"Fitzroy Gardens" - a small park area of ​​26 hectares in the south-eastern edge of downtown Melbourne. It got its name in honor of Charles Augustus Fitzroy, Governor of New South Wales. Today it is one of the major parks in Australia, established in the Victorian era, and, along with other "green islands", giving Melbourne the right to be called "city of gardens".

In the park there are several important historical sites - primarily, that of Captain Cook's Cottage, which was brought to Australia from England, and was built in 1864, brick house, James Sinclair, a famous gardener, was directly involved in the creation of Fitzroy Gardens. By the way, he also engaged in gardening Vorontsov Palace in the Crimea, and the Royal Garden in St. Petersburg, which was awarded the Imperial Order of St.. Anna from the hands of Nicholas I. Among the other facilities of the park - winter garden, an artificial lake, numerous fountains, sculptures, rotunda and model Tudor village.

But, of course, the main decoration of the park are its wonderful trees planted along the many hiking paths. As conceived by the architect Clement Hodgkinson, Fitzroy Gardens had to be an open woodland with meandering paths. The first in the park were planted fast-growing eucalyptus trees and blue Australian acacia to create shelterbelts. Then, along the walkways planted elms, which, when viewed from above, form the Union Flag - the national flag of the United Kingdom. In 1880-90-ies many eucalyptus trees and elms transferred to other parks, to make more room for other trees, as well as for large lawns and ornamental flower beds.

The Fitzroy Gardens, you can see the scarred wood, on which the plate with the following text: "Such scars remained on the trees when the natives removed the bark to make of it a canoe, plates, containers for food and water, bags Kangaroo baby carriers and other items. Please respect this place. It is of great importance for the Aboriginal tribe vurundzheri custodians of this land and is part of the heritage of all Australians. "