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Melba Park

Other Name Reserve for Public Gardens Location 22 Market Street, LILYDALE VIC 3140 - Property No 1418 File Number 459 Level Included in Heritage Overlay

[1/2] Melba Park [2/2] Melba Highway

Statement of Significance

Melba Park, named after the famous Dame Nellie Melba, has high local significance as an important township recreational reserve, which was created as the result of the original 1867 township plan. It has been used for a variety of recreational purposes for over a century and is an important part of the town's heritage. It is notable for a number of remaining features, which include the Mafeking Tree; the Melba gates erected in 1927 by Dame Nellie Melba in memory of her father, David Mitchell; and the 1925 Lilydale Croquet Club Pavilion, relocated to the park in 1928. The park was the site once of an 1887 gasworks, 1880s Lilydale Market, the 1920s Melba Hall, and the 1893 Lilydale Baths, replaced by the Olympic-sized pool in 1959. Melba Park forms part of an important township precinct, close to the main Lilydale township shopping centre, covering an area surrounding the Museum of Lillydale (former Shire Offices) and Athenaeum Theatre (former Athenaeum Hall).