Kardinia Park

Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong, Victoria. A number of public and sporting facilities are located in the park: a major AFL stadium, a secondary football oval, a cricket field, an open air swimming pool, a number of netball courts, various sporting clubrooms, and a Senior Citizens Centre. The park is bounded by Moorabool Street, the Geelong railway line, Kilgour Street, Latrobe Terrace, and Park Crescent.

Kardinia Park was first proclaimed as a public park in May 1872 by the Commissioner of Crown Lands. Then known as Chilwell Flat the new park was 60 acres (24 hectares) in size. Control of the land was vested in the Geelong, Newtown, and Chilwell councils.

1872 saw Kardinia Park adopted as the name. The park originally stretched north to Kilgour Street until the extension of the Geelong railway to Winchelsea in 1876 isolated the north-east corner. This area was sold for housing.

A zoo was opened in the park in 1903 by the park committee. In 1911 the Geelong Advertiser's illustrated magazine News of the Week published an inventory of the zoo:

Mammals:

The zoo closed at an unknown date.

By 1911, there were two football ovals at Kardinia Park, one on the eastern side, the other on the west. The Geelong Football Club began playing home games on the eastern oval at the park in 1941 after its previous home ground, Corio Oval, was needed for military reasons. They use the ground to this day.

The western oval is currently used by the local St Marys football club for local league competitions. The clubrooms for the St Marys team are located on the western side of the oval beside Latrobe Terrace.

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