Kings Domain

Kings Domain
Government House in the south-east corner of Kings Domain
Location of the King's Domain in Melbourne
Interactive map of Kings Domain
Type	Urban park
Location	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Coordinates	37°49′33″S 144°58′27″E / 37.82583°S 144.97417°E / -37.82583; 144.97417
Area	36 ha (89 acres)
Opened	1854; 172 years ago (1854)
Status	Open
Paths	Sealed
Terrain	Undulating hills riverbank
Water	Yarra River
Vegetation	Australian natives lawns European gardens
Public transit	– Anzac, Flinders Street  – St Kilda Road trams  – bus routes  – from Federation Square
Landmarks	Sidney Myer Music Bowl Shrine of Remembrance Government House Indigenous Australians Remains Memorial La Trobe's Cottage Various statues and memorials
Facilities	Seating shelters toilets
Website	www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/kings-domain
Australian National Heritage List
Official name	Melbourne's Domain Parkland and Memorial Precinct
Type	Historic
Criteria	A, B
Designated	11 February 2018
Reference no.	106305
Victorian Heritage Register
Official name	Domain Parklands
Type	Registered place
Designated	25 July 2013
Reference no.	H2304
Category	Parks, Gardens and Trees
Heritage overlay no.	HO398

The Kings Domain is a 36-hectare (89-acre) urban parkland and an iconic part of the city centre of Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. The Domain surrounds Government House Reserve, the home of the governors of Victoria, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, and the Shrine of Remembrance. The Domain is important to the people of the Eastern Kulin nation and also has historical importance for its association with the early settlement of Melbourne and the foundation of British colonial administration in Victoria.

Established in 1854 and initially cleared of trees, the Kings Domain gradually grew and extended further north-west. The area comprises lawns and pathways set among non-native and native Australian mature trees, a mixture of deciduous and evergreens. In the 19th century the Kings Domain was managed by the Director of the Botanic Gardens, so many of the trees were planted by Baron Ferdinand von Mueller and later by William Guilfoyle.

There are many memorial statues and sculptures spread throughout the Kings Domain.

Kings Domain is part of a 123-hectare (300-acre) larger area of parklands directly south-east of the city, bounded by the Yarra River, Anderson Street, Domain Road and St Kilda Road, collectively known as the Domain Parklands. In addition to the Kings Domain and Kings Doman South, these parklands also include Alexandra Gardens, Alexandra Park, Queen Victoria Gardens, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne Gardens (Royal Botanic Gardens), Melbourne Observatory, the Shrine of Remembrance Reserve and Government House Reserve.^[1]: 12

The park is located on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurung people; and is administered by the City of Melbourne.^[1]: 11

The Domain Parkland and Memorial Precinct^[a] was added to the Australian National Heritage List on 12 February 2018 by the Australian Government in recognition of the Domain's association with Australia's national heritage – in particular, as a place where the Traditional Owners asserted control to ensure the return and (re)burial of their ancestors is in accordance with their cultural protocols. The precinct also demonstrates a rare government domain with strong Victorian era components of significant to the Australian people.^[2]

Additionally, the entire Domain Parklands were added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 25 July 2013 by the Government of Victoria in recognition of its historical, archaeological, aesthetic, architectural, scientific (horticultural), and social significance to the State of Victoria.^[3]

Some notable elements within the Domain were also listed on various heritage registers, including the:

• Government House Complex – added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 20 August 1982^[4] and to the now defunct Register of the National Estate on 21 March 1978^[5]
• Melbourne Observatory – added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 20 August 1982^[6] and to the now defunct Register of the National Estate on 21 March 1978^[7]
• Shrine of Remembrance – added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 14 December 1991;^[8] and to the now defunct Register of the National Estate on 27 October 1998^[9][b]
• La Trobe's Cottage – added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 13 April 1995^[12] and to the now defunct Register of the National Estate on 21 March 1978^[13]
• Sidney Myer Music Bowl – added to the Australian National Heritage List on 21 September 2005;^[14] to the Victoria Heritage Register on 18 February 1999;^[15] and to the now defunct Register of the National Estate on an unknown date^[16]
• Boer War Monument – added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 14 June 2007^[17]
• Lord Hopetoun Memorial – added to the Victorian Heritage Register on 10 May 2007^[18]

