Prior to the extension of European people into the lands of the Nillum-bik in the late 1830s the Wurundjeri people had been meeting for thousands of years at the junction of the Diamond Creek with the Yarra River, in the area now known as Eltham Lower Park.
The first European settlers were squatters or leaseholders. During the late 1840s the colonial government was subdividing land within the parish of Nillumbik and an area set aside on the north bank of the Yarra as a future village was named Eltham.
From the early 1850s horse racing meetings were held in the Eltham Lower Park area. An 1860s plan shows it as a proposed racecourse reserve and indicates that part of the park was swampy, the Homestead Road area was a high stringybark range and there were rich flats in the former Lenister Farm area.
The mix of bushland environment, more formal park facilities and sporting grounds has proved very popular. The park was earlier used by picnic parties from the local area and during excursions from the inner suburbs. In the 1960s the Gould League ran school bird days there when busloads of children came from suburban schools.
Various sporting activities have also occurred in the park over many years including cricket, football, lacrosse and a pony club. The Diamond Valley Miniature Railway moved there in 1961 from its original location in Ivanhoe and is certainly a significant feature of the park today.
While originally known as Eltham Park it was renamed Eltham Lower Park to avoid any confusion with the Eltham Central Park, which was established on part of a large area purchased by Council in the 1920s for parkland adjacent to the Eltham town centre.
The Yarra footbridge opened in 2004 now links the park with the Yarra Valley Metropolitan Park and the Main Yarra Trail.
A variety of recreation purposes includes the newly constructed Accessible Play Space for children, and on the wall next to it is a 6m long mural based on the lifecycle of the Eltham Copper Butterfly. The artwork consists of 10 panels – 2 panels were sent to each local community festival last year where children used recycled materials to depict the habitat of the Eltham Copper butterfly on a backdrop of Sweet Busaria bushes and ant tunnels. Recently, council voted to construct more play equipment and a recreational trail in the Woodridge area to honour the copper butterfly, so hopefully the next generation will play a part in ensuring its survival.
This article is part of a series for the Nillumbik Cultural Bus Tour program at Eltham Library November 2013
