Emerald Museum and Nobelius Heritage Park (Emerald)

Nobelius Heritage Park and Emerald Museum, two of Cardinia Shire's hidden gems, are located adjacent to the Emerald Lake Park.

Emerald Museum - The museum is set within the beautiful and historic park and tells the story of Emerald and district's colourful past through displays of memorabilia, photographs and documents, dating from early Aboriginal hunting to present day.

Emerald Museum and Nobelius Heritage Park (Emerald)

Emerald Museum and Nobelius Heritage Park (Emerald)

Nobelius Heritage Park - The park offers picnic facilities along with several walking trails amongst plantings of fruit, native and ornamental trees along with lavender, rosemary and salvias.

The park is listed by Heritage Victoria as of state significance as it represents the once famous Gembrook Nursery that started in 1886 by Swedish immigrant Carl Axel Nobelius and was the largest in the southern hemisphere at the time. At its peak the nursery covered more than 40 hectares and included what is now Emerald Lake Park and Emerald Country Club.

It is is now four and a half hectares and is preserved as a remnant of this historic enterprise, with many specimens of trees once stocked by the nursery.

Gembrook Nurseries known as Nobelius Nurseries was primarily a wholesale business, founded by Carl Axel Nobelius (1851 - 1921) and was operated by the Nobelius family for seventy years. Carl Nobelius is recognized as one of the pioneers of the horticulture industry in Australia; his nursery was the largest horticultural enterprise in the Southern Hemisphere from the late 1800's, and at its peak, exported fruit and ornamental trees to Europe, America, India, Japan and South Africa. Nobelius also supplied exotic trees to municipalities throughout Australia, thereby having a significant impact on the nation's landscapes.

The Nobelius Heritage Park includes plantings of many of the trees that were propagated and stocked by the nursery, including significant trees that are listed on the Victorian Heritage Database. Commemorative plantings and nursery structures also enhance the Park making it one of the Dandenongs' hidden gems.

Nobelius Heritage Park Guide

This guide provides information to discover more about the history of the nursery and key features of the heritage park.

Nobelius Heritage Park Map

1 MUSEUM
Emerald Museum opened in 1981, utilizing a room in the Emerald Hall, but soon the collection outgrew the space and the Museum Committee lobbied for a suitable building to properly store and display the growing collection.

The current Museum, sited within the grounds of the Nobelius Heritage Park was completed in 1993. It is designed to preserve documents, photographs and objects from dust, moisture and importantly fire attack.

The Museum is both an archival repository and display space for Emerald and District histories and has an extensive Nobelius Nursery archive, including ledgers, wage books, stocks records, original nursery catalogues, tools and photographs, many items dating from 1880's onwards. The collection and the park are recognized as of State and National significance.

2 THE NOBELIUS MEMORIAL SUNDIAL
The sundial is a memorial to C. A. Nobelius. The obelisk base is constructed of pink granite that was originally part of a stone marking Nobelius's grave in Macclesfield cemetery. The gravestone was damaged by a limb falling from a nearby tree. Rather than attempt to repair it, the Nobelius family agreed to use of the granite as a memorial in the park. It was originally sited near the rotunda and moved to its current location in 2012 following the construction of the multi-use path the previous year.

3 LINTON'S COTTAGE
The two-roomed cottage was constructed in the late 1950's after the Nobelius Nursery was sold to S.J. and I. Linton. The cottage was used both as an office and caretaker's residence. Later, the building was used for storage and meetings of the Museum and Park Committees of Management whilst waiting completion of the current Museum. It now is the workshop of the Blue Hills Lapidary Group.

4 ROTUNDA
The rotunda commemorates a popular Sunday afternoon pastime in Emerald early in the twentieth century. Local residents and visitors would follow a tourist track along Menzies Creek from "Cascades" guesthouse in Telopea Avenue to A'Vard Park, where they would gather for picnics and entertainment. In 1914 a rotunda was built by Jim Stuart to accommodate brass bands from Emerald and Cockatoo. Occasionally, visiting bands provided entertainment; unfortunately vandals destroyed the original rotunda. John Currie built this replica in 1996 under the direction of park curator Gus Ryberg. George A'Vard officially opened the new rotunda at a family picnic day in February 1997. Restorative work was carried out in 2011.

