Carlton Gardens
Carlton Gardens | |
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Drinking Fountains , Seating | |
Asia-Pacific | |
Australian National Heritage List | |
Type | Historic |
Designated | 21 October 1980 |
Reference no. | 5274 |
Type | Community Facilities |
Criteria | a, b, c, d, e, g |
Designated | 21 March 1982 |
Reference no. | H1501[1] |
Heritage Overlay number | HO69 [1] |
The Carlton Gardens is a World Heritage Site located on the northeastern edge of the Central Business District in the suburb of Carlton, in Melbourne, Australia. A popular picnic and barbecue area, the heritage-listed Carlton Gardens are home to an array of wildlife, including brushtail possums.
The 26-hectare (64-acre) site contains the
The gardens are an example of Victorian
The listing in the Victorian Heritage Register says in part:
The Carlton Gardens are of scientific (botanical) significance for their outstanding collection of plants, including conifers, palms, evergreen and deciduous trees, many of which have grown to an outstanding size and form. The elm avenues of
Chamaecyparis funebris and Ficus macrophylla, south west of the Royal Exhibition Building.
Wildlife includes brushtailed possums, ducks and ducklings in spring, tawny frogmouths, kookaburras. Indian mynas and silver gulls are common. At night Gould's wattled bat and white-striped freetail bats hunt for insects while grey-headed flying foxes visit the gardens when native trees are flowering or fruiting.
The gardens contain three important fountains: the Exhibition Fountain, designed for the 1880 Exhibition by sculptor Joseph Hochgurtel; the French Fountain; and the Westgarth Drinking Fountain.
The grounds adjoining the north of the Exhibition Building formerly contained a sports ground, known as the Exhibition Oval or Exhibition Track. A fifth-of-a-mile oval asphalt cycling track was built in 1890, then was refurbished in 1896 to improve the surface and widen and bank the corners.
History
- 1839 – Large tracts of land surrounding the original town grid of Melbourne were reserved from sale by Superintendent .
- Circa 1856 – The City of Melbourne obtained control of the Carlton Gardens, and engaged Edward La Trobe Bateman (cousin of Charles La Trobe) to prepare a design for the site. The path layout and other features of the design were built although limitations on funding for maintenance etc. resulted in frequent criticism.
- 1870s – The colonial Victorian Government resumed control of the Gardens and minor changes and were made under the direction of Clement Hodgkinson. The site was soon afterwards drastically redesigned for the 1880 Melbourne International Exhibition by the architect Joseph Reed. The prominent local horticulturist and landscape designer William Sangster was engaged as a contractor to redevelop the gardens in February 1879.[10]
- 1880 – Exhibition Building completed for the Melbourne International Exhibitionthat year. Temporary annexes to house some of the exhibition in the northern section were demolished after the exhibition closed on 30 April 1881.
- 1888 – Melbourne Centennial Exhibition to celebrate a century of European settlement in Australia.
- 1891 – The curator's Lodge was completed and lived in by John Guilfoyle.
- 1901 – First Parliament of Australia opens in the Exhibition Building on May 9. The west annex of the Building becomes the site of the Victorian Parliament for the next 26 years.
- 1919 – buildings became an emergency hospital for influenza epidemic victims
- 1928 – Perimeter fence removed leaving the bluestone footings.
- 1928 – Exhibition Speedway, a motorcycle speedway track is constructed[11] and opened on 5 November 1928, it hosts the final of the Australian Solo Championship in 1930, 1932 and 1933. It was also considered the birthplace of sidecar speedway.[12][13]
- 1936 – Exhibition Speedway closes on 7 March 1936.
- Second World War: the buildings were used by the Royal Australian Air Force.
- 1948 to 1961 – part of the complex was used as a migrant reception centre.
- 1999 – Melbourne Museum opens, taking up one sixth of the site.
- 2001 – Taylor Cullity Lethlean with Mary Jeavons wins a landscape award for design and building a new children's playground of elegant yet robust resolution. The Jury described the design as a distinctive and unified design that respects its historic setting and addresses the demands of creative play for spatial and visual variety.
- July 2004 – After several years of lobbying by the Melbourne City Council, The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, Melbourne, were inscribed on the World Heritage List at the 28th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Suzhou, China.
Gallery
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Carlton Gardens in autumn
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CBN Exhibition Building
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Melbourne Museum
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CBN Carlton Gardens
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Panorama
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Skyscrapers in the city centre seen from the park (February 2018)
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Fountains
References
- ^ Government of Victoria. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
- ^ "Cycling at the Exhibition". The Age. Melbourne. 24 December 1896. p. 5.
- ^ "Motor exhibition". The Argus. Melbourne. 7 July 1923. p. 29.
- ^ "Cycling". Advertiser. Hurstbridge. 28 October 1927. p. 4.
- ^ "Thrills of the Dirt Track at the 'Drôme and Exhibition". The Sporting Globe. Melbourne. 1 August 1928. p. 11.
- ^ "Austral Wheel Race Heats". The Age. Melbourne. 9 November 1936. p. 5.
- ^ "Exhibition Oval – Lease attacked". The Argus. Melbourne. 21 February 1939. p. 2.
- ^ "Board Track at Essendon". The Age Racing Supplement. Melbourne. 1 September 1939. p. 4.
- ^ W. S. Sharland (14 March 1931). "League arranges fixtures". The Sporting Globe. Melbourne. p. 4.
- ^ Foster, John H. (1989) Victorian Picturesque: The Colonial Gardens of William Sangster. University of Melbourne History Dept. p. 67.
- ^ "Birthday honours: 21 of our favourite things about the Melbourne Museum". Museumes Victoria. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ^ "Individual Australian Championship". Historia Sportu Zuzlowego. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ^ "The Australian Solo Championship". Vintage Speedway. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
External links
- World heritage listing for Carlton Gardens
- Melbourne City Council – Carlton Gardens
- Open Space and Recreation – Merit Carlton Gardens Playground
- World Heritage, World Futures — Restoration of the Western Forecourt of the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne