Yarra Park has become the premier sporting precinct of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, with the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and numerous sporting fields and ovals, including the associated sporting complexes of Melbourne Park and Olympic Park. The park and sporting facilities are located in the suburb of East Melbourne. Melbourne is the capital and largest city of the state of Victoria, and the second largest city in Australia, with a population of 3,488,751 in the Melbourne metropolitan area (census 2001 [1]) and 52,118 in the City of Melbourne (which covers only the central city area). ... Motto: Peace and Prosperity Nickname: Garden State Other Australian states and territories Capital Melbourne Government Governor Premier Const. ... For more coverage of cricket, go to the Cricket portal. ... Melbourne Park at night. ... Olympic Park is a sporting precinct located a few kilometres from the CBD of Melbourne, Australia. ... East Melbourne is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ...

Tree-lined paths run parallel to Punt road and Swan street, and criss-cross the park. Some of the lawns are used for parking for sporting events. Two footbridges allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross the railway lines to the different sporting venues.

Around the MCG are sculptures to several Australian sporting heros including: Australian Rules footballers Ron Barassi and Dick Reynolds; cricketers Sir Donald Bradman and Keith Miller; athletics "golden girl" Betty Cuthbert. Nearby is an old eucalypt tree which shows a big scar caused by harvesting of bark for a canoe by the original inhabitants of the Yarra River Valley, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Australian rules football (also known as Aussie Rules or Footy) is a game played between two teams of 18 players, generally played on cricket ovals during the winter months. ... Ronald Dale Barassi (born 27 February 1936) is one of the greatest Australian rules football players and coaches of all time. ... Dick Reynolds (June 20, 1915 - September 2, 2002) was an Australian Rules player and coach. ... For more coverage of cricket, go to the Cricket portal. ... Sir Donald George Bradman, KBE, AC (August 27, 1908 – February 25, 2001) was an Australian cricket player who is universally regarded as the greatest batsman of all time, and one of Australias greatest popular heroes. ... Keith Ross Miller (born 28 November 1919, died 11 October 2004, Melbourne, Australia) was a famous Australian Test cricketer and World War II pilot. ... Athletics, also known as track and field or track and field athletics, is a collection of sport events. ... Elizabeth Cuthbert (born April 20, 1938 in Sydney) is Australian athlete, and a four-fold Olympic champion. ... The Wurundjeri are Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation, who occupied what is now Melbourne, Australia prior to European settlement of the area. ... This article is about an Australian Aboriginal nation. ...

Park History

Eighty One hectares of parkland were originally established in 1856 by Governor Charles La Trobe that extended from Punt Road to Swanston Street and from Wellington Parade to the Yarra River. Initially the area was used as police paddocks for the agistment of police horses. By the 1860s five recreational ovals were marked out: the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Richmond Cricket Ground, East Melbourne Cricket Club ovals (two), and an oval in Gosch's Paddock, south of Swan Street. In the southern section of the park land was set aside for the Friendly Society's Gardens (now Olympic Park), and the Scotch College oval. In 1874 Yarra Park Primary School was opened in the north east corner of the park. A housing subdivision was excised from the park in 1881. 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Charles La Trobe (March 20, 1801 - December 4, 1875) was the first lieutenant-governor of the state of Victoria. ... Swanston Street, looking north from the corner of Bourke Street Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the centre of Melbourne, Australia. ... The Yarras lower reaches travel through central Melbourne. ... A friendly society (sometimes called a mutual society or fraternal organization) is a mutual association for insurance-like purposes, and often, especially in the past, serving ceremonial and friendship purposes also. ...

Since this time major excisions have been made for Melbourne's eastern and southeastern rail lines, the Hurstbridge railway line, Olympic Park Sporting Complex, Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park's National Tennis Centre. However, Gosh's Paddock still links Yarra Park to the Yarra River at the Morrell Bridge for cyclists and pedestrians. The Hurstbridge railway line is a suburban railway in Melbourne, Australia. ... Olympic Park is a sporting precinct located a few kilometres from the CBD of Melbourne, Australia. ... Rod Laver Arena is located in Melbourne, Australia and plays host to the Australian Open in tennis. ...

External Links

• Melbourne City Council - Yarra Park
• Map
• Yarra Park Adventure Tour