One of Melbourne's oldest gardens, laid out when the colony of Victoria was just two years young, is under threat from building works which could swallow up about 10 per cent of the remaining grounds.
The only botanic garden within an Australian university, Melbourne University's system garden dates back to 1856 - just three years after the university was established.
![Melbourne University's system garden, circa 1870. The top of the conservatory tower can be seen above the domed roof.](/web/20161202102612im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/z/4/a/b/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gswrc0.png/1480394085855.jpg)
Fast forward 160 years and the garden is still used as an educational tool for students studying plant systematics and taxonomy, invasive species biology and control, sustainability and urban environments. It is also open to the public.
However university plans to expand the footprint of the neighbouring veterinary and agricultural science building next year, will eat into the north-west corner of the garden and account for about 10 per cent of the one-acre site.
![Trevor Pitkin outside the system garden's conservatory tower which dates back to 1856 - three years after the university ...](/web/20161202102612im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/z/0/4/k/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gswrc0.png/1480394085855.jpg)
"This garden should be seen as a sacred botanical site," said Australian Garden History Society member Trevor Pitkin. "It is already a quarter of what it was, which makes the remaining area even more precious."
Mr Pitkin has written to Melbourne University vice chancellor Glyn Davis arguing the nineteenth century system garden should be protected given its cultural, scientific and educational value.
There are less than half a dozen system gardens left in the world. At its time the Melbourne University system garden was one of the best given both its size and its display of both aquatic and terrestrial plants.
The garden's centrepiece is a brick conservatory tower with a slate roof and decorative iron finial. A number of trees in the garden, including a 120-year-old osage orange tree, are on the National Trust register.
![Trevor Pitkin in the north-west corner of Melbourne University's 160-year-old system garden, which is set to make way ...](/web/20161202102612im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/z/0/4/n/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gswrc0.png/1480394085855.jpg)
The system garden was established by the university's first professor of natural sciences Frederick McCoy who spent his life classifying and ordering species.
Its circular format was laid out by Edward La Trobe Bateman who designed the university's campus and also played a part in the design of the Treasury, Fitzroy and Royal Botanic gardens.
![Australian Garden History Society member Trevor Pitkin in the system garden at Melbourne University.](/web/20161202102612im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/z/0/4/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gswrc0.png/1480394085855.jpg)
While the original layout of the garden has largely vanished and the 19th century conservatory demolished, Mr Pitkin argues that the remaining garden beds and lawn evoke the garden's original purpose. He said reducing the dimensions would diminish visitors' ability to imagine what it once was and also fail to honour the contribution of some of the city's founding fathers.
"If it was the case that the conservatory tower served as sufficient tribute then you could also argue we could shrink the Botanic Gardens," Mr Pitkin said. "Plus, everyone has got a botanic garden. But not too many people have got a system garden."
![Melbourne University vice-chancellor Glyn Davis.](/web/20161202102612im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/n/j/d/n/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gswrc0.png/1480394085855.jpg)
In October, vice chancellor Glyn Davis marked the system garden's 160th anniversary by planting an evergreen tree donated by the Royal Botanic Gardens.
"This is a teaching place as valuable as any building we could put up," he said at the ceremony. "It needs to be preserved and protected."
A university spokesman said that while the university was "absolutely committed to maintaining the integrity of the system garden", it was also committed to developing world-class teaching and research facilities for biosciences.
"Every effort is being made to protect the garden including planting and sunlight protection, while minimising the impact of the new building's footprint," the spokesman said.