The Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands is a collection of principally

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s and

marshland A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

s totalling 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 ...

, about southeast of

Melbourne CBD The Melbourne central business district (also known colloquially as simply "The City" or "The CBD") is the city centre and main urban area of the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, centred on the Hoddle Grid, the oldest part of the city lai ...

. It is the largest natural wetland of its type in the

Port Phillip Port Phillip (Kulin languages, Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped bay#Types, enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, ...

and

Western Port Western Port, (Boonwurrung: ''Warn Marin'') commonly but unofficially known as Western Port Bay, is a large tidal bay in southern Victoria, Australia, opening into Bass Strait. It is the second largest bay in the state. Geographically, it is do ...

basins, and is all that remains of the historic

Carrum Carrum Swamp The Carrum Carrum Swamp was a historic coastal wetland encompassing with a catchment area of that . It had four drainage outlets into the Port Phillip Bay, including the modern-day Kananook Creek/Eel Race Drain, Patterson River and Mordialloc ...

, which once covered more than from present-day

Mordialloc Mordialloc is a beachside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Mordialloc recorded a population of 8,886 at the . ...

in the north to Frankston in the south. The surviving wetlands are divided into two groups, namely the northern Edithvale Wetlands ( in total) and the southern Seaford Wetlands ( in total), which together form the Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands

Ramsar Site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

Eastern Treatment Plant The Eastern Treatment Plant is an sewage treatment plant, located in the suburb of Bangholme in Victoria, Australia, southeast of Melbourne's central business district. The plant was built in 1975 and is owned by Melbourne Water. Following tr ...

, they form the Carrum Wetlands

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

. All the wetlands are no more than away from the shore of

Beaumaris Bay Beaumaris Bay ( ) is a bay in the east of Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia. Beaumaris Bay commences at the cliffs at Rickett's Point in the south of the suburb of Beaumaris Beaumaris ( ; cy, Biwmares ) is a town and community on the Isl ...

, bounded by Governor Road in the north, the coastal

Nepean Highway Nepean Highway runs south from St Kilda Junction in Victoria, Australia to Portsea, close to the eastern shore of Port Phillip. It is the primary road route to central Melbourne from Melbourne's southern suburbs. History Originally known as A ...

in the west, the

Mornington Peninsula Freeway The Mornington Peninsula Freeway is a freeway in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, that provides a link from south-eastern suburban Melbourne to the Mornington Peninsula. Whilst the entire freeway from Dingley Village to Rosebud is declared by ...

and

Frankston Freeway Frankston Freeway is a short freeway in southern Melbourne initially designed as a bypass of central Frankston and later incorporated a freeway-style upgrade to Wells Road in the 1970s, now acting as a link from suburban Melbourne to Frankston ...

in the east, and Seaford Road in the south. Nowadays they are largely surrounded by

residential area A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

s, and some parts of the wetlands have been converted to

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

s, recreational reserves and

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

Description

Edithvale Seaford Wetlands Discovery Centre

The Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands is separated into its two groups by the

Patterson River The Patterson River is a partly man-made urban river of the Port Phillip catchment in the Australian east coast state of Victoria, located in the outer southeastern suburbs of the Greater Melbourne region. Under the name "Patterson", it is t ...

, the entire

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

Patterson Lakes Patterson Lakes is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Patterson Lakes recorded a population of 7,793 at the 2021 census ...

and the Kananook Creek. The Edithvale Wetlands group is much more elongated, lying along a

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditio ...

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

across the suburbs of Aspendale (northeastern corner),

Aspendale Gardens Aspendale Gardens is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 27 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Aspendale Gardens recorded a population of 6,427 at th ...

Edithvale Edithvale is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 28 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Edithvale recorded a population of 6,276 at the . History ...

, Chelsea Heights, Bonbeach and northwestern

. The Seaford Wetlands group is more tightly clustered, and is located across the suburbs of Seaford and

Carrum Downs Carrum Downs is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 36 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Carrum Downs recorded a population of 21,976 at the 2021 ce ...

. Both wetland groups are mainly

wetlands underlain by

peat Peat (), also known as turf (), is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem covers and is the most efficien ...

beds that limit the entry of saline

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

. They are seasonal

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

systems deriving most of their water as

runoff Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to: * RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program * Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed * Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...

from their local catchments, the areas of which are no more than each, and are essential components of the regional

system in receiving, retaining and naturally treating

stormwater Stormwater, also spelled storm water, is water that originates from precipitation (storm), including heavy rain and meltwater from hail and snow. Stormwater can soak into the soil ( infiltrate) and become groundwater, be stored on depressed la ...

and other surface runoff, thus protecting surrounding areas from flooding as well as helping to protect the water quality of Port Phillip Bay.Information Sheet on Ramsar Wetlands. Hydrological management of the wetlands is aimed at enhancing their natural values and controlling the ingress of saline groundwater.

History

Before European settlement of the Port Phillip area in the mid-

19th century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolis ...

