Covering almost 19 acres, Central Park is embellished with avenue trees, shrubs and flowerbeds and adjoined by an open oval for cricket, soccer and other team sports.
It is home to one of the oldest conservatories in Victoria and is one of a handful of Edwardian public gardens.
Central Park Conservatory opening hours
| Tuesday |
9am to 2.30pm |
| Friday |
12.30pm to 2.30pm |
Please note: staff may not always be present during these times, however visitors are welcome to enter and explore the building.
If you’d like a guided tour, we can arrange one with a gardener or a member of the Orchid Club.
To book a tour, please contact Customer Service at 8290 1333.
Sports grounds
Eco-art installation
Lost Lands Found
Amidst Central Park's carefully maintained green spaces in Malvern East, a special eco-art installation brings a message of reconnection with our local landscapes.
Lost Lands Found is a 4x4 metre living installation packed with indigenous flowers, grasses, herbs and lilies that once flourished throughout Victoria prior to European settlement. Less than 1% of this vibrant habitat remains today.
The space exists as a small window into the past, a place to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the land and the unique native flora that once existed in Stonnington, now re-established within the modern gardens we know today. Creator, Wemba Wemba-Wergaia educator and ecologist Dean Stewart explains that Lost Lands Found intends to “revive some of the lost connections between people and place, community and earth in a real and intimate way (in order) to reconcile ourselves with the land.”
Lost Lands Found includes over 60 densely planted species that provide a home in which native insects can thrive. Visitors are encouraged to get to know local Stonnington flora and identify native plants that can be easily added to home gardens of any size to provide habitat and support local biodiversity.
“The deeper you look, the deeper you understand! Reconciliation is not just between black and white; it is a reconciliation of us all, as a people, back with the land. For we are all the newest custodians and caretakers of these ancient lands, which we now all call our home.”
– Dean Stewart
Playground
Central Park boasts two playgrounds on the Kingston Street side of the park.
The playground closest to Wattletree Road is for all ages with swings and a large central climbing structure.
Just south of this playground is a nature play space opened in 2022. This playground is perfect for toddlers and younger children who will enjoy lots of sensory play, plus water play, swings, slides, a cubby house, carousel and in ground trampoline.
History
In 1906, the then Malvern Council purchased an undeveloped land on the Gascoigne Estate. The area had formed part of a golf course that spanned over the nearby Hedgeley Dene Gardens.
The park was laid out with its sportsground and recreational gardens in 1908.
For more information, contact the Stonnington History Centre.
Public transport
The nearest public transport services are:
- Tram route 5 along Wattletree Road
- Bus route 624 along Burke Road
Use Public Transport Victoria's Journey planner.