Northbank Heritage Trail

STOP 9
Enterprize Park

Location: Enterprize Wharf

In 1835 European colonisation began along the Birrarung/Yarra. First came John Pascoe Fawkner in the schooner Enterprize. A few weeks later, John Batman in the schooner Rebecca moved his camp from Indented Head, where he had first landed his associates and their sheep, causing rival attempts to secure a foothold on the mainland. Arrival by ship sailing and rowing upstream on the Birrarung/Yarra is foundational story of European presence in what would become the port city of Melbourne

Enterprize Park was created in the 1990s from part of the Batman Park reserve. The Scarred Tree Indigenous installation in Enterprize Park of 30 large wooden poles from recycled remnants of old piers from the Docklands Precinct. Traditionally, bark panels were removed from suitable trees, a process which scarred but did not destroy trees. These bark panels were used to make various objects, including canoes and rafts for travelling on waterways such as the Birrarung/Yarra reminds modern Melbourne of the Indigenous presence and the ‘scars’ which remain as a generational consequence of indigenous life being abruptly dislodged.

The Melbourne aquarium, named Sea Life, opened in January 2000. It is at the western end of Enterprize Park. Designed by Peddle Thorp architects, the building represents a ship moored to the bank.

FURTHER READING

IMAGE CREDITS
Image 1: Scarred Tree sculpture, photographer Jeff Malley 2022
Image 2: Enterprize Park from the boardwalk, photographer Liz Rushen 2025

Enterprize Park from the boardwalk, 2025