The centre was established in 1961 at Kottawa, Talgampala, in order to cater the needs of tea growers in the southern area. With the establishment of the Deniyaya Extension Centre, the Galle Extension Centre now focuses mainly on tea grown in the Galle administrative district. This is predominantly an Advisory and Extension Centre equipped with a small scale laboratory for the analysis of soil pH. Further, tea growers of the southern province are benefited from the tea nursery maintained by this centre for the supply of plants and cuttings of the new improved TRI tea cultivars.