanu Road. The latter was already one of the main streets of the rapidly growing city at that time. For the layout of the garden, he invited the then director of the Pamplemousses Botanical Garden in Mauritius , John Horne, to Fiji and asked him for suggestions on how the layout should be designed. Horne knew her way around the islands. There he carried out research on botanical and agricultural resources from 1876 to 1877 and published a book on them in 1881. There is said to have been a large cave on the area of the first botanical garden.
In 1912/13 the botanical garden was relocated to its current location between the Presidential Palace and Albert Park. The predecessor settlement of Suva, founded around 1820, once stood on the site there. The cemetery of the heads of Suva was located where the clock tower is today. Rival warriors from Rewa destroyed the village on April 7, 1843 after long internal Fijian clashes in one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles in the history of the archipelago. The residents of the village ate them up. The survivors rebuilt the village. In 1882 the British moved the settlement a little further north and declared Suva the new capital of Fiji. There are no traces of the historic village in the garden today. The formerly existing walls have completely disappeared, as have the other structures.
In the new garden, the authorities had the avenues made of 101 royal palms and 39 tree ferns . As is usual for a botanical garden, it has also been planted with exotic plant species from around the world and some native trees, ornamental plants and flowers. In the middle of the park, the builders created the rectangular lily pond that still exists today with a fountain in the middle. For a long time, the clock tower with the attached music pavilion was built in 1918 . The building commemorates Gabriel J. Marks, the city's first mayor. He was killed in the sinking of the Empress of Ireland on May 23, 1914 in the St. Lawrence River ( Canada ) at the age of 43. On June 7, 1918, the governor of the Fiji Islands and high commissioner for the Western Pacific region , Sir Bickham Sweet-Escott, opened the building complex commissioned and financed by the brother of the casualty, Henry Marks. From then on there were concerts in the music pavilion on Sundays, at which the governor was often a guest. The drinking fountain set up in 1914 is also a donation from Henry Marks.
The ensemble is still considered a representative example of the country's colonial history. The plant population grew over time. In 1949 there were 20 types of ornamental and wooden trees, 17 types of palm trees, other trees and shrubs, grasses, orchids and ferns in the garden. In 1955 the Fiji Museum was established in the park.
After the country gained independence, the garden began to decline. Several tropical cyclones severely damaged the area and many native plants disappeared over time. A renovation of the facility is planned for 2016, in which new gates will be installed and more native plants will be planted. The plans were worked out together with conservationists. The government has already approved the necessary funds.
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Ernest Heatley: Thurston Gardens and the Empress of Ireland tragedy ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Fiji Times Online March 1, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2016.
- ^ Fiji Museum: Historical Thurston Gardens . Retrieved September 14, 2016.
- ↑ a b c Peni Mudunavonu: Historical landmark ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Fiji Times Online August 8, 2016. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
- ^ Albert J. Schütz, LG Usher: Suva. A History and a Guide . Sydney 1978, ISBN 0-85807-035-9 .
- ↑ See information on the sticker shown at the park entrance
- ↑ a b Ernest Heatley: Tainted by blood ( Memento of the original from September 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Fiji Times Online October 26, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
Coordinates: 18 ° 8 ′ 57.6 ″ S , 178 ° 25 ′ 32 ″ E