Deer Park Station has topped the 2025 National Landscape Architecture Awards, and has been recognised for its native gardens showcasing the area’s rich cultural history.
Built as part of the Mt Derrimut Road level crossing removal in 2023, the station forecourt was designed to complement a protected ecological zone for remnant grasslands and habitat for local fauna.
The award jury praised the project for protecting the landscape through community engagement while fulfilling the safety and movement needs of a train station.
“Integrated cultural references in the design brings an added dimension to the outcome, allowing stories of the place to be shared with commuters,” the jury stated.
The landscaping was designed by Hassell architects in collaboration with the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation Elders Aunty Gail Smith and Aunty Julieanne Axford.
It is based on the ‘layers of Country’ – a set of stories recognising Bunjil the Great Creator Spirit who usually takes the form of a wedge-tailed eagle as the creator of all layers of Country.
The station features a rooftop garden and over 50,000 new trees, shrubs, and grasses.
Three giant boulders, weighing 7-10 tonnes each, stand as a monument to the history of Deer Park, pointing towards well-known mountains — including the You Yangs, Mt Disappointment and Mt Macedon — which were used for navigation since before colonisation and are part of Indigenous creation stories.
