Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong,

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. A number of public and

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

ing facilities are located in the park: a major AFL stadium, a secondary football oval, a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

field, an open air swimming pool, a number of

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

courts, various sporting clubrooms, and a senior citizens centre. The park is bounded by Moorabool Street, the Geelong railway line, Kilgour Street, Latrobe Terrace, and Park Crescent.

History

Kardinia Park was first proclaimed as a public park in May 1872 by the Commissioner of Crown Lands. Then known as Chilwell Flat the new park was 60 acres (24 hectares) in size. Control of the land was vested in the Geelong, Newtown, and Chilwell councils. 1872 saw Kardinia Park adopted as the name. The park originally stretched north to Kilgour Street until the extension of the Geelong railway to

Winchelsea Winchelsea () is a small town in the non-metropolitan county of East Sussex, within the historic county of Sussex, England, located between the High Weald and the Romney Marsh, approximately south west of Rye and north east of Hastings. The ...

in 1876 isolated the north-east corner. This area was sold for housing.

Zoo

A zoo was opened in the park in 1903 by the park committee. In 1911 the

Geelong Advertiser The ''Geelong Advertiser'' is a daily newspaper circulating in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, the Bellarine Peninsula, and surrounding areas. First published on 21 November 1840, the ''Geelong Advertiser'' is the oldest newspaper title in Victor ...

's illustrated magazine ''News of the Week'' published an inventory of the zoo: * Black ducks (Australian) * Australian boobook (Australian) *

Mandarin duck The mandarin duck (''Aix galericulata'') is a perching duck species native to the East Palearctic. It is medium-sized, at long with a wingspan. It is closely related to the North American wood duck, the only other member of the genus ''Aix'' ...

( China) *

Mallard duck The mallard () or wild duck (''Anas platyrhynchos'') is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced species, introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Bra ...

(

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

) *

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera '' Pavo'' and '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are r ...

(

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

) * White swan (

Arctic The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

regions) * Guinea fowls (

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

) Mammals: * Monkeys (Africa) * Four

kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...

s * Silver kangaroo (the largest of which stands six feet tall) * Six

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

(native of Scotland, but several have been bred in the park) *

Wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

(

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

) * Great kangaroo (Tasmania) *

Lemur Lemurs ( ) (from Latin ''lemures'' – ghosts or spirits) are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea (), divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagas ...

(

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

) It is believed that the zoo closed at some time during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Football

By 1911, there were two football ovals at Kardinia Park, one on the eastern side, the other on the west. The Geelong Football Club began playing home games on the eastern oval at the park in 1941 after its previous home ground,

Corio Oval Corio Oval was an Australian rules football ground, located in Geelong, Victoria, and used by the Geelong Football Club in the VFA and the VFL from 1878 to 1915, and 1917 to 1940. Sited in Eastern Park, the oval was served by trams from 1930 wh ...

, was needed for military reasons. They use the ground to this day. The western oval is currently used by the local St Marys football club for local league competitions. The clubrooms for the St Marys team are located on the western side of the oval beside Latrobe Terrace. The third oval, whilst primarily used for cricket, is also used as the training venue for the Geelong Football Umpires association. The association rooms are located to the south of the oval.

Swimming

The Kardinia swimming pool is located on Park Crescent, and was opened by the then City of Geelong in the mid-1960s. The open air complex is only open during the warmer months of the year. The pool is currently operated by the

City of Greater Geelong The City of Greater Geelong is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and, had a population of 271,057 as of the 2021 Australian census. It ...

. Five swimming pools are provided: one for toddlers and another for older children, two 50 metre eight lane lap pools, and a diving pool with 1 metre and 3 metre

springboard A springboard or diving board is used for diving and is a board that is itself a spring, i.e. a linear flex-spring, of the cantilever type. Springboards are commonly fixed by a hinge at one end (so they can be flipped up when not in use), and ...

s. A

waterslide A water slide (also referred to as a flume, or water chute) is a type of slide designed for warm-weather or indoor recreational use at water parks. Water slides differ in their riding method and therefore size. Some slides require riders to s ...

was added to the complex in the 1980s, however it only operates during the busier summer months. The complex is the home of the Geelong Swimming Club and is the frequent home of swimming competitions. It also sees a number of lap swimmers due to being one of the few full length swimming pools in Geelong. For the same reason a number of

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...

swimming carnivals are also held at the pool. A $4.4 million upgrade was carried out the centre in 2005, with a new international standard 10 lane 50 metre pool built to the east of the existing pool. In February 2006 the pool hosted the World Lifesaving Championships. The pool will host the aquatics events at the

2026 Commonwealth Games The 2026 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Victoria 2026, is a multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth scheduled to take place across four regional sites in the Australian state ...

Cricket

A third oval, to the north next to the railway tracks is used for cricket. The Geelong Cricket Club currently uses it during summer for their Premier Cricket (Victorian cricket league) side. In the 2007/08 season the club made the First XI Grand Final for the first time, going down to the Ringwood Rams. The Second and Third XI's also made Grand Finals, both losing. The clubrooms are located on the back of the Ford Stand to the east of the main stadium.

Rugby Union

Super Rugby sides

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

and

Waikato Chiefs The Chiefs (formerly known as the Waikato Chiefs and officially called the Gallagher Chiefs for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Hamilton, Waikato. The team competes in the Super Rugby competition ...

played a pre-season trial at the ground on Friday February 3, 2012. It was first Super Rugby game hosted by Geelong.

Other sports

Netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

courts also exist in the centre of the park for the use of local competitions. A clubroom exists beside the courts. A fitness course runs around the western side of the park. A children's playground also exists in the north-west corner, along with outdoor barbecue facilities, picnic areas and public toilets.

Kardinia Park Stadium Trust

The Kardinia Park Stadium Trust is an organisation that operates the Kardinia Park Stadium in Geelong, Australia. The

trust Trust often refers to: * Trust (social science), confidence in or dependence on a person or quality It may also refer to: Business and law * Trust law, a body of law under which one person holds property for the benefit of another * Trust (bus ...

was created in 2016 by the

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...

and was created to oversee the expanding functions of the venue as it underwent significant redevelopment and expansion of capacity. The trust's responsibilities, powers and roles are detailed in the ''Kardinia Park Stadium Trust Act 2016'', which was passed by the

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

in February 2016.

Trust membership

As of the trust's establishment in March 2016, the members of the trust are: * Steve Bracks ( Chairman) * Rebecca Casson * Gillian Costa * Simon Guthrie * Jane den Hollander * Michael Malouf * Elizabeth Mears The trust committee also appoints a CEO, who at this time is Michael Brown, who was the former CEO of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

References

*Peter Begg (1990). ''Geelong - The First 150 Years''. Globe Press. {{Reflist

External links

Kardinia Park at geelongaustralia.com.au
Buildings and structures in Geelong Sport in Geelong Parks in Geelong Cricket grounds in Australia Sports venues in Victoria (Australia)