Johnstone Park, Public park in central Geelong, Australia.
Johnstone Park is a landscaped garden in central Geelong bounded by Railway Terrace, Gheringhap Street, Little Malop Street, Fenwick Street and Mercer Street. It is surrounded by civic buildings including Geelong City Hall, the Art Gallery, the Library, the Law Courts and the Railway Station. A war memorial and bandstand stand in the centre.
The park was established in 1872 on land formerly occupied by the Western Gully watercourse and named after former mayor Robert De Bruce Johnstone. This transformation created an organized gathering place for the expanding city.
The bandstand in the centre of the park dates from 1919, not 1873, and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. It stands on the axis between the 1926 Peace Memorial beside the gallery and the ornamental gateway at the Railway Terrace entrance. The park's first band concert was given by the Geelong Artillery Corps band in December 1872, before an octagonal wooden bandstand was erected in November 1873.
The park is bounded by Railway Terrace, Gheringhap Street, Little Malop Street, Fenwick Street and Mercer Street, with Geelong Railway Station on its north-eastern edge. A footbridge crosses the railway line, and the 1919 bandstand sits on the axis between the Peace Memorial and the Railway Terrace gateway.
The bandstand at the centre of the park dates from 1919, not 1873: an octagonal wooden bandstand was erected in November 1873, but the present structure is the 1919 one, listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and aligned on the axis between the Peace Memorial and the Railway Terrace gateway. In 1959 Princess Alexandra of Kent visited and was greeted by a crowd of about 25,000 people.
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