Back to search results » Back to search page »

Footscray Railway Station Reserve

Location

McNab Avenue, FOOTSCRAY VIC 3011 - Property No G13094

File Number

G13094

Level

Regional

Statement of Significance

Footscray Railway Reserve, created in the mid-nineteenth century at the junction of two of Victoria's earliest railway lines, landscaped c.1907-10, and maintained in public use since that date, is of Regional cultural significance:

- a now-rare surviving example of a railway reserve landscaped in the Edwardian period; its main attributes are its close proximity to the railway station and permanent way, path layout, mature tree planting, shrub plantings, lawns, bandstand, landscaping details (such as basalt edges);

- for its long and continuous public recreational use;

- for its retention of a bandstand and associated land form; this is an extant example of a relatively uncommon building type, in its cast iron construction it is linked with late nineteenth and early twentieth century examples and is one of few bandstands in Victoria to use be primarily constructed of metal; and

- for its aesthetic qualities, derived from the mature trees, palm avenue, landscaping details, elegant bandstand, dramatic spatial qualities (especially the railway cutting) and close link with railway activity (such as the station, which forms a focus for the park).

Group