 The park forms the centre of the Waverley Park Heritage Conservation District, a collection of historical homes, churches, schools, and other buildings at the centre of Port Arthur.The property was surveyed and set aside as parkland by the Crown Lands Department, in the original ordnance survey of the Prince Arthur's Landing town plot in 1871.It was given to the city of Port Arthur in 1907 on the condition that is "not be alienated or leased and that no buildings be erected on it except municipal buildings".