bowling alley, menagerie, dancers and nightly fireworks. In 1856 he opened his Royal Pantheon Theatre, initially managed by R. Younge (brother of Fred), followed by J. P. Greville. Coppin continued the presentation of the annual panoramas introduced by Ellis. Patrons arrived by riverboat or by train at the purpose-built railway station. The gardens were notable as being the location of the first balloon flight in Australia when in 1858 Englishman William Dean floated seven miles (11 km) north to Brunswick. In 1859 Coppin imported six camels from Aden as exhibits for the Cremorne Gardens menagerie and in 1860 he sold them to the Exploration Committee of the Royal Society of Victoria who used them on the Burke and Wills expedition. With the rise of Puritanism in the 1860s, the Gardens became hugely unprofitable and could no longer be maintained; Coppin closed the doors in February 1863. The land was sold and became an asylum which itself closed in the 1880s. The land was then subdivided for housing by Thomas Bent. With the turn of the century much of the housing gave way to small and large industrial establishments but much of the small working class housing remains today and has been progressively gentrified. A small park is at the southern end of the area previously occupied by the gardens and a plaque marks their location and the place from which the hot air balloons were launched. The site of the gardens no longer fronts the river because of the construction of the South Eastern Freeway in 1961. The area of Richmond in which the gardens were located was formally renamed Cremorne in 1999 and is used by locals as much out of historical respect as to avoid the old working class implications of the name Richmond. A view of Cremorne from South Yarra can be found in the works of S. T. Gill and the site is described in Louisa Ann Meredith's description of her stay in Melbourne with her husband and son in Over the straits: a visit to Victoria. The site now holds an artwork by Ugo Rondinone called 'Our Magic Hour' References External links Map of Cremorne Gardens Allom Lovell & Associates, 1998, City of Yarra Heritage Review: Volume 3?, Thematic History, Accessed 21 August, 2015 Page101 – 102 "Cremorne Gardens, Richmond" in Excerpt of Pages 99 to 109. Parks in Melbourne Defunct amusement parks in Australia