The cache
Welcome to the historical Hopetoun Gardens. Let your GPS guide you to the correct Ent and respectfully forage for a bison tube. There are likely to be muggles around, but dodging them shouldn’t be too hard. You will need to BYO pen.
Please replace carefully, ensuring good concealment.
About Hopetoun Gardens
These historic, formal gardens were opened in July 1909 to provide a new public gathering space for weekend band concerts (hence the traditional bandstand).
Designed by Thomas Plockett, who also designed Caulfield Park, Hopetoun Gardens are around two hectares in size and feature ornamental flower beds and several significant trees – including oak, laurel, wild plum, magnolia and chestnut. Many of the trees have name plates, and there’s an interpretive tree walk with information boards.
A key feature of the gardens is the pair of old guns mounted near the Glen Huntly Rd entrance. Made in 1866 in Woolwich, England, they are 80lb rifle loading guns with 6.3 inch muzzles and were originally mounted (with others) at Fort Gellibrand in Williamstown.
Today the park has play equipment, plenty of grassy areas and shade, BBQs, picnic tables and a public toilet. Dogs are allowed on leads. There is plenty of parking in surrounding streets and a tramline down Glen Huntly Rd.
Syncarpia glomulifera – TurpENTine (from the tree walk notes)
This beautiful native tree has very distinctive foliage, smelling of turpentine when crushed (thus its common name), and massed creamy white summer flowers. Its tall, straight trunk is very typical of the species and has been one of the reasons for its use as a timber tree. The other is its resistance to rotting especially in water. Because of this its timber is used for wharfs and piers and was used to create the wharf at Lord Howe Island. In gardens it has good drought tolerance and will grow on poor, shallow soils.
Source material:
https://www.gehs.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Issue-17.pdf
https://www.gleneira.vic.gov.au/our-city/parks-and-playgrounds/hopetoun-gardens
https://www.victoriawalks.org.au/Assets/Files/HouptonGardensTreeWalk.pdf