Braeside Park
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Braeside Park is a 310-hectare (770-acre) metropolitan, recreational and conservation park in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Braeside.[1][2]
| Braeside Park | |
|---|---|
 Pelicans at Braeside Park | |
 | |
| Type | Metropolitan regional park |
| Location | Braeside, Victoria, Australia |
| Coordinates | 37.998°S 145.129°E |
| Area | 310 hectares (770 acres) |
| Managed by | Parks Victoria |
| Visitors | 460,000 (in 2017)[1] |
| Habitats | |
Before European settlement, the Bunurong people lived in and around the area for thousands of years. In 1851, the Colony of Victoria was established after separation from New South Wales; leases held by squatters were withdrawn and the land was surveyed, divided into portions and auctioned. The park since had a history of various owners and land uses. In 1982, Parks Victoria, assumed responsibility for Braeside park.[3]
The park's natural environment includes wetlands, heathlands and red gum woodlands.
The wetlands are made up of herbaceous native and introduced plant species which provide habitat for water-dependent birds. The heathland is located on sandy well-drained soil with vegetation including trees (mostly the manna gum), shrubs, sedges, grasses, groundcovers and herbs. The red gum woodlands consists of river red gums and a grassland of introduced grasses, mostly pasture grasses, due to the area's history of cattle grazing.[4]
The park contains multi-use trails, a picnic area, tree stump art carvings and a community garden.[5] Braeside Park has a 24-hour car park at the entrance to the park from Lower Dandenong Road.
The park's wetlands are also a popular birdwatching location. Birds such as the pacific black duck, pied cormorant, spotted pardalote and whistling kite can be found in the area.[6] The park also fields the 45-hectare (110-acre) Heathland Conservation Zone, a restricted-access area aiming to preserve and enhance the remnant natural features and cultural resources of the heathland habitat.[4][7]
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
