Vandalism to Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne

Good evening all,

It was with a heavy heart that I read the following news items this afternoon:

Vandals take axe to Botanic Gardens

Vandals destroy rare cacti in Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens

Needless to say, this is an appalling case of senseless criminal damage to an iconic part of one of the great Botanical Gardens. My heart truly goes out to all the wonderful people who have worked so hard to make the RBG such a beautiful place to enjoy these wonderful plants. The loss of these historic plants is not something that can simply be "fixed". Repairs will take significant time and money, and indeed the destruction of heirloom plants, some thirty years old, is something that can never be made right.

Clearly, the person that engaged in this wanton destruction is no friend of the Royal Botanic Gardens, nor of garden and botany enthusiasts anywhere.

Should you become aware of any information regarding the identity of the perpetrator(s) of this incident, I implore you to contact Crime Stoppers Victoria, or ring 1800 333 000 to report it. Such reports can be made anonymously if you do not wish to identify yourself.

I would urge anyone who is in possession of this information to report it above. Please do not take matters into your own hands - as tempting as it may be.

Thanks for your time.

That is so saddening to see. I visited there over Jan/Feb this year and was thrilled by the fabulous display of all the various species. Many of the columnars had just finished flowering and I unfortunately hadn't taken a camera so was looking forward to catching them next visit. Such a special place. This is abhorrent news, such an inconceivable act of violence not just to the plants but to all those visitors who could have enjoyed their display. Hope they find the culprit/s and prevent any similar occurrences.

Yeah saw this... Wonder why the picked on the arid garden ? I don't think this is the first time it's been attacked eiether...

I would say it's because it's an easy target, close to Anderson street which allows an easy escape if spotted. My guess is the culprit is some bogan that got kicked out of the gardens by staff and this is their revenge.

I was shocked to see this too but t raises a few questions in my mind.
Firstly it takes a fair bit of motivation and care to successfully hack through that much cactus. Having done a bit of cactus cutting in the name of propagation I can tell you that the perpetrators were motivated far more than the average bogan/wayward teen vandals and it suggests to me there is more to the whole situation. Also the fact it was done on a rainy Tuesday night which is a really quiet time, even for mindless vandals(they are usually out and about on Fridays and Saturdays after drinking themselves silly.)
Then there is the location... Why not target the nearby Guilfoyles volcano, much easier access to the cacti and the escape route via the road. But then I remembered that well meaning neighbours set up cameras on the Volcano because of troubles in the past. It begs the question...did the perpetrators know about the cameras.
Lachy, your comment about it not being a 'friend of the botanic gardens' got me to thinking maybe that is exactly where to look.
Some plant people have a strong dislike of cacti. I have noticed they have a real tendency to polarise people.
In recent years the gardens have decided to go in the drought tolerant direction and lots of cacti based plantings have gone in. At the same time the gardens decided they would no longer replace rare and valuable cacti stolen from the gardens and instead grow more common things.
I have had the good fortune to discuss these things with both the current director of the gardens and their in house landscape architect so I speak from a relatively well informed viewpoint.
The volcano project cost a lot and ran way over budget, it left little change from 1.5million despite the original budget being just 600k. Recently the arid garden that was attacked has been drafted for a complete overhaul and the project was due to start soon.
Perhaps someone who has a love for the softer plants and a visceral objection to our beloved spine bearers was attempting to influence garden policy.
It could be that the Sherlock in me is getting carried away but I really think this took more motivation and planning than the average pissed bogan could muster on a cold wet Tuesday night......

Conspiracy theories ?? I like it ! I'm telling ya, it's us Spike lovers against those other odd leafy folks

Agree though, that it's unlikely to be someone who was pissed and doing it for larks. Especially seeing as they came prepared with a machete or similar.

As I said, I'm dead sure something similar happened years ago, might even be the same culprit ?

Personally, my money is on a disgruntled ex-employee...

If it was done on "a rainy Tuesday night" then that could promote rot of the affected plants.

Unfortunately it appears there has been further vandalism to the gardens:

Vandals prompt call for tree guards

I can state that Police are investigating the matter. Beyond that, I cannot comment further aside from condemning the person(s) responsible for this recent spree of mindless damage.

It is sad to see the mindless act of destruction of these plants trees i only hope they catch the person or persons involved.

It is a shame as these treasures are for everyone to enjoy and as always one idiot has to ruin it.

Perhaps some cctv cameras might be the way to go it wont stop it from happening but at least there is a chance of catching those involved.

Yeah, this is BS. Have to think if this is some nutter or ex employee, they have an idea of who it is... Hope they catch the bugger...