Royal Park, Melbourne facts for kids

Sunset at Royal Park

Royal Park is the biggest inner-city park in Melbourne, Australia. It covers 181 hectares (447 acres). You can find it about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) north of Melbourne's city center. The park is located in a suburb called Parkville in Victoria.

Royal Park has many fun things to do. It offers lots of sports facilities. These include the North Park Tennis Club and the Royal Park Golf Course. There are also fields for football, soccer, baseball, and cricket. You can find the State Netball & Hockey Centre here too. The park has special paths for cycling and walking. A native garden is located at the corner of Gatehouse Street and Royal Parade. The park has wide open grasslands and areas with trees. You can see eucalypts, casuarinas, and acacia trees. The Melbourne City Council looks after the park. They created a plan in 1984 to manage it. A special wetlands area was built in 2005.

The grassy hill between the Royal Children's Hospital and the Native Garden is a great spot for flying kites during the day. In the summer, a group called the Astronomical Society of Victoria sets up telescopes here. They give talks and tours of the night sky from this high point.

Animals and Nature

Royal Park is home to many native Australian animals. You might see possums living in the trees. The park also has a wide variety of birds. These include the Pacific black duck and the chestnut teal. You can also spot the white-faced heron and the brown goshawk. Other birds are the collared sparrowhawk and the Horsfield's bronze cuckoo. Look for the Australian hobby, galah, and red-rumped parrot. The eastern rosella and the superb fairy-wren are also common. You might see the white-plumed honeyeater and the spotted pardalote. The white-browed scrubwren, grey fantail, and red-browed finch also live here.

The park is very important for a special type of lizard. It is called the White's skink (Egernia whitii). A part of the park is kept just for these lizards. This helps them to live and grow.

History of the Park

Long ago, before Europeans arrived, the Wurundjeri people lived in this area. They sometimes had campfires near where Royal Park is now. However, they often preferred to camp by the Yarra River.

In 1845, Governor Charles La Trobe decided to set aside a large area of land for a park. It was about 10.36 square kilometers (4 square miles). But by 1854, when it became an official park, the size was smaller. It was then 6.25 square kilometers (2.4 square miles). The park got even smaller because many people moved to Melbourne during the Victorian gold rush. New homes were built, creating the suburb of Parkville. In 1861, the Royal Melbourne Zoological Gardens took up 0.2 square kilometers (0.07 square miles) of the park. More land was used for roads, tram lines, and the Upfield railway line. Schools and hospitals also took parts of the park. These included University High School and the Royal Melbourne Hospital. The Royal Children's Hospital and Royal Dental Hospital also used park land.

A famous event happened in Royal Park in 1860. The Burke and Wills expedition started their journey here. They wanted to cross Australia from south to north. Sadly, they did not make it back. Today, a special stone marker shows where their trip began in Royal Park.

The park was also used during World War One and Two. It became a military camp. During World War Two, American forces used Camp Pell here. After the war, the buildings at Camp Pell were used for emergency housing until 1960. Today, one building from Camp Pell is still used. It is called 'Urban Camp'. It provides a place for school children from the countryside to stay when they visit Melbourne.

Planning the Park's Future

For many years, people wanted to improve Royal Park. In 1984, the Melbourne City Council held a special competition. They asked experts to design a plan for the park's future. The winning idea was to make the park feel more natural. It aimed to bring back the look of the land when Europeans first saw it. This meant planting more native trees and grasses. The plan also suggested building new paths for walking and cycling. It wanted to reduce traffic and parking inside the park. This included closing some roads and building a tunnel.

Not everyone liked the plan at first. Sports groups worried about losing their facilities. The Zoo wanted more parking. But after three years of discussion, the Council approved the plan. The first changes were made in the early 1990s. New sports fields were built. This allowed old ones to be removed from a hilltop. Now, that hilltop has clear views of Melbourne's skyline. A new pond was also created.

After ten years of talks, a new plan for the Zoo's access and parking was agreed upon. This included new parking areas and closing some roads. Many new plants were added around the Zoo's entrance in 1997. The Master Plan was reviewed again in 1996. People strongly supported the original ideas. The updated plan added new ideas, like a big wetlands project. This project would recycle water. The Council approved this updated plan in 1997.

New Buildings in the Area

In 2003, the government chose a site near Royal Park for the athletes' village. This was for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. After the games, the houses were sold. Some people were unhappy about this. They said it destroyed trees and old hospital buildings. They also felt it was a lost chance to turn the land back into a public park.

Sports groups also had concerns. Large parts of the park were fenced off for the athletes. This stopped many local sports teams from using their usual fields.

In 2005, the government chose another site next to Royal Park. This was to build a new Royal Children's Hospital. Some parts of the old hospital were taken down. These areas were then turned back into parkland. Some green groups were against this move. But the government said no parkland would be lost. However, after the new hospital was built, it seemed to take up more space. This meant some parkland was indeed lost. The hospital's helipad was moved to the roof of the new building. This helped to reduce its impact on the park.

Sports and Fun

Royal Park has many fields and places for sports. These include:

• McAlister Oval
• Ransford Oval (home of the Royal Park Brunswick Cricket Club)
• Western Oval
• Ryder Oval (home of the Youlden Parkville Cricket Club since the 1940s)
• Brens Oval (home of Parkville District Cricket Club)
• Walker East Oval
• Walker West Oval
• Poplar Oval
• Flemington Road Oval

The park is also home to the State Netball & Hockey Centre. This center hosts big netball and international hockey games. The Royal Park Golf Club is here too. A famous golfer, Peter Thomson, first learned to play golf at this club. There are also several tennis clubs. Plus, there are large open areas for other fun activities.

Getting Around the Park

Trains

The Upfield railway line goes through Royal Park. The Royal Park station is a good stop if you are visiting the Melbourne Zoo.

Trams

A tram line runs through the park. You can take route 58 to West Coburg or Toorak.

The route 19 tram runs along Royal Parade. This road is to the east of the park. Route 19 goes north to North Coburg and south to Flinders Street station.

Two other tram routes run along Flemington Road. This road is to the west of the park. Routes 57 and 59 go north to West Maribyrnong and Airport West. Both routes also go south to Flinders Street station.

Bikes and Walking

The Capital City Trail is a path for cyclists. It follows the train line through Royal Park. It starts near the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail. It goes past Melbourne Zoo. Then it goes under Royal Parade. It follows the old Inner Circle railway line to Princes Park.

Images for kids

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  The Burke and Wills expedition monument in the park, with part of the Melbourne skyline in the background.

See also

In Spanish: Royal Park, Melbourne para niños