The history of Deer Park will be long honoured, with a new display, placed among the new and improved train station precinct.
Three boulders will stand as a monument to the history of Deer Park for decades, following landscaping work as part of the Mt Derrimut Road Level Crossing Removal Project.
The level crossing was removed last year, and upgrades to the Deer Park Station forecourts, car parks and landscaping have taken place, and been capped off with three large boulders taking pride of place around the precinct.
Weighing between seven and 10 tonnes, the large boulders point towards famous mountains including the You Yangs to the south-west, Mt Disappointment to the north-east and Mt Macedon to the north-west.
These mountains were used for navigation through the western grassland plains that existed in the Deer Park area before residential development.
The boulders were made from the same granite found at the three mountain ranges and were sourced from Victoria’s Harcourt Quarries near Castlemaine.
Mt Derrimut Road’s boom gates were down for up to 60 per cent of the morning peak, causing traffic chaos for 23,000 vehicles passing through every day, and followed the removal of level crossings at Fitzgerald Road, Ardeer and Robinsons Road, Deer Park.
The new station precinct includes 550 car parks, 150 of which are new and upgraded spaces, a multi-bay bus interchange and more than 50,000 trees, shrubs and grasses.
Finishing works have also been completed on the station precinct, including both ramp and lift access to the platforms, a pedestrian walkway connecting landscaped forecourts on both sides of the rail line, and an air-conditioned waiting room for commuters.
Along with four more level crossings also being removed at Exford, Coburn and Ferris roads, Melton and Hopkins Road, Truganina, Melton will be boom gate free in 2026.
