Adelaide Botanic Gardens’ boss Dr Lucy Sutherland leaving for new opportunities, foot traffic at city space drops

Visitors to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens have plummeted as the organisation searches for a new director.

Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium Director Dr Lucy Sutherland is leaving. Picture: Adelaide Botanic Gardens

Visitors to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens have plummeted as the organisation searches for a new director.

Attendance figures supplied by the Botanic Gardens and State Herbarium show 835,083 went through the gates of the Adelaide Botanic Gardens last financial year.

That is the lowest attendance in 11 years and follows a year-on-year decline since a peak of 1.378m in the 2015-16 financial year.

The Botanic Gardens SA and the Friends of the Botanic Gardens (FOBG) have attributed the decline to the relocation of the Royal Adelaide Hospital to the city’s West End in September 2017 and, more recently, the impact of the COVID pandemic on the CBD.

The figures, come as the Botanic Gardens SA, – which manages Adelaide, Mt Lofty and Wittunga botanic gardens – searches for a director to replace director Dr Lucy Sutherland.

The Palm House at the Adelaide Botanic Garden. The garden’s attendance has dropped significantly. Picture: Robyn Douglass

Dr Sutherland, who in October 2016 became the first female director in the gardens’ 160-year history, is leaving to “pursue new career opportunities”, a government spokesman said.

He said Dr Sutherland had increased attendance at Wittunga by 41 per cent and secured $12m in capital works funding. Her tenure ends in June.

FOBG president Merilyn Kuchel said she was “really surprised” by Dr Sutherland’s departure. “I thought a lot of things were improving under her leadership,” she said.

Her exit comes at a significant time for the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, which will this year release a new masterplan for the prized city precinct.

Among issues will be integrating the gardens with the proposed $200m Aboriginal Arts and Culture Centre on the former RAH site.

The 2020 State Budget provided $9.2m for an upgrade of the Adelaide gardens’ heritage-listed buildings.