Braeside Park is a metropolitan, recreational and conservation park in the south-eastern
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
suburb of
Braeside Braeside, meaning ''hillside'' in the Scots language, may refer to:
* Braeside, Aberdeen, Scotland
* Braeside, Greenock, Scotland
* Braeside, Victoria, Australia
* Braeside, Ontario, Canada
* Braeside Observatory, Flagstaff, Arizona
* Breaside, Chic ...
.
History
Before European settlement, the Bunurong
The Boonwurrung people are an Aboriginal people of the Kulin nation, who are the traditional owners of the land from the Werribee River to Wilsons Promontory in the Australian state of Victoria. Their territory includes part of what is now the c ...
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the Colony of Victoria was established after separation from New South Wales; leases leases held by squatters were withdrawn and the land was surveyed, divided into portions and auctioned.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.
Geography
The park's natural environment includes wetlands, heathlands and red gum woodlands Woodlands may back refer to:
* Woodland, a low-density forest
Geography
Australia
* Woodlands, New South Wales
* Woodlands, Ashgrove, Queensland, a heritage-listed house associated with John Henry Pepper
* Woodlands, Marburg, Queensland, a her ...
.
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
''Eucalyptus viminalis'', commonly known as the manna gum, white gum or ribbon gum, is a species of small to very tall tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has smooth bark, sometimes with rough bark near the base, lance-shaped to c ...
), shrubs, sedges
The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...
, grasses, groundcovers
Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows over an area of ground. Groundcover provides protection of the topsoil from erosion and drought.
In an ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub layer known as t ...
and herbs. The red gum woodlands consists of river red gums and a grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...
of introduced grasses, mostly pasture grasses, due to the area's history of cattle grazing.
Features
The park contains multi-use trails, a picnic area, tree stump art carvings and a community garden. 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
Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...
location. Birds such as the pacific black duck
The Pacific black duck (''Anas superciliosa''), commonly known as the PBD, is a dabbling duck found in much of Indonesia, New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, and many islands in the southwestern Pacific, reaching to the Caroline Islands in the no ...
, pied cormorant
The Australian pied cormorant (''Phalacrocorax varius''), also known as the pied cormorant, pied shag, or great pied cormorant, is a medium-sized member of the cormorant family. It is found around the coasts of Australasia. In New Zealand, it ...
, spotted pardalote
The spotted pardalote (''Pardalotus punctatus'') is one of the smallest of all Australian birds at in length, and one of the most colourful; it is sometimes known as the diamondbird. Although moderately common in all of the reasonably fertile pa ...
and whistling kite
The whistling kite (''Haliastur sphenurus'') is a medium-sized diurnal raptor found throughout Australia (including coastal islands), New Caledonia and much of New Guinea (excluding the central mountains and the northwest). Also called the whistl ...
can be found in the area. The park also fields the Heathland Conservation Zone, a restricted-access area aiming to preserve and enhance the remnant natural features and cultural resources of the heathland
A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...
habitat.
References
External links
* http://www.braesideparkfriends.org.au/
* http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/braeside-park
{{Metropolitan parks of Victoria
Parks in Melbourne
City of Kingston (Victoria)