Hobart’s parks include formal gardens, former burial grounds, river corridors, playgrounds and remnant bushland. They occupy Aboriginal Country and have been shaped by colonial government, public campaigns, horticulture, roads and everyday recreation.

Central squares carry civic history

Franklin Square developed as a central public space beside government and civic buildings. St David’s Park occupies part of Hobart’s first burial ground, where memorials and reused materials require more than a picnic-ground reading.

Paths, lawns and mature trees in Franklin Square
Franklin Square has served changing civic and recreational uses.Paris Buttfield-Addison, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Queens Domain is a layered landscape

The Domain includes remnant grassland, memorials, sporting grounds, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens and transport corridors. It has repeatedly been contested as public open space.

Memorial trees and path on Hobart’s Queens Domain
The Domain combines memorial, sporting, horticultural and remnant natural landscapes.Prince Roy, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Cascade Gardens follows the rivulet

Cascade Gardens grew from a nineteenth-century tea garden beside the Hobart Rivulet. Today its mature trees, paths and playground connect with South Hobart’s industrial and convict history.

South Hobart beneath kunanyi / Mount Wellington
Cascade Gardens sits within a suburb shaped by the rivulet and industry.Paris Buttfield-Addison, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Facilities, dog rules, event bookings and alcohol restrictions vary by park. Use the City of Hobart’s current listing, then connect a walk with the Hobart parks guide, Franklin Square or South Hobart.