Verdant universities

{{short description|Group of Australian universities established in the 1960s and 1970s}}

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The verdant universities, also referred to as the gumtree universities, are a group of Australian universities founded in the 1960s and 1970s.{{Cite web|title = Types of Australian universities|url = https://www.academia.edu/310547/Types_of_Australian_universities|website = www.academia.edu|access-date = 2015-10-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210818002223/https://www.academia.edu/310547/Types_of_Australian_universities|archive-date=August 18, 2021}} These tertiary institutions were established in their respective state capitals, often next to native bushland (today’s nature reserves), and were usually centred around lush vegetative campuses, to which the term verdant refers. The verdant universities often stand in contrast to the older and ostensibly more prestigious sandstone universities.

They are predominantly the second or third established university in their state; the only exception is Macquarie, which is the third university in Sydney, but the fourth university in New South Wales.

class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
rowspan="1"| University ! rowspan="1"| Location ! rowspan="1"| State ! rowspan="1"| Established
align="left"|Flinders University |Adelaide |SA |1966
align="left"|Griffith University |Brisbane |QLD |1971
align="left"|La Trobe University |Melbourne |VIC |1964
align="left"|Macquarie University |Sydney |NSW |1964
align="left"|Murdoch University |Perth |WA |1973

La Trobe University takes "verdant" a step further by owning a 28-hectare wildlife sanctuary and managing the Gresswell Hill Nature Conservation Reserve north of the Melbourne campus.{{Cite web|title = History of the area, La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary, La Trobe University|url = http://www.latrobe.edu.au/wildlife/about/history|website = www.latrobe.edu.au|access-date = 2016-01-10}}{{Cite web|title = About the Sanctuary, La Trobe Wildlife Sanctuary, La Trobe University|url = http://www.latrobe.edu.au/wildlife/about|website = www.latrobe.edu.au|access-date = 2016-01-10}}

The verdant universities were part of a broader effort to expand and reform tertiary education in Australia, based on similar reforms that led to the creation of the plate glass universities group in the United Kingdom. All these universities went on to form Innovative Research Universities in 2003.