Located just 7kms from the city, Darebin Parklands today is rich with wildlife and has many walking tracks, bike paths and places to relax and take in the natural bushland setting. Since 1978, various committees of management with support of Darebin and Banyule Councils have employed rangers to manage the Darebin Parklands.
Located only 7km from Melbourne, The Darebin Parklands is a bushland oasis in the middle of urban Melbourne. The parklands are rich with wildlife and has many walking tracks, bike paths and places to relax and take in the natural bushland setting.
DCMC employ rangers to maintain and manage this area which is very involved due to the history of the area. DCMC work with Friends of Darebin Parklands volunteers to protect, improve and advocate for the bushland character of the park, maintaining it as a wildlife haven and place to appreciate nature.
Clues of the park’s mixed history can be discovered while exploring the park. Small remnants of indigenous vegetation and natural rock features jutting out of the creek sit beside Olive groves and wizened Mulberry trees. The quarry wall makes a beautiful amphitheatre and the water treatment ponds, pumped from groundwater running through the old tip site, provide an idyllic pond system.
Despite being only 7kms from the CBD, the park features a wide variety of indigenous flora in an urban bushland environment. Volunteers and staff are maintaining the integrity of a few small patches of remnant vegetation as well as revegetating other areas of the park for habitat and to stabilise creek banks from erosion. Many historical exotic trees remain such as Black Mulberry, Olives, Quince, Peppercorn and Pine Trees.
In the north of the park, Snakegrass has over 50 species of indigenous plants, all flowering at different times of the year including Chocolate Lilies and Bulbine Lilies. You’ll find several species of spear grass and wallaby grasses, Kangaroo Grass, Windmill Grass and Silky Bluegrass. In this area, rangers carry out mosaic burns in autumn to stimulate grassland species. Endangered plant species, Matted Flax-Lily, grows throughout the grassland.
Along the creek, you’ll find River Red Gums and Ribbon Barked Manna Gums, clumps of Common Tussock Grass, with Bidgee Widgees and Kidney Weed covering the ground below them. In winter, the blossoms from Silver Wattle and Golden Wattle light up the park. These plants not only provide habitat for many animals and insects but also stabilise creek banks and capture nutrients from the stream.
In the wetlands and creek, you’ll find a great array of aquatic plant species including Water Ribbons, Slender Knotweed, Broom Rush and Common Nardoo. These help filter the water and provide hiding spots for water insects, frogs and fish.
On the slopes surrounding the creek, thickets of Sticky- Leafed Hop Bush, Prickly Moses Wattle, Sweet Bursaria and Sticky Boobialla hold the soil together and provide habitat for small birds. Below them grow several species of Saltbushes and hardy Wallaby Grasses.
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