Rosalind Park

Rosalind Park is an Australian park in Bendigo, Victoria. Prior to white settlement, a grassy woodland surrounding what is now called Bendigo Creek. At that time the creek was little more than a chain of pools and billabongs. This area would have been an important source of food and water for the indigenous Dja Dja Wrung people living in dry central Victoria.In the 1850s gold was discovered in the area, radically transforming the area that is now Rosalind Park. Bendigo was one of the richest gold mining regions in the world, with more gold found in the region from 1850 to 1900 than anywhere else in the world. At present it remains the seventh richest goldfield in the world. Puddling mills, shafts and piles of mine wastes and cast offs dominated the landscape. In 1852 the area was officially designated a Government Camp precinct, the bounds of which still roughly designate the park today. The Government Camp area comprised 66 acres and contained police barracks, gaol and lock-up, a courthouse (which is still in use), a gold office and other government buildings, offices and quarters.In 1856 the local Gold Commissioner, Joseph Panton, first suggested that the camp should be turned into a park, but it was not until 1861 that 59 acres were formally reserved for the park and handed over to the Sandhurst Borough Council (now the City of Greater Bendigo). The first park gardener was appointed in 1870 and established the basic layout of Rosalind Park which remains to this day.OverviewThe park is effectively bounded by View Street, Pall Mall, Bridge Street, Park Road and Barnard Street, but shares some of this space with the Queen Elizabeth Oval, Bendigo Senior Secondary College, Courthouse, former Bendigo Post Office (now a tourist information centre), Camp Hill Primary School and old Bendigo Jail.