The Herbarium opened in March 1970, after all of the state's collected botanical species were amalgamated into the one site. When the facility was in full use, it housed over 700,000 different speciments. So many in fact, several demountable buildings were required to be installed on-site to facilitate this and to keep up with the growing number.

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As the years went by, additional demountables was no longer a viable solution and a new and bigger facility was needed.

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In 2004, the State Government allocated $250,000 to build a new facility in the same locality. Six years later, the move to the new location took place and the original site was decommissioned. Particularly as it's now heritage listed, there is yet to be any use for this site.