George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens

Function Areas

Function Information

The George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens has a range of sites for all wedding functions, small, medium and large.

About the Sites

The following chart shows the most popular sites in the Gardens for weddings.

Site	Capacity	Power
Holtze Lawn	100-120	Yes
Heritage Lawn	700-800	Yes
Wesleyan Church	100-150 standing	Yes
Fountain	80-100	Yes
Borassus Lawn	80-100	No
Shade Garden	70-90 standing	No
Coconut Grove	Up to 800 people	Yes
Central Carpark	80	Yes

Opening Hours
The Gardens gates to Geranium Street and Gardens Road entries are open at 7am and close at 7pm daily unless communicated to Visitor Services Officer or the Curator of the Gardens. We can have the gates locked later when the function has finished. A time will have to be provided to the Visitor Services Officer.

Bookings
Bookings for wedding ceremonies and receptions are managed by the Visitor Services Officer, Helen Orr at the Geranium Street entrance of the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens.

Contact the Visitor Services Officer to see if the site is available for the required date and time. Telephone enquiries or bookings can be made by telephoning (08)8981 1958, during normal office hours, Monday – Friday, 8:00am to 4:00pm or email Helen.orr@nt.gov.au submit your request via our website.

Read the conditions of site use.

The By-law 25 form needs to be filled out to obtain a permit number. This form can be accessed from the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens web site or from the Visitor Services Officer. Other forms are required through the booking service.

Contact the Visitor Services Officer once the forms have been completed to confirm any special requirements for the functions and to organise a time for payment.

Forms Required

By Law 25 permit form
Application questionnaire
Consumption of alcohol in the Gardens
NTG Payment form - Individuals/Non-Business
NTG Payment form - Business/Company

Cancellations
If you have booked a site for function and you want to cancel, please contact the Visitor Services Officer on (08)8981 1958 to arrange this as soon as possible.

Function Charges (GST included)
Charges which apply for exclusive use of a site:

Site fee	$100.00 - not refundable
Bond money	$400.00 - refundable
Key money	$ 50.00 - refundable

Payments
Payments are required 1 month before function to secure booking.
This can be done through credit card, eft, cheque, money order or cash. If paying by cheque please make out to George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens. Payments can be made through the Visitor Services Officer.

Reimbursements for Functions

Reimbursements are up to the discretion of the Curator. Bond money maybe held by the Curator for the following reasons:

Area left with rubbish and untidy.
Property or area damaged by function.
Area not cleaned up by an appropriate time that is organised through function application.

Reimbursement for the bond and key does not get processed until key has been returned to the Visitor Services Officer. Reimbursement can take up to 10 working days.

Keys
Keys can be obtained for the Wesleyan Church, Fountain chain, and Orientation Centre the Visitor Services Officer at the Geranium Street entrance.

Conditions of Site Use

Hirers of the site must clean up after their function to receive reimbursement of their bond money.
Confetti and tall fire lamps are not to be used in the Gardens.
Rice, bubbles and flower petals (not a large amount) are permissible.
If using marquees or wanting to place anything in the ground please consult with the Curator to ensure irrigation systems are not touched.
Please don’t empty eskies on the grass area as this burns the grass.
Please fill in Application Questionnaire and send back with By Law 25 form to Visitor Services Officer.
Use of fireworks is subject to Curators discretion.

Parking
There are two parking areas for guests in the Botanic Gardens:

Geranium Street entrance off of the Stuart Highway.
Gardens Road entrance off of Gilruth Avenue.

Alcohol in the Gardens
If selling alcohol at your function a temporary Liquor License must be obtained from the Liquor Commission and is then signed off by the Curator or Assistant Curator of the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens.

Function Areas Availability for the Month of August and December

During the month of August the Darwin Festival and Tropical Garden Spectacular is on and therefore our function areas are limited to the Shade Garden and the Holtze lawn through out this month.
During December, the Christmas Carols are held in the amphitheatre and we don’t except any bookings for the Gardens except for the Holtze lawn on this date. It is usually the 1st Sunday of December.

Fountain Times Are:

DRY SEASON 1 May – 31 October
Fountain ON	Fountain OFF
9:00am	9:30am
10:15am	11:00am
11:45am	12:30pm
1:15pm	2:00pm
2:45pm	3:30pm
4:15pm	5:00pm
5:45pm	6:30pm

WET SEASON 1 November – 30 April
Fountain ON	Fountain OFF
9:00am	9:45am
10:45am	11:30am
12:30pm	1:15pm
2:15pm	3:00pm
4:00pm	4:45pm

Fountain times cannot be changed. We recommend that ceremonies are booked during the off period of the fountain times due to the noise of the fountain.

Inquiries
Please direct inquiries to:

                                                Helen Orr - Visitor Services Officer
                                                Phone: (08) 8981 1958
                                                Fax:      (08) 8981 1647
                                                Email: helen.orr@nt.gov.au

Book Now
Click here to fill in an online request to hold a function form.