From its beginning the gardens at Townsville have evolved in area, planning and design, as well as through their plant collection and community use. Initially the reserve was established to serve and support the role specific to Botanic Gardens across the country, which focused on botany as science, economic botany, education of the public about plants and horticulture and ornamental botany. The first of these functions for botanic gardens was a response to increasing nineteenth century interest in a scientific understanding of the natural world, where widespread enthusiasm for plant identification and cultivation had developed after the industrial revolution. Economic botany refers to the cultivation of plants within the botanic garden's exotic environment with a view to contributing to the economy of the local region and the colony as a whole, and involved acclimatising, cultivating and testing plants of commercial value. Ornamental botany recognised that human perspectives on nature were not totally focused on use, but also on the more aesthetic qualities of horticulture.