Enterprize Park works complete

Upgrades to a prominent park on the Yarra River’s north bank have finally concluded, featuring new seating, pathways and extra green space about the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

Chief among the upgrades at the new-look Enterprize Park is the expanded lawn area, plus enhanced views to the river, improved accessibility, strengthened connectivity through the park, and reinstated indigenous vegetation.

The park, located between Queensbridge St and Melbourne Aquarium on the river’s northern side, had long been earmarked for upgrades that were initially due to be completed in 2020.

The City of Melbourne hopes the upgraded space will become an area where locals and visitors can either be active or unwind.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp said enhancing the area as a significant piece of Aboriginal history and identity — much like the council hopes its “city-shaping” Greenline project will achieve — was crucial.

“Enterprize Park was once a gathering place for Aboriginal people and its connection with our First Nations people is profound,” Cr Capp said.        

“The park now offers our diverse community with an honest and respectful representation of what this space once was.”

If completed, the $300 million Greenline project would see a pathway established along northbank from Birrarung Marr all the way to the Bolte Bridge.

Enterprize Park sits roughly at the halfway point of the proposed four-kilometre green trail, and the council said the recent upgrades represented Greenline’s “first milestone.”

The park’s upgrades are also significant given the council has made no secret of its desire to improve what it sees as an inadequate part of the CBD.   

“The north bank of the Yarra River Birrarung is currently under-utilised, and broadly characterised by a lack of cultural expression, limited ecological or habitat value, poor pedestrian and community connectivity, and a lack of social amenity,” draft Greenline plans stated.

The upgrades will also benefit nearby businesses and cultural institutions, including the Immigration Museum located across Flinders St.

The museum’s general manager Rohini Kappadath said the improvements breathed new life into one of Melbourne’s most important yet relatively unknown historical precincts, and “creates a new, more accessible, and inclusive place for community to get together and spend time in the city beside the river.” •