Royal Park is the City of Melbourne’s largest park. It is a 169 hectare Crown Land reserve in the north of the municipality. There are roads, a rail line and a tram line through the park. The park is on the Victorian Heritage Register.

The park contains key destinations of Natureplay, Native Grass Circle, Australian Native Garden, Urban Camp, Trin Warren Tam-boore Wetlands, 12 sporting ovals, 7 pavilions, a 9-hole golf course and club house, 3 caretaker dwellings, 2 tennis clubs, 1 park maintenance depot and the heritage listed structures of Women’s Pavilion, Walmsley House and Anzac Hall. It also contains remnant vegetation that is unique to Melbourne and supports diverse array of flora and fauna, including the White’s Skink. It is used for a range of recreation pursuits from dog walking to Swordcraft.

The master plan study area does not include Melbourne Zoo or the Royal Children’s Hospital, which have different reservations and are managed as separate entities to the park. The Melbourne Sports Centres Parkville (formerly named the State Netball Hockey Centre) is within the Royal Park reservation but is also managed separately. We work with these land managers to ensure Royal Park is a destination for all.

The name ‘Royal Park’ was first used in 1854 when the site was reserved for public purposes.

The City of Melbourne is refreshing the master plan to guide the management, protection and enhancement of Royal Park over the next 20 years.

A park master plan sets out the long-term vision and guides the future management of a park. The principles and recommendations of a park master plan act as the roadmap to the vision from the here and now. A park master plan protects what’s important as well as allowing council to consider appropriate supporting infrastructure including but not limited to toilets, shade, paths and improvements to sporting infrastructure.

Royal Park only looks the way it does by following the 2 previous master plans. The park is not in the original shape and form from 1934 when Council first started to manage the park. It has been through many changes in that time.

The park is now a carefully planned, considered and managed landscape. What you see today has taken place with incremental changes over time. The previous master plans will be the foundation for the revised Master Plan. A Master Plan needs to be updated regularly to ensure the intent of the plan is what is needed to support the park and its surrounding community into the future.

Developing a new master plan requires a combination of research, analysis, planning and key stakeholder and community engagement. The analysis will include research into community use, heritage, landscape characters, traffic and parking, horticulture, and other social and environmental values of the park.

The master plan will have a vision for the future and seek to guide Councils works in the park where the City of Melbourne has management responsibility.

Council is engaging a landscape architect to review and update the Royal Park Master Plan, ensuring it reflects our community’s shared vision. This includes:

• translating community feedback into practical design outcomes
• ensuring the plan reflects the park’s unique character, values and landscape
• providing technical expertise to shape a cohesive and achievable long-term vision for Royal Park.