About The Arboretum
Experience quiet enjoyment, learn about native flora and fauna conservation, and explore our beautiful museum of living trees at Pearl Beach Arboretum.
The Crommelin Native Arboretum Inc is an award-winning, not-for-profit organisation which aims to promote and encourage nature conservation at Pearl Beach and elsewhere.
WHAT WE DO
The Arboretum, established in Pearl Beach since 1976, is a natural botanic garden open to the public for free. Our Arboretum is a sanctuary for rare and threatened plant species, spanning 5.5 hectares of land in the Pearl Beach community.
The Crommelin Native Arboretum Inc Constitution can be found HERE.
Our long-term conservation work has been recognised by the 2018 Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Award for Habitat and Wildlife Conservation, as part of the Keep Australia Beautiful campaign. The Arboretum hosts a variety of educational events, annual live Opera, and is a popular bush wedding venue with iconic photos under the boughs of our Angophora costata – the “Wedding Tree”.
We want both people and local wildlife to visit our unique sanctuary and feel safe, calm and connected to nature. Our Committee invite you to escape the city and surround yourself with Australian flora and fauna.
What is an Arboretum?
Pronounced “arr-boor-eetum”
An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted to growing trees for conservation, scientific research and educational purposes.
The term was first published by John Claudius Loudon in 1833 in The Gardener’s Magazine.
Who We Are
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Crommelin Native Arboretum on the Central Coast is named after avid conservationist, Minard Fannie Crommelin MBE. You can read more about Minard Crommelin here. We are maintained by a committee of members and volunteers, all working to preserve, protect and share this special slice of paradise at Pearl Beach.
Our Arboretum exists on land set aside by Gosford City Council in 1976, and our title was gazetted by the Geographical Names Board in May 1978. Our Honorary Ecologist, Robert Payne (MSc in Ecology, Botany & Fauna), has been involved with the Arboretum since its very beginnings and still plays a vital role in its research and development today.
Crommelin Native Arboretum Incorporated is an association with its own members who annually elect a management committee to control and manage our affairs. Our Committee has authority under a licence agreement with Council to manage the Council-owned land.
Why We Exist
Our Arboretum exhibits remnant bushland alongside mature examples of collected and cultivated native tree species considered officially threatened under NSW state legislation. We propagate native seedlings as part of our work to save rare and threatened species of flora.
We also work to offer a protected sanctuary for Australian wildlife. This is why no dogs, no bikes, and no drones are permitted in the Arboretum, as they can scare and harm local fauna. When visiting, you’ll notice the bush is alive with the sound of its residents. Spot regular species including Lyre birds, Bowerbirds, Fairy wrens and Water Dragons, plus many endangered species too:
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Swamp Wallaby
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Ringtail Possums
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Eastern Pygmy Possums
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Sugar Gliders
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Bandicoots
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Tawny Frogmouth
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Quoll
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Glossy Black Cockatoo
Brief History Of The Arboretum
In 1976, the land at the end of Crystal Avenue, Pearl Beach, had been ravaged for 100 years by cattle grazing, cultivation, logging, floods and fire. The area was infested with weeds and littered with old car chassis, galvanised iron tanks and other building waste.
At the time, Pearl Beach Progress Association proposed to Gosford Council (now Central Coast Council), who were the land owners:
‘…Lots 215 and 216 be retained as a bushland setting and gradually transformed to a native botanic garden …(it) could be cleaned up and some portions over-planted with indigenous species. Small trails could meander through this bushland and botanical species of interest be labelled…’
Council agreed to the proposal. The Crommelin Native Arboretum Committee was formed. The mammoth task of replenishing the bushland began. Members and volunteers poured decades into establishing a natural botanic garden for the local community and its wildlife.
Fire swept into Pearl Beach in December 1990. It devastated most of the Arboretum, its pine forest, koala colony, and burnt the existing farm on site. Again, the Committee rallied together to self-fund reviving the Arboretum’s flora and rebuilding the ruined bridge and walkway installations. They planted a variety of eucalyptus tree species. They continued their conservation work.
In 2003, one more hectare of land was added to the Arboretum. This previously cleared and farmed area has now been successfully regenerated by the Committee, totalling 5.5 hectares of protected and preserved Australian bushland in the Pearl Beach community today. Our latest project involves potential translocating of Koalas to the Arboretum, thanks to the forward-thinking efforts of our Committee planting eucalyptus trees 20 years ago!