Gandel Gondwana Garden, Melbourne Museum: A 900-Square-Metre Nature Play Space

Melbourne kids can look forward to Melbourne Museum‘s newest nature play space Gandel Gondwana Garden which adjoins their already popular Children’s Gallery!

The $5 million Gandel Gondwana Garden expands Melbourne Museum’s spaces for children with a 900 square metre outdoor play-based learning gallery for six-to-12-year-olds. That being said, the unique environment welcomes visitors of all ages.

The new outdoor learning space also connects to the Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs exhibition.  

Gandel Gondwana Garden is included in a general entry ticket to Melbourne Museum.
Better yet, entry for children under 16 remains free.

Melbourne Museum Garden

The Gandel Gondwana Garden is named after the supercontinent Gondwana which connected most of the southern hemisphere, including Australia.

What can you expect to experience there?

• First People’s stories of Creation, with hands-on exhibits that chronicle Australian Indigenous cosmogony and the inextricable link between land, language and culture;  
• Take an expedition across the five different ecosystems and reconstruct the habitats that have shaped Victoria’s environment over time; 
• Explore the natural ecosystems that make life on Earth possible; and 
• Encounter Victoria’s prehistoric megafauna, plants, habitats and ecosystems in a sensory and interactive journey. 

The Melbourne Museum garden aims to be an immersive wonderland, letting kids roam through natural history to appreciate the extraordinary creatures that once roamed Victoria and Australia. 

The design for the garden draws on programs of fossil discovery, research and the expertise
of scientific staff from the Museums Victoria Research Institute, as well as local First
People’s knowledge of reading landscapes and listening to country.

In addition, visitors can undertake a digital puzzle-solving ‘quest’ available through their own devices, called Drama in Gondwana.

Accessible via a web-app and with clues delivered via augmented reality, the quest enhances the Gandel Gondwana Garden experience, prompting further exploration and
learning about the prehistoric plants and animals featured in the garden.

In March 2023 the Quest is still in development so you can provide feedback to Museums Victoria about your experience of it.

Gandel Gondwana Garden is another reason Melbourne Museum is one of our favourite destinations for family fun with kids. The garden is the perfect complement to the Pauline Gandel Children’s Gallery as it is aimed at slightly older children compared to the under-8s audience of the Children’s Gallery.

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Visit Triceratops: Fate of the Dinosaurs

Check out the rest of Melbourne Museum's permanent exhibitions

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