The UNESCO World Heritage-listed Carlton Gardens Park is located at the north-eastern end of Melbourne's business centre. Its 26 hectares is home to the Royal Exhibition Centre, the Melbourne Museum, an Imax cinema, tennis courts and many playgrounds for children. В UNESCO registry lists the Royal Exhibition Centre and Carlton Gardens Park are listed as "sites of historical, architectural, aesthetic, social and scientific significance for the state of Victoria".
Carlton Gardens is an outstanding example of Victorian landscape design. Victorian era with wide lawns and a variety of plants representing the European and Australian flora. Among the trees that can be seen in the park include English and Austrian oaks, poplars, plane trees, elms, spruces, cedars, araucaria and evergreens such as large-leaved ficus in combination with annual flowers and shrubs.
Animals can also be found at Carlton Gardens - possums, ducks, giant white-footed ducks, cockaburras and many of the city's birds.
Wandering through the park's alleys, one can admire the many fountains and the the architecture of the Royal Exhibition Centre, here and there peeking out from behind the trees. Two small lakes adorn the southern part of the park. The northern part is home to the Museum, tennis courts, a curator's house and playgrounds for children, designed in the form of a maze.
The three main fountains in the park are the Exhibition Fountain, erected in 1880, French Fountain, and the Westgarth Drinkin Fountain.
