Yarra Park 1864In culmination of a long campaign by the East Melbourne Group, the Heritage Council of Victoria has added Yarra Park to the Heritage Register. This means that any major developments will require a permit from Heritage Victoria.

Rupert Murdoch's "Melbourne Leader" reacted in form. "Heritage listing puts MCG car park under threat," its headline said. It continued, "The future of game-day carparking at the MCG is under a cloud after Yarra Park was added to the state’s heritage register. East Melbourne residents were last week celebrating after a hard-fought campaign to have the park added to the register."

See the full decision of the Heritage Council and the Leader article in our catalogue item, Yarra Park Heritage Listing 2010.

On 26 May 2009 the East Melbourne Group nominated Yarra Park for inclusion on the Heritage Register. On 16 September 2009, the Executive Director of Heritage Victoria recommended that the place not be included in the Heritage Register and that the place be referred to the relevant planning authority for inclusion in the Melbourne Planning Scheme. The East Melbourne Group appealed this decision and received a hearing before the Heritage Council of Victoria on 2 March 2010. The East Melbourne Group was represented by Mr Anthony Southall QC and supported by expert witnesses, Professor Robert Pascoe and Ms. Meredith Gould. Supporting the appeal were the National Trust of Australia represented by Mr Paul Rosser with Dr. Helen Doyle as an expert witness, and The City of Melbourne represented by Mr. John Patrick with Ms. Cathy Kiss as Senior Planning Officer. Heritage Victoria opposed, and an opposing written submission was received from the Melbourne Cricket Club. After detailed consideration the Council published its decision on 19 April 2010.

The Heritage Council has eight criteria any one of which, if met to a sufficient degree, is enough to qualify a place for inclusion on the Register. Arguments were presented by the witnesses in favour of six of the eight criteria but the in end the Heritage Council agreed that while other factors had merit the determining factors were about the historical significance for Victoria, both cultural and the lives of individuals or special groups of people.

Yarra Park's has had a long and colourful association with the history of Victoria. There is still evidence in the park of its original Wurundjeri inhabitants and their lives. It was included by Robert Hoddle as part of Melbourne's "emerald ring" of parks around the city. It has been a site of political and religious gatherings; celebrations and festivals; a grazing area and training ground for police horses; and the site of a contentious war memorial in 1917. Its central place in the long and successful history of sport in Victoria is well known: Australian Rules Football, cricket, 1956 Olympics and 2006 Commonwealth Games.

Individuals and groups mentioned included the Wurundjeri people from whom the land was originally appropriated; surveyor Robert Hoddle; police magistrate William Lonsdale; first Governor Charles LaTrobe; Lord Mayor Sir William Brunton; and Tom Wills, co-founder of Australian Rules Football.