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This is my sandbox

The Tim Neville Arboretum  is a 4.4 hectare public arboretum and park in the suburb of Ferntree Gully in Victoria, Australia. It was originally created in 1988 as Knox City Council’s major project celebrating the Australian Bicentennial celebrated that year.

History
The land on which the arboretum is situated was acquired by the council in 1975. It was previously owned by the Dobson family and operated by them as an apple orchard. In 1988, the year of its construction, the arboretum won the Best Bicentennial Project in the Metropolitan Area awarded by the Keep Australia Beautiful Council. 1993 saw the arboretum renamed The Tim Neville Arboretum. The late Tim Neville was the Chief Executive of the City of Knox (DATES – email Knox) and instrumental in the establishment of the park. The arboretum received more recognition when, in 1995, it won the City Pride Award for Most Effective Tourist Attraction. There was a high level of local business and community consultation and assistance in both the development and construction of the park. In 1996 an adventure playground was opened. In 2006 substantial repair and maintenance work was undertaken at the arboretum which necessitated the draining of the lakes. The walkways across the lake was upgraded and remodelled. An upgrade to the car park on Dorset road was also completed at this time. The adventure playground was remodelled in 2010 and reopened by The Mayor, Cr Sue McMillan on Saturday 26 February 2011.

Facilities And Features

 * Large adventure playground covering over 1000 square metres
 * Public BBQ facilities and rotunda
 * Knox War Memorial
 * Community art installations
 * Public toilets with disabled access
 * Lakes including a fountain and boardwalks
 * Free car parking accessed from both Dorset Road and Francis Crescent
 * An amphitheatre with the capacity to seat 350 people where amongst other things outdoor cinema family events are periodically held
 * The arboretum is linked to the Knox Cycleway

The Arboretum today
In recent decades, vandalism and lack of investment had left the Arboretum in a state of seemingly terminal decline, however this process has been reversed in the light of the recent injection of Lottery money and a determination locally to return this important historic landmark to its former status. Ornaments and buildings have been restored and new ones added. After a long running local campaign, a new bronze replica of the Florentine Boar statue, produced at cost by a local engineer, Alex Paxton, was finally put in place in November 2005.

Other new features include the Heart of the Park building, incorporating community rooms, a café, public toilets and changing rooms for the adjacent sports facilities (basketball courts, cricket nets) and two astroturf five-a-side football pitches.

The Rose Hill Recreation Ground is an extensive modern playground catering for all age groups of children that has been created within the park.