Domain Parklands

An extensive parklands near the city centre, the Domain Parklands form an extensive patchwork of different parks, gardens and reserves, including The Domain, King s Domain, the Shrine Reserve, Alexandra Park, Queen Victoria Gardens and Alexandra Gardens right on the the inner city s doorstep.

The Domain, which includes King s Domain, encircles the Government House Reserve, and the Royal Botanical Gardens and extends to the Yarra River. The strong visual relationship with the spine of the City grid has been instrumental in the Domain s development as the setting for Government House, the Shrine of Remembrance and other formal memorials.

Special features include the Grotto (originally a quarry, now a fern gully in King s Domain); the imposing Observatory Gate complex of the Royal Botanic Gardens; an imposing statue of King George V after whom the parkland is named; the massive Art Deco-styled Shrine of Remembrance which honours Australia s war dead; a re-burial stone, marking the site of Aboriginal remains; the Pioneer Women s Memorial Garden created in 1935 to recognise the contribution of Victoria s women pioneers; the award-winning Sidney Myer Music Bowl, opened in 1959, which hosts popular and classical musical events; The Tan walking and jogging track  a magnet for city workers exercising in their lunch breaks and whole families on weekends.

Governor La Trobe s Cottage; the Stapley Pavilion (also known as the Gazebo), set in the open King s Domain lawn, takes advantage of views of Government House, and the Royal Botanical Gardens. A great place to relax and unwind for a whole day if you like.

Government House: located by the Royal Botanic Gardens on the highest part of the hill, it was completed in 1876 it is of a very attractive Italianate design. the buildings is open to the public every Australia Day between 10am and 3pm. Australia Day is always on 26th January. You ll enter in the State Ballroom; here s a musicians gallery at one end and the State Chair at the other. This chair is only ever used by the Monarch or the Governor. This Ballroom was said to be the largest in the British Empire and a complaint about it was that unless you invited 1400 people it seemed empty. From the Ballroom you ll join a queue through a number of the other fascinating rooms including the apartments. Entry on open day is both free and very popular, so get there early.

La Trobe s Cottage: an historic cottage, built in 1839 by the first Superintendent of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales, Charles La Trobe, and his family. The cottage was constructed out of prefabricated materials imported from England on 50,000 square metres of land at Jolimont, near where the Melbourne Cricket Ground now stands. When the colony achieved independence from New South Wales in 1851 La Trobe was made the first Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria and, although land had been reserved in Kings Domain as the site for a future Government House, he remained living with his family in this cottage at Jolimont until his departure for England in 1854. Guided tours of the cottage and Government House can be booked with the National Trust on 9656 9800.

The Sidney Myer Music Bowl was the first major purpose-built outdoor cultural venue to be constructed in Melbourne and was designed to accommodate a completely new scale of live outdoor performance events. It was officially opened by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 12 February 1959, with an audience of 30,000 people, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. Since opening, the Bowl has been the scene of a wide range of memorable events and performances for large numbers of Melbournians. It seats more than 2,000 with room for a further 11,000 on its landscaped lawn.

Shrine of Remembrance: was built between July 1928 and November 1934 in remembrance of those 114,000 men and women of Victoria who served and those who died in the Great War of 1914-1918. 89,100 of them served overseas and 19,000 did not return. The people of Victoria felt that their debt to these volunteers, who had defended them at such great costs to themselves and their families, should be recognised by a worthy permanent monument of remembrance.

Although the country was faced with frightful unemployment and financial difficulty in the late 1920s and the 1930s, so great was the gratitude of the people that the huge amount required to build the Shrine was raised or promised within six months from the opening of the appeal in 1928. The Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne s most recognisable landmark, is open from 10am to 5pm daily, except on Good Friday and Christmas Day.

Location: St Kilda Road, Melbourne

Getting There: walk south over the Princess Bridge or the pedestrian footbridge across the Yarra River. The Domain is the parkland on the left hand side of St Kilda Rd.