From spring 2024, Brunel’s SS Great Britain – Bristol’s number one visitor attraction – will launch new living exhibits on the top deck of the ocean liner.
Ferns, orchids and other specimens that were transported on board the ship will be planted in six replica Wardian cases. An early type of terrarium or mini greenhouse, Wardian cases were used to carry plants safely across the world, introducing new species to the United Kingdom and taking native British plants abroad.
This was an era when the Victorian obsession with ferns, ‘Pteridomania’, was at its height. New research from the Brunel Institute has shown just how significant the SS Great Britain was in transporting plants between continents in the 19th century. Some of the most influential horticulturalists, ‘Nurseryman’ and ‘plant hunters’ of the nineteenth century sent specimens between the antipodes and the UK, using the fastest ship available. Visitors will meet expert volunteers and a new costumed botanist to explain the impact of global plant migration during the Victorian period. A newly interpreted cabin on board will bring the story to life through the eyes of a Victorian botanist, along with the sights, sounds and smells of a 60-day voyage to Australia.
As part of a year exploring ‘Botany on Board’, Brunel’s SS Great Britain will conduct a nationwide poll to establish Britain’s favourite flowers and plants from around the world.
The museum’s Head of Interpretation, Iona Keen, explains:
“The advent of steamships revolutionised the range of plants that could be transported and grown in the UK. From rhododendron and camellia to Japanese maple and eucalyptus,
many of our much-loved garden favourites arrived in Britain on steamships with botanists who travelled the world in the mid-19th century. Invasive plants were also introduced to Britain at the time, and native species were taken out to Australia to recreate the typical British garden. We are still dealing with the impact of this global plant migration today.”
From February 2024, new interpretation and public programming will reveal previously untold stories about the cargo and passengers who travelled on the SS Great Britain. Curators have scoured cargo manifests and passenger diaries, and collaborated with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the National Archives to build a picture of how plants were transported across the oceans.
Partnerships with gardeners and local community gardens has enabled staff to recreate the eye- catching Wardian cases and deliver workshops for both adults and children replicating the activities of travelling scientists and botanists.
Throughout the year, visitors can try their hand at flower pressing and Victorian crafts using pressed flowers and create their own cyanotypes – an early photography technique to record plant specimens. A new programme of talks and tours will focus on botanicals and their role in leisure, medicine and cosmetics, and explore the growth of botany as a science and industry in the 19th century.
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