The heritage-listed Sidney Myer Music Bowl is a world standard, architecturally significant, tensile structure and outdoor performance venue. It was officially opened by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on 12 February 1959 with an audience of some 30,000 people, and has remained a popular location for Melburnians.^[14][15]

The heritage-listed Shrine of Remembrance is one of the largest war memorials in Australia. It was built as a memorial to the men and women of Victoria who died in World War I, but soon came to be seen as Australia's major memorial to all the 60,000 Australians who served in that war.^[8]

The heritage-listed Governor La Trobe's Cottage is an historic cottage built in 1839 for the first superintendent of the Port Phillip District of the Colony of New South Wales, Charles La Trobe, and his family. The cottage was constructed out of prefabricated materials imported from England on five hectares (twelve acres) at Jolimont. It is one of the few surviving examples still standing of prefabricated houses from this period of history and gives an insight into early colonial domestic architecture and living arrangements. In 1963 the cottage was relocated to the Kings Domain as an historical landmark, and is now located backing on to Dallas Brooks Drive.^[12]

The heritage-listed Government House is the office and official residence of the governor of Victoria since 1934. Between 1901 to 1930 it was used as the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia. Built between 1871 and 1876 in the Victorian Italianate style, it reflects the extravagant style of the period arising from a booming economy due to the Victorian gold rushes.^[4]

The Kings Domain Resting Place is a memorial for the remains of Indigenous People marked by a granite burial rock honouring the Aboriginal People of Victoria, including the local Wurundjeri. The skeletal remains of 38 Aboriginal People are buried here, after they were handed over to the Aboriginal Community in 1985 by the Melbourne Museum after the Koorie Heritage Trust proposed legal action.

Over many years, the Kings Domain has been a popular location to erect status and memorials, to the point where, according to some, it has become clogged.^[19] The description on the Australian National Heritage List was more subtle:^[2]

Over a long period the place has been recognised as a home for memorials to important events and people. In this way the park is a significant holder of the city's memory. The many memorials located within the place indicate the high esteem held for the area by the community.

However, in its 2019–2039 Master Plan, the City of Melbourne announced that it would not permit any additional large memorials or monuments, and stated:^[1]: 27

There are many memorials within the Kings Domain. Due to its location, character and high profile, the Kings Domain is frequently requested as the location to place new memorials. While each existing memorial has merit, the ad hoc accumulation over time has resulted in visual clutter and limitations on the way the parklands can be used… It is proposed that no further large memorials be placed in the Kings Domain, and any future memorialisation only be considered where it could become part of the landscape rather than as a specific element.

The following statues or memorials have been erected in the Kings Domain and the adjacent heritage area:^[3][20]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (May 2026)

