What are the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne?
The Carlton Gardens are a Victorian-era park in Melbourne surrounding the Royal Exhibition Building and Melbourne Museum. Together with the building, they are a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The gardens cover about 26 hectares on the northern edge of the CBD. They were laid out in the mid-1800s and redesigned for the 1880 International Exhibition by architect Joseph Reed.
Avenues of plane trees, elms and other European trees line paths in a classic Victorian style. The gardens feature ornamental lakes, flowerbeds and the Hochgurtel Fountain, built for the 1880 exhibition.
Events and family fun
The Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show is held in and around the gardens each year. A large children's playground in the northern section is popular with families.
The southern half is formally designed, while the northern part is more open, with lawns used for picnics and relaxation.
The gardens and the Royal Exhibition Building were listed as World Heritage in 2004, recognised as a rare surviving example of the grand exhibition venues of the nineteenth century.
Paths across the gardens make them a popular route for workers, students and visitors walking between the city and the inner suburbs of Carlton and Fitzroy, known for their cafes, terrace houses and Italian restaurants on Lygon Street.
Did You Know?
Possums and many birds live in the Carlton Gardens' mature trees.