The park was offically opened to the public in 1946; it houses a wildlife centre, with more than 300 animals, and various other recreational facilities.
Camperdown is famous in gardens worldwide as the origin of the Camperdown Elm, which was discovered about 1835 - 1840 by the Earl of Camperdown’s head forester, David Taylor, who noticed a mutant contorted Wych Elm branch sprawling along the ground. The earl's gardener produced the first Camperdown Elm by grafting it to the trunk of a normal Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra). Every Camperdown Elm in the world is from a cutting taken from that original tree and is grafted on a U. glabra trunk.