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The White Hat Guide to the Walled Garden of The Melbourne Club

You can sometimes hear little groups of Melburnians hurrying down the top end of Little Collins Street, late for a show, bemoaning the ugliness of the multi-storey carpark on the north side. Few notice the Senegal Date Palm hanging over the high brick wall on the south side. Which is a pity, because it is one of the few clues to the location of one of Melbourne's hidden gems - the private walled garden of The Melbourne Club.

Walled gardens have a long tradition, gaining particular popularity with cloistered orders, and as cities grew ever more bustling they also provided a secluded oasis for contemplation, study or quiet conversation. Organisations who placed value on providing the opportunity for quiet (and sometimes solitary) contemplation have set about building walled gardens and these have included religious organisations, university colleges, private clubs, and in more recent times, corporate offices (Harry Seidler's Shell Building, for instance, contains a small walled garden.) The walled garden is the opposite end of the spectrum from the jostling bar with amplified music, multiple large screens vying for our attention together with shouted conversations.

The Walled Garden of The Melbourne Club is mainly subdued green nestled back against and up the walls, but these plants repay closer inspection. What might initially be dismissed as 'all purpose shrubbery' reveals a remarkable variety of styles and textures for those prepared to examine in detail. The central area is made up of lawn suitable for formal occasions and creating a feeling of space within limited confines. But the real glories of this garden are three enormous London Plane (or Sycamore) Trees, each one worthy of a public park in their own right. The largest was planted over a century ago and has a canopy spread of over 30 metres  It is the sort of tree that can subtly persuade those entering the garden focussed on the small issues of that day, that there is a larger picture and a longer time scale that is worthy of attention.

Small groups of Melburnians ambling up Little Collins Street late in the evening are often discussing the theatre or the restaurant they attended. Occasionally an individual distracted by the muffled sound of a clink of crystal from behind a high brick wall, will peel off and make a brief detour down an adjoining lane. You should se the size of the tress behind that wall." he says, but nobody else seems interested.

The Melbourne Club is a private club on private land, so the garden is only open to members and their guests. However, on rare occasions it is thrown open to the public. If you have the opportunity to be offered an invitation to The Melbourne Club or to attend an open day, White Hat urges you to accept the opportunity.

Open Garden at The Melbourne Club The walled garden of one of Australia's most famous clubs - The Melbourne Club - is rarely open to the public. White Hat strongly recommends you take this opportunity to take in the environment of an institution which has been part of Melbourne from its earliest days of European settlement. White Hat recommends you arrive early or you could find yourself waiting in lengthy queues. Listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, this is a beautiful and historically significant walled garden hidden in the heart of the city. Three massive century-old plane trees maintain a scale in keeping with the clubhouse buildings. Beneath the trees, plantings bordering the lawn are predominantly green and white, with a preference for scented plants and species that perform well in all seasons and tolerate the shade cast by the trees and surrounding tall buildings. NOTE: No photographs permitted. Enter via Ridgeway Place (off Little Collins St), Melbourne 10am-4.30pm, Sunday 13th February 2011 $6.00, no charge for children under 18 Our rating: Five Hats

Where are these gardens?

Because these are private gardens we only post their locations when there is an upcoming event. Click on the appropriate link to the right of the map. Use the controls to zoom in or out on the map or change to satellite view.