Queens Park Heritage Trail (Moonee Ponds)
This wonderful 3.5km walk begins and ends at beautiful Queens Park. As well as taking in the pleasant surrounds of Queens Park, this walk also passes many fascinating sites of historical significance. Begin your walk on the south-west corner of the park next to the war memorial.
Many of the buildings you will see on this walk are private residences. Please enjoy the sights from the street, and resist the temptation to venture onto any of the properties.
Difficulty: Easy
Surface: Concrete, bitumen
Limited wheelchair access: Although parts of the trail described are grass, Queens Park can still be enjoyed from pathways through the park.
Parking: Parking is available in the median strip on Mt Alexander Road and around Queens Park.
Queens Park Heritage Trail Map
Queens Park Heritage Trail Walk Notes
1 Queens Park
Queens Park was originally used as a water reserve for travelling stock. It was also known to fortune seekers as the first camping ground on the way to the gold fields. Burke and Wills camped near here on the first night of their journey. The name Queens Park was selected to honour and commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria. On your trip around Queens Park, take time to enjoy the bird life and some of the magnificent flora. You should find Elms, Pepper Trees, Bunya Bunyas, Moreton Bay Figs, Flame Trees and more. The two cannons at the corner of Pascoe Vale Road and Kellaway Avenue were presented to the citizens of Essendon in 1906. Look for the colourful mosaics around the old curator's cottage. The cottage dates back to 1891.
Leave Queens Park and head north along Mt Alexander Road.
2 Mt Alexander Road
Mt Alexander Road was the original main road through the north-east to Sydney. It was a toll road with a toll gate at the intersection of Remington and Macaulay Roads. It was so named because it led to Mt Alexander near Castlemaine, one of the main gold fields.
3 St Monica's Church
Worship on this site began in 1880 in an iron school building relocated from Pascoe Vale Road. In 1884 the first brick church was built, which was replaced by the present spectacular Art Deco building in 1934.
4 Salvation Army Citadel
Formerly the South Essendon Methodist Church. A small wooden church was built in Nicholson Street in 1856 by the Primitive Methodist Society. That building was moved to this site in 1876 and used as a church and Sunday School until the front part of the brick building was erected in 1882. The transepts were added in 1911, and in 1923 the wooden building was replaced by a brick Sunday School. The Salvation Army acquired the site in 1982.
5 Cook's Blacksmith and Shoeing Forge
882 Mt Alexander Road. This was one of the many blacksmiths en route to the goldfields, and the building was still in use until recently.
Continue along Mt Alexander Road and cross at the pedestrian crossing.
6 The Royal Hotel
The Royal Hotel started out as a small wooden building built in 1873. Peter Pitches was the licensee. Turn left into Russell Street
7 Essendon Railway Station
By the mid-1800s, Essendon had become a residential centre with plenty of movement to and from Melbourne. The taxi companies in Melbourne, however, refused to travel to Essendon as it exhausted their horses and they lost city business, unless they were guaranteed a full passenger load for their return trip. In 1859, Peter and Robert McCracken and Hugh Glass successfully floated a company and built a railway to Essendon. The first train ran in 1860.
Turn right at Buckley Street, and pause at Rose Street.
8 Rose Street
With the exception of the Commonwealth Bank, the shops here are predominantly original buildings built before World War 1.
Cross Buckley Street, and head south down Leslie Road.
9 Lowther Hall
Anglican Grammer School, 17-29 Leslie Road. This majestic property was originally the home of Coiler McCracken whose father Robert, and two brothers, owned a brewery in Flinders Street, Melbourne. The foundation stone was laid by Coiler himself on 8 August 1890 and building proceeded steadily for the next two years at a total cost of $35,000. The name of the building, 'Earlsbrae', was conceived long before the work began and was a dual symbol combining the family name of Earl and the Scottish suffix 'brae', which signified a hillside bordering a riverside plain. (Note the property's close proximity to the Maribyrnong River).
10 Number 30 Leslie Road
This house was formerly known as 'Arama' and was built in 1909 by Walter and Mary Sutton. Walter Sutton was the music seller later to be known as Suttons.
Turn left down Park Street at the end of Leslie Road.
11 Number 60 Park Street
At Number 60 is the house formerly known as 'Ravenscourt: Hebert L Pilley, an auctioneer of Chaucer Street, purchased this lot and constructed the home by 1908. His family lived there until the 1930s.
12 Number 57 Park Street Formerly known as Trinafour, the home was built by James Robertson, a partner with Peter and Robert McCracken in the McCracken and Robertson brewery. Robertson died in 1879, leaving the home to his wife Margaret. It was later owned by John Thomas, a railways contractor who built the Essendon line.
Turn left down Park Street at the end of Leslie Road.
13 Burke and Wills campsite
Cross Mt Alexander Road opposite the bowling club. On the median strip, you will find a cairn marking the spot where Burke and Wills camped on the first night of their fateful journey in 1860. There was once a large gum tree here under which they sheltered for the night. One last stroll around Queens Park will also lead you to another visual marker dedicated to the Burke and Wills expedition, before returning to your point of origin at the War Memorial. A picnic lunch would be a wonderful way to end your walk.
Acknowledgements Essendon Historical Society Inc.
Location
719 Mt Alexander Road, Moonee Ponds 3039 Map
Web Links
→ Queens Park Heritage Trail Brochure (PDF)
