The Dandenong Valley Parklands are a collection of

public park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a municipal park (North America) or a public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park in cities and other incorporated places that offer recreation and green space to re ...

s and

open space reserve An open space reserve (also called open space preserve, open space reservation, and green space) is an area of protected or conserved land or water on which development is indefinitely set aside. The purpose of an open space reserve may include ...

s along the

Dandenong Creek The Dandenong Creek ( Aboriginal Bunwurrung: ''Narra Narrawong'' or ''Dandinnong'') is an urban creek of the Port Phillip catchment, located in the eastern and south-eastern Greater Melbourne region of the Australian east coast state of Vic ...

, an

urban creek Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

in southeastern

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 ...

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 ...

. The term refers only to the parklands along and in close proximity to the middle

main stem In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow.. A ...

of Dandenong Creek, stretching from

Boronia Road Boronia Road (in its easternmost part Forest Road) is a major urban arterial road in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, Br ...

in the north to Wellington Road in the south through the suburbs of

Vermont South Vermont South is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 20 km east of its Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District. It had a population of 11,954 at the . The eastern boundary is Dandenong Creek, which flows from the Dandenong Ranges th ...

Wantirna Wantirna is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox local government area. Wantirna recorded a population of 14,237 at the 2021 census. Its name i ...

Wantirna South Wantirna South is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 25 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox local government area. Wantirna South recorded a population of 20,754 at the 2021 census. W ...

and

Wheelers Hill Wheelers Hill is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 22 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Monash local government area. Wheelers Hill recorded a population of 20,652 at the . At 152m ...

, even though there are a lot more parks and reserves along the extended

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, the ...

of the creek. The parklands are separated into six individual parks, roughly following the middle Dandenong Creek north-south for about . These include a range of landscapes including remnant

bushland In Australia, bushland is a blanket term for land which supports remnant vegetation or land which is disturbed but still retains a predominance of the original floristics and structure. Human survival in bushland has a whole mythology evolving ...

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 natur ...

artificial lake A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

s, retarding basinss,

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

s, and open parkland. The parklands form a large part of the

habitat corridor A wildlife corridor, habitat corridor, or green corridor is an area of habitat connecting wildlife populations separated by human activities or structures (such as roads, development, or logging). This allows an exchange of individuals between ...

of Dandenong Creek, along with some nearby public spaces such as the Police Road Retarding Basin/Tirhatuan Park, Dandenong Police Paddocks Reserve, Dandenong Wetlands (Melbourne Water Recreation Area) and

Churchill National Park The Churchill National Park is a national park located in the Greater Melbourne region of Victoria, Australia. The national park is situated southeast of Melbourne adjacent to the suburb of , which lies between Rowville and Endeavour Hills i ...

History

The land of the Dandenong Valley Parklands was reserved by the

Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works The Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW) was a public utility board in Melbourne, Australia, set up in 1891 to provide water supply, sewerage and sewage treatment functions for the city. In 1992, the MMBW was merged with a number of sm ...

in 1973 as part of a plan to create more public open spaces. Plans for the Parklands were originally announced in 1975, and the first publicly accessible section,

Jells Park Jells Park is a public park in Wheelers Hill, a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The park opened on 30 April 1976 and is named after Joseph Jell, a cattle grazier who worked in the area in the mid-late 1800s. The park attra ...

, was opened in 1976. Management of the Parklands was transferred from

Melbourne Water Melbourne Water is a Victorian Government-owned statutory authority that controls and manages much of the water bodies and supplies in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, including the reservoirs, lakes, wetlands, canals and urban cree ...

to the newly formed Melbourne Parks and Waterways in 1994. This organisation was absorbed 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 ...

in 1996, and ownership of the Parklands was formally transferred to Parks Victoria in 1997. Following the formal termination of Melbourne Parks and Waterways in 2001, the land was transferred to the State Government of Victoria, and now exists as

crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

. Two civic reports on the Dandenong Valley Parklands have been written, titled ''Future Directions Plans''. They were released in 1995 (by Melbourne Parks and Waterways) and 2006 (by Parks Victoria). In 1989, the Friends of Dandenong Valley Parklands was formed, and continues to contribute to maintenance of the parks, including revegetation, weeding, installing nest boxes, and habitat monitoring.

Parks

Constituent parks

Koomba Park Koomba Park is one of the parks comprising the Dandenong Valley Parklands in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. It consists of of which are publicly accessible, and is bounded by Dandenong Creek, Boronia Road, EastLink, Mountain H ...

* Bushy Park Wetlands * Nortons Park *

Shepherds Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, ...

* Tirhatuan Park

Nearby parks and waterbodies

* Ringwood Lake *

Blackburn Lake Sanctuary Blackburn Lake Sanctuary is an example of regenerated and remnant bushland in suburban Melbourne, Australia. It is located in the suburb of Blackburn. It is the most significant of the many parks in the City of Whitehorse, featuring areas of reg ...

* Campbells Croft Reserve *

Caribbean Gardens Caribbean Gardens was a market, gardens and amusement park located in the outer eastern suburb of Scoresby in Melbourne, Australia, on the north/west side of Caribbean Lake, a large -long artificial lake along the northern (right) bank of Co ...

*Stamford Park (under construction) *Rowville Lakes * Dandenong Police Paddocks Reserve *

*Dandenong Wetlands * Lysterfield Lake Park

Nearby trails

Dandenong Creek Trail __NOTOC__ The Dandenong Creek Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which follows Dandenong Creek through the outer eastern and south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Route The trail can be divided int ...

EastLink Trail The EastLink Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians in the outer eastern/southeastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The trail gets its name from the north-south EastLink tollway, along which it follows for most of ...

* Blind Creek Trail

References

External links

Dandenong Valley Parklands
at Parks Victoria
Official map
at Avenza Maps
Friends of Dandenong Valley Parklands
{{Metropolitan parks of Victoria Parks in Melbourne