Living Legends

As the horse racing capital of Australia, it’s only fitting that some of the country’s most famous horses live out their retirement in Melbourne. Nestled on the city’s outskirts just minutes from Melbourne Airport, Living Legends is the International Home Of Rest for Champion Horses and a public museum for horse racing memorabilia. For the 24 equine champions who live there, it’s akin to retirement luxury and for the thousands of tourists who visit it’s often simply a dream come true.

Set amongst the picturesque native bushland and gardens of Woodlands Park with the heritage-listed Woodlands Homestead as its centrepiece, the current site of Living Legends (est. 2006) was once was home to 19th century race meetings and is one of the most historic thoroughbred properties in the southern hemisphere. Now, it’s a unique and much-loved Australian tourist attraction where the public experience the joy of interacting with retired champion racehorses, including five Melbourne Cup winners.

Current Living Legends residents include Melbourne Cup winners Brew, Almandin, Efficient, Might And Power and Rogan Josh, plus baldy-faced Australian Guineas hero Apache Cat, Caulfield Cup winner Fawkner and Cox Plate champion Fields Of Omagh.

More than a decade after it began and more than 150 years after the pioneering Greene family first settled on the site, Living Legends provides a loving home to its champion ex-racehorses, with on-site horse exercise facilities, the historic homestead and cafe, picnic gardens and native bushland, flora and fauna in abundance.

Now operating seven days a week (364 days a year) with free entry to the homestead and gardens, it’s the closest tourist destination to Melbourne Airport and attracts more than 30,000 visitors each year from the local region, all over Australia and around the world. The thousands of visitors who enjoy Living Legends each year range from racing fanatics to once-a-year punters, school groups, bird-watchers, nature lovers, bucketlisters and even people fulfilling a dream to pat their first horse. And above all, tourists flock to Living Legends for the famous Devonshire Tea with the world’s best scones!

In recent years, Living Legends has undergone a total transformation from its front gate through to a redesign of the organisation’s communications and marketing materials, and expansion into education through schools programs and industry training. Several prestigious awards have followed, including:

• 2019 RACV Victorian Tourism Awards People’s Choice - Winner of Victoria’s Best Tourism Attraction

• 2019 RACV Victorian Tourism Awards - Finalist - Cultural Tourism

• 2019 Hume City Council Business Award - Winner - Tourism Award

• 2017 Hume City Council Business Award - Winner - Education & Workplace Learning, and Hospitality and Tourism categories