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Dawson's Cactus Garden

Location 571 Napier Street (Midland Highway), WHITE HILLS VIC 3550 - Property No G13067 File Number G13067 Level State

[1/1] G13067 Dawson's Cactus Garden

Statement of Significance

Dawson's Cactus Garden, established as both a garden and nursery by T H Dawson & Gill in 1933 and operated until the 1980s, is of State significance:

- as one of the most intact early cactus gardens in Victoria, the plants not merely used as isolated specimens but forming a total design, and the collection of buildings such as shade houses and a quarantine shed which complement the plants;

- for its collection of outstanding individual specimens of cacti and succulents, amongst which are many plants imported in the period prior to restrictive quarantine embargos;

- for the manner in which the garden reflects the hot and relatively dry local climate;

- for the retention of a mid-nineteenth century rendered brick residence, characteristic of Bendigo architecture and now romantically dwarfed by giant cacti and mature trees;

- for its contribution to the streetscape of the Midland Highway, a thoroughfare which contains notable gardens such as Rosalind Park, Lake Weeroona and White Hills Botanic Gardens;

- historically, as a noted specialist nursery responsible for the wide distribution of cacti and succulents throughout Australia.