5 THE PACKING SHED
The Nobelius Packing Shed is situated on railway property and is not part of the park; however it is prominent in the park landscape and was a crucial part of the nursery enterprise. The railways made land available to Nobelius to construct the shed and siding so the packaged trees could be loaded directly onto railway wagons. The bare rooted trees were lifted from a holding area below the shed and packed in straw, wrapped in hessian and tied with twine ready for export to many parts of the world. The timber building was constructed in 1904 and the fireplaces and chimneys added in the 1930's.Below the packing shed was a fumigation chamber where `at a small cost' consignments could be fumigated before dispatch if requested by the customer. The interior of the shed has been restored and the building is now used by Puffing Billy for functions and dinners.

6 GUS RYBERG PLAQUE
Gus Ryberg was a keen historian and dedicated advocate for the Emerald community. He was an employee of Nobelius family and was instrumental in saving this last remnant of the Nursery, and preserving
it as a public Heritage Park. His effort to establish the Emerald Museum from its inception to current location within the park is a testament to his commitment to conserving local history.

7 APPLES
The early settlers, including Nobelius, established orchards for their own consumption and to sell the surplus. Fruit trees, especially apples, were the mainstay of the Nobelius Nursery throughout its history. By 1909 the nursery catalogue offered 207 varieties of apple for sale. Orchardists in the fruit growing areas of Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia and numerous retail nurseries were the main customers, but as the business expanded large consignments of fruit trees were sent to overseas markets. The trees in this plantation are heritage varieties found in Nobelius catalogues, with the exception of a tree known as 'Brookdale. This variety was planted in the winter of 2001 after being propagated by local nurseryman Leigh Asling from a very old tree from which generations of Emerald children had picked apples on their way to school.

8 CHINESE GOOSEBERRY( KIWI FRUIT)
Carl Axel Nobelius noticed Chinese gooseberry (Actinidia chinensis) plants on a trip to Japan in the early 1900's. He introduced this vigorous climbing plant to New Zealand where it was first grown in 1910.
The Chinese gooseberry (also known as Kiwi fruit) planted in the park is from the first consignment imported in the 1900's. This significant specimen was planted by Arch Nobelius.

9 KNIGHTIA EXCELSIA
This rare Rewarewa or Maori honeysuckle (Knightia Excelsia), introduced by Cliff Nobelius from New Zealand is described by the National Trust as an outstanding example of this species, and at 19.5 metres (measured in 1984) is the largest specimen of this tree in Victoria.

The Knightia is adaptable to most soils and positions, and is drought and frost resistant. An evergreen, it grows to a height of 20 metres with a spread of 3 metres. A young tree, a seedling from this specimen, has been planted some 20 metres east of here as a future replacement.

10 LAVENDER AND ROSEMARY
Plantations of lavender and rosemary were established in the area that is now Emerald Lake Park near Nobelius station for the purpose of distilling oil for cosmetics. This enterprise collapsed during WW1, but lavender was grown extensively in the 1930's by Carl Axel's son, Arch Nobelius. The site was moved to where the soil was more suitable to growing lavender, which is the present Lavender Farm Road, located on the boundary of the Cardinia dam reserve. In the late 1930's Arch Nobelius went into partnership with D'Urban Stuart. Up to twenty local workers were employed to cut the lavender with sickles before Stuart developed a horse drawn mechanical cutter. Lavender and rosemary plantations have existed in Nobelius Heritage Park since the 1980's and are grown for aesthetic appeal and historic recognition.

11 SALVIA GARDEN
The Salvia Study Group of the Herb Society of Victoria has been associated with Nobelius Heritage Park since 1990 when a trial plot was established below and to the east of the museum. Over 200 cultivars, varieties and hybrids - both perennials and annuals - were trialled in the following years with comparisons made to the growth of similar plants in another garden at the seaside suburb of Hampton. The salvia garden below the Packing Shed resulted from these trials, being established in 2008.Open days and plant sales are held by the salvia group when members are available to discuss the various plants in the collection. The salvias are a popular attraction for garden enthusiasts, photographers, birds, and insects.

12 FLAX
Carl Axel Nobelius grew New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax) in a plantation of about 100 acres along the creek in the now Emerald Park Lake. This was to secure supply of twine threatened by looming WW1 and used extensively in the nursery business to mark out plant rows and tying bundles of trees packed for transport. During the cutting and treating season up to 25 people were employed. A small dam was built to provide water for treating flax fibre and the precedent for the ornamental Lake Treganowan (now known as Emerald Lake). A two-storey steam driven mill was constructed below the present causeway across the lake. This mill operated from 1913 to 1926. From here the processed fibre was sent to Melbourne and Geelong to be made into rope and twing, The finished product was returned to Nobelius, any surplus being sold to other nurseryman and farmers.

