Parkville - What's On Melbourne

Parkville is bursting at the seams with cultural attractions. Spend a day in this leafy area watching the AFLW at Ikon Park, exploring the Melbourne Zoo or admiring Royal Park's wetlands.

Best events around Parkville

An illustration of Earth as a cracked ball, with a jumble of earthworms and dirt spilling out.

Translating Lowly Creatures

A conversation that explores the work of literary translators.

Aboriginal rock art featuring a sailing ship and a hand stencil, on a reddish coloured flat rock surface.

First Peoples and Rising Seas Public Lecture

Prof Chris Clarkson delivers a free lecture on deep history through archaeology and rock art.

The Australian Native Garden in Royal Park, with a body of water surrounded by tall grasses and trees under a clear blue sky.

Australian Native Garden Walk

Discover the Australian Native Garden in Royal Park on this guided walk.

A group of people standing over a game table playing a strategy board game.

Publish or Perish

Take on the role of academics, companies and academic journals in this four hour megagame.

An oil painting depicting two women standing side-by-side wearing the same clothes, in a room with potted plants hanging on the wall behind them.

Listening Practice

Join for an hour of calm inspired by Japan’s listening café tradition.

A group of four people doing an outdoor fitness or stretching class on a grassy field with trees in the background.

Free Fitness in the Park: Pilates

Join in for two weeks of Pilates in Parkville.

A group of mostly men of varied ages, posing in their athletic wear, in front of a soccer goalie net at an outdoor oval.

Social Soccer

Get active and play local community social soccer, hosted in Parkville.

An antique-style wooden balance scale beside an open book featuring a portrait engraving of William Shakespeare.

Birthing a Nation: Jonson’s Black Shakespearean Masque

A lecture on Ben Jonson’s A Masque of Blackness.

Young people wandering through a gallery exhibition.

20 Nov – 4 Dec

MSDx Summer

Explore hundreds of student projects in one of Australia's largest design exhibitions.

A close up over the shoulder image of someone weaving a small square.

Weaving Play

Drop in for beginner-friendly weaving play session in the Potter Museum of Art.

The interior of a ply-lined warehouse with artworks displayed on ply shelves and benches and people walking around.

Loose Fit: Contemporary Architecture Projects from East Asia

An exhibition exploring alternative approaches to architecture in an era of climate change.

A black and white photograph of stacked basic grocery items, as art.

Recovering Art

A creative exploration of the development of art therapy since the 1940s.

A gallery space with paintings displayed on one white and one yellow wall, plus a series of totems or tree trunks displayed in a white stand in the middle.

Ngarn Wa'ngal: Art of the Gum Tree

Discover how the iconic gum tree has inspired centuries of Australian art and culture.

An ancient Roman mosaic showing a group of theatre actors and musicians preparing for a performance.

Roman Comedy 101: A (Very) Theatrical Introduction

A new take on an old play, where education meets entertainment in this bawdy 60-minute stage play.

A collage image of a hand holding a science lab table with a cut apple sitting on top that looks like a human brain.

Nerves Speak, Too: Crosstalk in the Gut-Brain Axis

A three-hour hands-on arts-science workshop imagining how the gut and brain communicate.

A black and white photograph of two artists sitting in a sunlit studio at the Abbey Art Centre, the iconic 1940s post-war artists' colony.

Tea in an Artists’ Colony: The Abbey Art Centre

Sit down, drink tea and share ideas; a recreation of the 1940s post-war London artists' colony.

Two young adults observing a sculpture in a gallery space with digital and scupltural displays.

EMERGENCE[Y]

An exhibition exploring how adaptation in a world of flux unfolds in every layer of life.

View of Melbourne from across the Yarra River

Liane Moriarty with Toni Jordan

Hear Liane Moriarty in conversation with Toni Jordan as part of Readings' A Day in Carlton.

Portrait of an Indigenous woman surrounded by a border made up of close up images of a woman's eyes and mouth while screaming.

Wake in Fright

In a ferocious solo performance, Zahra Newman returns to the twisted heart of Wake in Fright.

Parkville attractions

Koala in a gum tree at Melbourne Zoo.

Melbourne Zoo

Journey through a world of wildlife in the heart of Melbourne.

Stadium support structure and trees at Ikon Park.

Ikon Park

This historic ground is the training base of the Carlton Football Club.

Lake and trees at Royal Park.

Royal Park

Public park offering an array of recreational and sporting facilities.

A tall brick building with people outside and a large detailed entrance.

Science Gallery Melbourne

A free gallery where arts and science collide.

Two people in black in a gallery space looking at artefacts under glass cases.

The Potter Museum of Art

The Potter has supported generations of artists, curators, writers and academics for over 50 years.

People entering the museum arched entrance under leafy trees.

Grainger Museum

An autobiographical museum of acclaimed musician and composer Percy Grainger.

Historic brick building building at entrance to Melbourne General Cemetery.

Melbourne General Cemetery

Melbourne's most iconic and historically significant cemetery.

Exterior of Parkville Tennis Club showing wall, signage, gate, a fenced tennis court and trees in the background.

Parkville Tennis Club

Small, friendly tennis club on Royal Parade with three synthetic clay courts available for hire.

Red clay tennis courts in foreground with Royal Park Tennis Club and large green trees in the background.

Royal Park Tennis Club

One of the largest community tennis facilities in the state, with a history that goes back to 1889.

Aerial view of the outside courts of the State Netball and Hockey Centre and surrounding parkland.

Melbourne Sports Centres - Parkville

Victoria’s leading netball and hockey facility.

Two large pod-like steel sculptures in parkland.

Fruition

A distinctive artwork by Matthew Harding, at the gateway to Royal Park.

Where to eat and drink in Parkville

A selection of Chinese food, including a peking duck, displayed on traditional Chinese platters on a table.

Moja Duck Restaurant and Bar

The Peking Duck specialists with a whole range of Chinese cuisine and unique flavours.

A person brushing the tops of uncooked pies with a pastry brush.

Naughtons Hotel

Historic pub providing warm hospitality, quality drinks and farm-to-table dining.

Exterior of the St ALi coffee kiosk at University of Melbourne showing people walking and cycling past a curved brick structure that has a takeaway window counter.

ST. ALi Canteen

Specialty coffee with on the go food offerings perfect for Melbourne University students and staff.

Axil Coffee

Located in Tin Alley, and serving great coffee and food.

Two large folded over crepes, one with melted chocolate and fresh strawberries, the other with chocolate and marshmallows.

Carte Crepes

Takeaway crepes and artisan coffee from a little hut on the Melbourne Uni campus.

Two people walking past a serving window of a cafe in a black building.

Kintsugi Coffee

Kintsugi Coffee is the premier coffee and pastry spot in the Melbourne University precinct.

Frothed milk pored into a cup of coffee to create latte art.

STREAT

Social enterprise cafe in Parkville, helping disadvantaged young people.

Box of chocolates.

The Chocolate Box

A gourmet chocolate store located in the retail precinct of the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Server selecting food from a metal tray of hot dishes including Asian noodles and fried meat.

Alleyway Kitchen UOM

Perfect for a quick and delicious takeaway or a satisfying traditional Chinese meal.

Glass cup of black coffee.

House of Cards Espresso

At Melbourne Uni, House of Cards is a small cafe that dreams big, donating profits to charities.