Brimbank Park is a metropolitan regional park managed by

Parks Victoria Parks Victoria is a government agency of the state of Victoria, Australia. Parks Victoria was established in December 1996 as a statutory authority, reporting to the Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change. The ''Parks Victoria Ac ...

situated in the north-western

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

Keilor East Keilor East is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank and Moonee Valley local government areas. Keilor East recorded a population of 15,078 at ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

History

About 40,000 years ago: first signs of possible human habitation along the Maribyrnong River. The Keilor Cranium and femur of an aboriginal person, found in 1940 in a sand bank, has been carbon dated at about 12,000 years. The area is home to the

Wurundjeri The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the Traditional Owners of the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, covering much of the present location of Narrm (Melbourne ...

people of the

Kulin Kulin may refer to: Places *Kulin, Western Australia, a small town in Australia ** Shire of Kulin, a local government area *Kulin, Iran, a village near Tehran *Kulin, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, a village in south-west Poland *Kulin, Kuyavian-Pome ...

nation. In the late 1830s, Europeans first settled the area and used the fertile river valley as stock runs. They often drove stock ''around the brim of the bank'', thus the park's name, Brimbank. The river flats on the east bank were used for market gardening until 1983. In 1976, Brimbank Park opened to the public as part of the Maribyrnong Valley Park, combined with the adjacent Horseshoe Bend Children's farm and Greenvale Reservoir Park. The

Maribyrnong River The Maribyrnong River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment, located in the northwestern suburbs of Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Course The Maribyrnong River draws its headwaters from near ...

has hollowed out a valley some 55 metres below the Keilor Plain, with a steep bank on the northern side and gentle terraces on the southern side. In 2016, the park was implemented a Victorian-first pilot project to help children on the

autism spectrum The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

play more freely, with Parks Victoria creating a digital "script" showing items and sights they would encounter at the park. This was designed to alleviate anxiety, particularly when moving from one place to another, and was designed alongside autism advocacy organisation Amaze. In 2021, Parks Victoria began helping plant trees at the park as part of the "More Trees for a Cooler, Greener West" project which aims to plant trees in urban areas of Melbourne's western suburbs with the lowest

tree canopy In biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant cropping or crop, formed by the collection of individual plant crowns. In forest ecology, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns an ...

covers. This was done to help increase urban shade cover with phase two commencing in 2022 and stage three to be completed by the mid-2023.

Features

The park fields recreational activities with facilities including walking and cycling tracks, playgrounds, picnic areas, amenities and a café. The park is located along Old Calder Highway with an entrance off Keilor Park Drive. The

flows through the park, which holds as one end of the 25km

Maribyrnong River Trail __NOTOC__ The Maribyrnong River Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which follows the Maribyrnong River through the north western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The path, sometimes along both sides of the river, ...

. At

Keilor Keilor is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank and Hume local government areas. Keilor recorded a population of 5,906 at the 2021 census. Whi ...

, the river winds back on itself in a horseshoe bend, before winding south again at Brimbank Park. Brimbank Park is home to wildlife including swamp wallabies, blue tongued lizards and echidnas. Birds including parrots, herons, galahs, blue wrens, yellow-tailed thornbills, rosellas, flame robins and the

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falco ...

can also be seen in the park.

References

External links

- Brimbank Park
Parks in Melbourne City of Brimbank {{melbourne-geo-stub