Who We Are

• The NBPCA is the first, national, permanent collection of bonsai in Australia.
• It is built on a partnership of the bonsai community and the Government of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
• It is the first of the '100 Gardens' in the ACT's major "Canberra International Arboretum and Gardens" project.
• It provides a national place for bonsai artists from across the country to demonstrate their highest achievements in the art of bonsai using a variety of species and styles. It provides an unprecedented opportunity for bonsai artists in Australia to display their work.
• Trees from overseas are not being encouraged because few would meet our strict plant quarantine regulations, and of those that did, there would be a high risk of death from the required treatments. We do not believe that it is worth the risk either to a valuable tree or to our need for protection from exotic diseases and pests.
• The Collection will open in a temporary location in Commonwealth Park in central Canberra on 28 September 2008. It remains there until its permanent, Stage One home is constructed on the Event Terrace at the Arboretum, probably by 2013, the centenary year of the establishment of Canberra.
• The collection, opening at the temporary location and at Stage One, will consist of a small collection of some 30-50 or so trees. It will be funded by the ACT Government. Stage two, a much larger facility, with spaces for more trees, education, library and display of bonsai paraphernalia is dependent on the raising of private funds. Stage two has been allocated a site near the visitor facilities when it is needed.