Welcome to Parkville Gardens

Parkville Gardens is a unique eco-friendly neighbourhood in the very north-west corner of Parkville. It has a history and character of its own.  

Today it’s home to a diverse population of about 2000 people. It houses the Reggio Calabria Club, the L’Unica reception centre and a retirement and aged care facility (Mercy Place). The Avondale Football Club trains and plays in the grounds of the Reggio Calabria Club. Dementia Australia has an office here, and there’s a childcare centre as well as a couple of small businesses. That’s quite a lot for an area of just 20 hectares bounded by Park St, Oak St and City Link! 

A grand history 

Parkville Gardens is a tiny remnant of the ancestral lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. In 1845, soon after European settlement, a large area north of Melbourne town was set aside for public use. Royal Park survives but over the years much of this land has been used for other purposes. There’s been a farm (1858), a zoo (1862), a home for neglected and orphaned children (1866), a residence for homeless people (1882), and hospitals for the aged, infirm and mentally ill.  A central feature of Parkville Gardens is the heritage-listed building opened in 1907 that became the Royal Park Psychiatric Hospital.   

More recent times

Parkville Gardens was developed by the state government as the athletes’ village for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. After the Games …

• The athletes’ accommodation was modified and sold to private owners;
• More homes, townhouses and social housing units were built;
• The heritage building became apartments;
• A major retirement and aged-care facility (Mercy Place) was built; and
• A row of high-rise apartment blocks continues to be constructed by a partnership between the state government and developers.

Its appeal

A major factor in the area’s appeal is its garden-like character. The streets are tree-lined and several small parks plus a larger reserve add to its attractiveness. 

Major facilities are located nearby. The most engaging of these is Royal Park itself, one of Melbourne’s greatest treasures. This in turn contains the Zoo, many playing fields, and the State Netball and Hockey Centre. Close by are other significant complexes: a large-scale CSL production facility, youth justice and mental health institutions, and Royal Melbourne Hospital’s geriatric campus. A little further afield lies the University of Melbourne, University High School and a cluster of hospitals and medical research centres. Car travel to the airport is made quick and convenient by CityLink.

The houses themselves have special appeal. They are spacious (three-, four-, and five-bedroom) and designed to be environmentally-friendly, with a 6-star energy rating, rooftop solar for hot water, rainwater tanks and double glazing.

Some unusual features

This section of Parkville has a few interesting administrative quirks. Most of it falls within the boundaries of the City of Melbourne, but one sliver of land lies in the City of Moreland. Municipal services are provided by the City of Melbourne while the open spaces are cared for by Parks Victoria.  Parkville Gardens is part of the federal seat of Melbourne but is a geographical appendix to the state seat of Brunswick. Taken over by the state government for the 2006 Commonwealth Games, it remains for planning purposes under the control of the Minister for Planning, not the City of Melbourne.

The community

The residential population has a rich variety of components – families with young children, international students, retired people, singles and couples, the frail aged, the socially disadvantaged – and features a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and cultural traditions.  

As a community it is very young, still in its infancy, in fact. It only began to exist after the Commonwealth Games in 2006 and is still evolving. One of the challenges it faces is the lack of a community centre where residents can meet one another and identify issues of common interest.  There are no shops apart from one café, and public transport is largely limited to an hourly bus service, with trams and trains about 20 minutes’ walk away.  

The Parkville Gardens Residents’ Association (PGRA) was formed in 2008 to address these sorts of issues. The biggest threat it had to grapple with was the East-West Link and this remains a major concern. The PGRA is committed to strengthening the sense of community among residents and to continual improvement of the amenity of the neighbourhood. One recent sign of success has been the installation of bus shelters, as well as support for a lower speed limit in the area. Ongoing bread-and-butter issues include bus services, traffic and parking, safe footpaths, school zoning and community connection •