Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 04/06/2026 14:03:00

One of the largest inner-city parks in the world, Kings Park and Botanic Garden covers some four hundred hectares on the slopes of Mount Eliza, overlooking the centre of Perth and the broad sweep of the Swan River. Roughly two-thirds of the park remains natural bushland, laced with walking trails, while the rest is given over to landscaped lawns, memorials and the Western Australian Botanic Garden. Set aside for public use in the 1870s and opened as Perth Park in 1895, it was renamed Kings Park in 1901. The botanic garden, opened in 1965, is devoted almost entirely to Western Australian plants, a flora famous for its diversity and for the wildflowers that erupt across the state each spring. That display is marked every September with the Kings Park Festival, when the beds blaze with colour and the park fills with visitors. The elevated Lotterywest Federation Walkway, a glass-and-steel bridge through the treetops, lets people walk among the canopy and take in views over the river and city. The park is also a place of remembrance. The State War Memorial on Mount Eliza draws crowds for dawn services on Anzac Day, and avenues of trees planted in honour of fallen service men and women run through the grounds, each marked with a plaque. Alongside the solemn spaces are wide lawns for picnics and barbecues, playgrounds, cafes and a restaurant, making the park a daily destination for Perth residents as much as a sight for visitors. Entry is free and the park is open at all hours, reached on foot from the city, by free shuttle bus or by car, with the Fraser Avenue precinct holding the visitor centre, gift shop and lookout. Free guided walks led by volunteers explain the plants, the Aboriginal heritage of the site and its European history, and in summer the lawns host outdoor cinema and concerts. The combination of bushland, gardens, memorials and sweeping views in one place gives Kings Park a central role in the life of the city. Beyond its everyday use, the park is a focus for major civic gatherings, from Anzac Day dawn services that draw tens of thousands to the lights and crowds of the spring wildflower festival. Its elevated position also makes it a favourite vantage point for watching fireworks and city events, and the bushland sections shelter native birds and small marsupials within sight of the skyline. Few cities have so large and varied a green space at their doorstep.