, the historic

stretched from what is now

in the north to Frankston in the south. The 4000 ha swamp's freshwater and brackish wetlands supported many animals and plants, including

brolga The brolga (''Antigone rubicunda''), formerly known as the native companion, is a bird in the crane family. It has also been given the name Australian crane, a term coined in 1865 by well-known ornithologist John Gould in his ''Birds of Austral ...

s and

magpie geese The magpie goose (''Anseranas semipalmata'') is the sole living representative species of the family Anseranatidae. This common waterbird is found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. As the species is prone to wandering, especially wh ...

which are now locally extinct. During the latter half of the 19th century the swamp was progressively drained for

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. In 1879, the

, an artificial waterway, was cut through the swamp to the coast as part of the drainage program. The remaining wetland areas were retained to provide critical flood protection.

Ramsar listing

The wetlands were listed on 29 August 2001 under the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

, as Ramsar site 1096, Australia's 11th site, in recognition of their international importance, and specifically because they: * are the last remaining examples of the Carrum Carrum Swamp, containing a variety of permanent and seasonal, freshwater and saline wetlands, * support populations of the

Australasian bittern The Australasian bittern (''Botaurus poiciloptilus''), also known as the brown bittern or matuku hūrepo, and also nicknamed the "bunyip bird", is a large bird in the heron family Ardeidae. A secretive bird with a distinctive booming call, it is ...

, considered to be of state significance and threatened in Victoria, and * support more than 1% of the

East Asian – Australasian Flyway East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

population of

sharp-tailed sandpiper The sharp-tailed sandpiper (''Calidris acuminata'') (but see below) is a small wader. Taxonomy A review of data has indicated that this bird should perhaps better be placed into the genus ''Philomachus'' – as ''P. acuminatus'' – which now ...

s (or over 2000 birds) in up to one year in three. They are also considered to be of exceptional significance as examples of cost-effective management of wetlands in an urban setting to provide conservation benefits, manage storm water, and encourage

environmental education Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating discip ...

and

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

.Annotated Ramsar List.

Flora and fauna

Plants

The wetlands contain 14 ecological vegetation types. Three of state significance are plains sedgey wetland, tall

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

dominated by common reeds, and brackish aquatic herbland. There are several regionally significant populations of plant species, such as southern water-ribbons, only previously known in the state from western Victoria; as well as one of state significance – the large river buttercup. A dryland vegetation association present, though degraded by invasive

weed A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...

s, is

river red gum ''Eucalyptus camaldulensis'', commonly known as the river red gum, is a tree that is endemic to Australia. It has smooth white or cream-coloured bark, lance-shaped or curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white flowers an ...

dune woodland, a community that has not been recorded elsewhere in Victoria and is of high conservation significance.

Animals

At any one time, up to 7000 individual birds make the Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands their home. Some 190 species have been recorded, including many migratory

wader 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

s. Species listed as protected under Victoria's

Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 The ''Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988'', also known as the ''FFG Act'', is an act of the Victorian Government designed to protect species, genetic material and habitats, to prevent extinction and allow maximum genetic diversity within the Au ...

are the

great egret The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...

Baillon's crake Baillon's crake (''Zapornia pusilla''), also known as the marsh crake, is a small waterbird of the family Rallidae. Distribution Their breeding habitat is sedge beds in Europe, mainly in the east, and across the Palearctic. They used to breed i ...

Lewin's rail Lewin's rail (''Lewinia pectoralis'') is a species of bird in the family Rallidae. It is also known as the water rail, Lewin's water rail, Lewin's grind rail, slate-breasted rail, slate-breasted water rail, pectoral rail, pectoral water rail, sho ...

and the

white-bellied sea eagle The white-bellied sea eagle (''Haliaeetus leucogaster''), also known as the white-breasted sea eagle, is a large diurnal bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. Originally described by Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1788, it is closely related t ...

. There is also a population of eastern grey kangaroos.

Access

The Edithvale Wetland is managed by

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 ...

, while the Seaford Wetland is jointly managed by Melbourne Water and the City of Frankston. Public amenities include a

bird hide A bird hide (blind or bird blind in North America) is a shelter, often camouflaged, that is used to observe wildlife, especially birds, at close quarters. Although hides or hunting blinds were once built chiefly as hunting aids, they are now commo ...

(blind) at the Edithvale Wetland with education displays, as well as walking and bicycle tracks around both wetlands for

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, b ...

.Case Study - Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands The bird hide is accessible from Edithvale Road, staffed by volunteers from the Friends of Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands, and open from 1300 to 1700 on Sundays. The hide was closed in early 2010 due to structural problems. It reopened in August 2016.

References

Notes

Sources

* * *

External links

Friends of Edithvale-Seaford Wetlands

Map of Edithvale and Seaford Wetlands
{{coord, 38, 04, S, 145, 07, E, type:waterbody_region:AU-VIC, display=title Ramsar sites in Australia Nature reserves in Victoria (Australia) Birdwatching sites in Australia Geography of Melbourne Important Bird Areas of Victoria (Australia) Environment of Victoria (Australia) City of Kingston (Victoria) City of Frankston