Like the Dry Creek explosives depot at Port Adelaide, the site is a testimony to history and transportation in Australia.

A Victorian Act authorized the governor to exchange this land to set-up an explosives reserve and to build and operate a narrow gauge railway line.

The narrow-gauge railway wagons were then hauled by Clydesdale draft horses at a speed of about 4.5 kilometres per hour (3 mph) to the explosives reserve.

[1] From there lighters took their cargo to larger ships anchored at special explosives buoys in Port Philip Bay.

The wooden boxes for explosives were made with brass nails or with only dovetail joints to minimize the possibility of sparking.

The magazines were built as light as possible to minimize damage caused by flying splinters, with the same design as used in Yatala and Port Adelaide.

The site was officially opened on 1 May 1901, and was enclosed by a 8 feet (2.4 m) high, 7 miles (11 km) long galvanized corrugated iron fence.

[1] After the closure of the Truganina Explosives Reserve in 1962, the Victorian Government sold most of the land, but retained 16 hectares (40 acres) for the State Labour Inspectorate for Destruction of Dangerous Goods.

Until closed in 1994, unwanted explosives from throughout Victoria were brought to this site for safe destruction in a specially constructed bunker.

In June 2000, the Government of Victoria commissioned the Hobsons Bay City Council to administer the former Truganina Explosives Reserve on their behalf as a recreational park.

[8] The 16 hectares (40 acres) salt marshes and ancient sand dunes have a high conservation value and are the location of rare animal and plant species.

[9] Areas of indigenous, exotic and saline vegetation and the hills of the dune system form landscapes with different characteristics that seem timeless.

[10] The high corrugated sheet metal fence has protected the site from human entry, leaving it largely undisturbed for more than 100 years, creating a natural, native ecosystem.

[11] The reserve is home to three species of birds of local importance, the white-bellied sea eagle, Nankeen night heron and the brown quail.

[12] Archaeological research on the property has uncovered many stone artifacts, including ground-edge axes, anvils and hammer-stones, indicating that the land was inhabited by Aboriginal tribes in the coastal area for some 6,500 years.

The crown symbol is probably a trademark of the Commonwealth Steel Company, whose Waratah Iron Works supplied many railways.

Another section of the road is preserved near the ford westwards of Merton Street, again only as the earth dam, which turns west from the entrance to Laverton railway station and is partly overbuilt with a modern cycle path.