Carlton Gardens - New Parterre Gardens Beds and Scroll Garden - Rebuilding work has begun
The historic scroll garden in Carlton Gardens will be rebuilt along with the parterre gardens beds.
Council is already reconstructing the parterre gardens beds and has received $95,000 to cover half the cost of reconstructing the scroll garden.
The four parterre style gardens and the scroll Garden were originally constructed as part of the setting for the Royal Exhibition Building in 1880.
The grant funding will enable the reconstruction of the scroll garden to begin earlier than anticipated.
The funding comes from the National Heritage Investment Initiative, an Australian Government funding program for sites on the National Heritage List.
The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens were placed on both the World Heritage list and the National Heritage List in 2004.
The historic scroll garden in Carlton Gardens will be rebuilt along with the parterre gardens beds.
Council is already reconstructing the parterre gardens beds and has received $95,000 to cover half the cost of reconstructing the scroll garden.
The four parterre style gardens and the scroll Garden were originally constructed as part of the setting for the Royal Exhibition Building in 1880.
The grant funding will enable the reconstruction of the scroll garden to begin earlier than anticipated.
The funding comes from the National Heritage Investment Initiative, an Australian Government funding program for sites on the National Heritage List.
The Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens were placed on both the World Heritage list and the National Heritage List in 2004.
Quote:CARLONT GARDENS INFO
North of the city centre, Carlton Gardens surround the majestic Royal Exhibition Building, which was built for the Great Exhibition of 1880. A significant political landmark, the building was the site of the first Commonwealth Parliament and for 27 years, the Victorian parliament met at the Exhibition Building while the National Legislature used the Victorian Parliament building. Many exhibitions are still held in the Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens, including the International Flower and Garden Show.
A popular picnic and barbecue area, the gardens are home to an array of wildlife, including possums. Tree-lined avenues, a majestic fountain, formal flowerbeds and miniature lakes are a feature of the Gardens. As well, the Melbourne Museum and IMAX Cinema border the northern section of the gardens.
Address
Victoria Parade, Carlton and Nicholson streets, Carlton
How to get there
City Circle tram or number 86 or 96 along Bourke Street to the Nicholson Street entrance
Melway map reference 1B P4
Quote:More Carlton Gardens Info
The Carlton Gardens are in two parts: an axial garden layout in the southern part of the site and a northern garden that was landscaped after the close of the two great nineteenth century exhibitions. Bound by Victoria, Rathdowne, Carlton and Nicholson Streets at the edge of Melbourneâs city centre, the entire block remains intact as originally designated by the Victorian Parliament in 1878.
During the 1880 and 1888 international exhibitions the southern portion of the garden became a pleasure garden, with many attractions. The South Carlton Gardens, as it is now known, continues to be used for parkland and exhibition purposes. It remains essentially as designed by William Sangster and Joseph Reed. The southern entrance to the building, on the city side, is the apex of the design. A level promenade was created along the front of the building, and a semi-circular space has as its centrepiece an ornate fountain. A ceremonial approach is provided by a 24-metre wide avenue, and two other paths form a radiating axis from the fountain. In 1888 another fountain, the Westgarth Fountain, was added.
Temporary exhibition annexes covered the northern portion of this site during the 1880-81 international exhibition. Hodgkinson designed this area to become a complementary landscape to the building, once the temporary pavilions were removed. Parts of this North Garden, essentially the main east-west path and some trees, are remnants of the 1880 and earlier 1855 La Trobe Bateman layout. It was generally restored in line with Hodgkinson's 1882 plan, following the demolition of the temporary annexes after the 1888 Exhibition had finished.
The aesthetic significance of the Carlton Gardens lies in its representation of the nineteenth century Gardenesque style. This includes parterre garden beds, significant avenues including the southern carriage drive and 'Grand Allée', the path system, specimen and clusters of trees, two small lakes and three fountains. The formal, ornamental palace garden, which was the context for the Great Hall of the 'Palace of Industry', is substantially intact.