Date completed	Honouree or name of work	Image	Type of memorial	Description	Notes
29 May 1904	Boer War Monument		Monument made of sandstone with a bluestone base by George De Lacy Evans	Honours Australians who died in the Second Boer War, funded by members of the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles Regiment	[17][21]
30 January 1908	Edmund FitzGibbon Memorial		Granite statue by James White	Erected in honour of Fitzgibbon, the first town clerk of Melbourne, located on St Kilda Road	[22]
15 June 1911	Lord Hopetoun[c]		Bronze equestrian statue	Facing St Kilda Road near the entry to Government House Drive, a result of a public subscription, unveiled by Sir John Fuller, accompanied by Billy Hughes	[18]
21 July 1920	King Edward VII		Bronze statue by Sir Bertram Mackennal RA		[23]
1925	Water Nymph		Statue
1928	Apollo and Hercules		Statue
10 May 1926	War Horses Memorial		Granite horse trough	Erected by the Purple Cross Society in honour of the horses lost in World War I and funded by the Boer War Light Horsemen. Unveiled by Sir John Monash	[24]
12 November 1926	Edith Cavell		Marble bust sculpted by Margaret Baskerville	Cavell was an English nurse who helped English and French prisoners escape from Belgium during World War I, and was tried by the Germans and executed on 12 October 1915. Funded by public subscription, relocated 1961	[25]
24 November 1934	Pioneer Women's Memorial Garden		Sunken garden area, with a blue-tiled grotto, which contains a small bronze figure of a woman, designed by Hugh Linaker	Dedicated in tribute to the European pioneer women of the colony, during the centenary year of the founding of Melbourne. Various plaques have been installed in the Garden in honour of pioneer Australian women.	[26]
1946	Peace Garden		Stone arbours
12 November 1950	Sir John Monash		Bronze equestrian statue by William Leslie Bowles	Dedicated as Commander in Chief of the Australian Forces during World War I, unveiled by the Governor-General, William McKell	[27]
20 July 1952	King George V		Bronze, granite and sandstone sculpture by William Leslie Bowles	A public meeting on 6 February 1937 decided to erect a memorial for the late King and launched a public appeal. Construction was delayed by World War II	[28]
1953	Melbourne Rotarians		Seat
February 1960	Sir Thomas Blamey		Granite and bronze statue by Raymond B. Ewers	Stands on the corner of Government House Drive and Birdwood Avenue and honours Australia's first Field Marshal and his insistence to the British command that Australian forces remain as cohesive units under Australian command.	[29]
1964	Miraggio (also known as Seated Figure)		Bronze sculpture by Pino Conte	Donated by an anonymous ‘lover of Italy’. Following the re-landscaping, Miraggio was reinstalled in October 2001. To be faithful to the donor’s wishes and the apparent intent behind the work, the figure is installed as if she were part of the audience.	[30]
7 May 1965	Edward George Honey		Bronze and aluminium plaque on a large stone, unknown maker	Located on Birdwood Avenue. Honey was a Melbourne-born journalist who campaigned for, and was one of those instrumental in, the adoption of the Two-minute silence on Armistice Day to pause and reflect on those who have lost their lives in war.	[31]
1966	Floral Clock
1970s	Genie, Pathfinder and Phoenix		Statues
18 December 1981	The Walker Fountain		Concrete fountain designed by Mobelt, Digregorio & Associates	Donated by Ron Walker, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, and his wife Barbara as a gift to the people of Victoria. It is located on Linlithgow Avenue and consists of a small lake with hundreds of streams of water, including underwater lights. It replaced the Edmund Fitzgibbon Memorial on the same site.	[32]
11 December 1994	Shelter of Peace		Timber sculpture by Max Chester	Honours the people of Malta, awarded the George Cross, for their role in defence of the country during World War II. Erected by the Maltese community of Melbourne	[33][34]
15 August 1995	Sir Edward "Weary" Dunlop		Statue made from bronze, granite and metal spikes from the Burma-Thailand Railway by Peter Corlett	Dunlop was known as a courageous leader and compassionate doctor and showed great leadership while serving as prisoner of war in Changi Prison and on the Burma-Thailand Railway during World War II. On the steps leading to the sculpture are the names of other doctors who were also POWs at Changi.	[35]
1999	Tilly Aston		Sculpture of three bronze bells by Anton Hasell	Aston was a blind disability activist who founded the Victorian Association of Braille Writers, and later went on to establish the Association for the Advancement of the Blind. On the sculpture there is an embedded image of Aston with text in embossed lettering and in braille	[36]
2 November 2001	Australian and Hellenic men and women		Sculpture of 12 columns of granite, cast bronze, and white marble by Evangelos Sakaris	Commissioned by the Greek community of Melbourne, it honours those who served in Greece and in the battle of Crete during World War II	[37]
2002	Victoria Police		Bluestone, Riverina granite, coloured stone, bronze sculpture by Anton Hasell and Marcus Ward	Stands as an ongoing dedication and reminder of the service provided by those killed in the line of duty	[38]
13 April 2015	Australian Turkish Friendship Memorial		Stainless steel, granite, bluestone, copper sculpture by Matthew Harding	Commissioned by the Victorian RSL's Turkish Sub-branch honours WWI fallen soldiers and is a tribute to Australian-Turkish relations	[39][40][41][42]

Many native animals live in and visit King's Domain including the Brush-tailed and Ring-tailed possums, Tawny Frogmouths, Magpies, Gould's wattled bats, Eastern Freetailed bats and Grey headed flying foxes, Native water rats (Rakali), Kookaburras and several varieties of waterbirds.^{[citation needed]}

• Parks and gardens of Melbourne
• Heritage gardens in Australia
• List of heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne
• List of public art in Melbourne

• Official website
  • "Kings Domain". City of Melbourne. 26 July 2008. Archived from the original on 26 July 2008.
  • "Domain Parklands". City of Melbourne. n.d. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
    • "Domain Parklands Master Plan: 2019-39" (PDF). City of Melbourne. June 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
• Doherty, Ben; Miletic, Daniella (12 April 2006). "Aboriginal protest order makes unhappy campers". The Age. Retrieved 25 May 2026.
  • Wikinews coverage of the protest