Important Trees in the Park

Irish Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo)
Copper Beech (Fagus sylvatica)
Purple Beech (Fagus sylvatica purpurea)
Western Red Cedar (Thuja placata)
Tulip tree (Liriodendron sp)
Variegated Tulip tree (Liriodendron sp)
Chinese Holly (Rex cornstarch)
Illawarra Flame tree - in front of museum (Brachychiton acerifolius)
Conybeare's Cyprus (Cupressus conybearii)
Hoop Pine - next to Rosemary plantation (Araucaria cunninghamii)
Smoke bush - top of driveway (Colinus sp.)
Lombardy Poplar - below museum (Populus migrants 'Italica')
Variegated Elms - near cottage (Ulmus minor 'Variegata')
Atlantic Cedar - behind cottage (Cedrus Atlantic)
Liquidambar - picnic area (Liquidambar styraciflua)
Horizontal Elm - near water tank (Ulmus Galbra Horizontalis)
Evergreen Oak (Quercus ilex)

EUCALYPTUS
Rows of Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans) and Messmate/ Stringybark (Eucalyptus obliqua), planted in the 1980's by Gus Rvberg, commemorate the timber industry.

The Dandenong Ranges were covered in dense forest, and a ready market existed in growing Melbourne for timber use in building, paving blocks, palings, furniture and fuel. The timber was cut by hand and logs hauled to nearby mills by winch and bullock teams providing a source of employment for early settlers. Camden wollybutt (Eucalyptus macarthurii) planted to commemorate the production of eucalyptus oils from the 1870's. Joseph Bosisto, a pharmaceutical chemist, established an experimental plantation of Camden woollybutt (endemic to south-eastern NSW) along the lower side of what is now Lakeside Drive in Emerald and also on land he selected, located at Butterfield Park. Distilleries were at Emerald, Menzies Creek and Macclesfield.

Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) project

This project uses water sensitive urban design (WSUD) principals to reduce sediment and improve the quality of stormwater flowing into Treganowan and Nobelius lakes in Emerald Lake Park.

When it rains, the water runs over hard surfaces like roads and roofs but also over open fields collecting pollutants such as nutrients (e.g. phosphorus, nitrogen, sediments, heavy metals and oils. This water is directed into stormwater pipes which eventually discharge to our waterways.

WSUD offers an alternative solution to managing stormwater, it incorporates stormwater quality treatment measures with conventional drainage methods so that the water collected is cleaned before entering waterways.

WSUD is extremely beneficial in this environmentally sensitive and heritage significant site. It reduces the need for bulky pipes and pits and provides ecological benefits by removing up to 125 kilograms of nitrogen and 15 tonnes of sediments per year as well as protecting the landscape from erosion and creating habitat for wildlife.

Stormwater discharging into the Nobelius Heritage Park from the surrounding area is pre-treated in two large custom-designed sediment traps. The water sensitive urban design treatment train continues in a series of swales, rain gardens and cascading rock chutes that have been installed in the existing drainage line.

Upper rain garden (bio-retention system) - Rain gardens are sunken garden beds planted with deep-rooted plants and grasses grown in a loamy sand material (filter media). They treat stormwater runoff before it enters underground drainage systems that discharge into waterways.

Before entering the rain gardens, fast flowing water is dispersed by the rock and mesh borders (known as gabions). The inlet gabion pond slows the flow of water coming from the pipe and the gabion step-downs control the water speed as it moves over the change in levels.

Stormwater then pools over the rain gardens for a short time, allowing it to filter through the selected soil and vegetation before being collected by a slotted pipe at the bottom.

In large storm events, the water overflows the rain garden weirs into the grated pit at the outlet.

The Nobelius rain gardens have been planted with indigenous and native plants suited to wet and dry environments. Additional border landscaping includes ferns, strawberries and rhubarb.

Opening Hours:

Museum Opening Hours

Cost:

The entry to the museum is gold coin donation and Nobelius Heritage Park is free.

Review:

Nobelius Heritage Park is the only nationally significant nursery collection identified in Australia that is housed in the same nursery grounds in which it was developed.

The Emerald - Cockatoo multi-use trail passes through the park. Highlights and areas of the park include picnic facilities, water treatment gardens, Emerald Museum which has items of local area history including agricultural tools, Carl Axel Nobelius Memorial Sundial, information panels on pole throughout the park, trees with identification labels, lavender gardens, Salvia Gardens (collection of Salvias from all over the world and Nobelius Nurseries in an impressive building.

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