You’re walking through Elsternwick Park, maybe taking a stroll through the lush greens or grabbing a coffee at the cafe, when you spot a large sign. “Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve” it reads. The name looks unfamiliar, but you notice that a pathway leads towards a small wetland. The water here is a serene deep-blue, and a sign reads: “Chain of Ponds.”
Elsternwick Park was once just a spacious oval, but now these wetlands bring a completely different dimension to the park. Before 2020, Elsternwick Park was actually a golf course, a sprawling expanse of greens that stretched across the land for decades. In fact, before that, it was even a racecourse!
There’s so much history hidden within this park. In 1903, the Elsternwick Cricket Club, a club formed by the amalgamation of three local teams, built a cricket ground right here in the park, marking the beginning of a legacy of sporting spirit.
In 1967, the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) took over the ground, making it their administrative headquarters and a training base for their umpires. Since then, the oval has become a prime destination for VAFA games, but as the park evolved, the land was also leased to Brighton Football Club.
As the city around the park grew, the land had to change to keep up. This meant that in 2018, the golf course was shut down, and plans started to form for the park to be transformed into something more restorative, giving nature a chance to flourish.
Now, the Chain of Ponds provides a home for native birds, insects, and a host of other wildlife. The park is a beautiful mix of sporting fields, a vibrant community center, and an escape into nature, all seamlessly intertwined. It’s an open space where everyone can enjoy a moment of peace and tranquility, and where the legacy of history is forever intertwined with future generations.