Braeside Park is a metropolitan, recreational and conservation park in the south-eastern

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

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, also spelt Bunurong or Bun wurrung, 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 ...

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 In 1851, the Colony of Victoria was established after separation from New South Wales; leases held by squatters were withdrawn and the land was surveyed, divided into portions and auctioned.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 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. The ''Parks Victoria Act 2018'' updates ...

, assumed responsibility for Braeside park.

Geography

The park's natural environment includes

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

lands and red gum

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

s. The wetlands are made up of

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

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; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 generathe largest being the "true sedges" (genu ...

, grasses,

groundcovers Groundcover or ground cover is any plant that grows low over an area of ground, which soil protection, protects the topsoil from erosion and drought. In a terrestrial ecosystem, the ground cover forms the layer of vegetation below the shrub laye ...

and herbs. The red gum woodlands consists of river red gums and a

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

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 such as binoculars or a telescop ...

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 i ...

spotted pardalote The spotted pardalote (''Pardalotus punctatus'') is a small passerine bird native to eastern and southern Australia, at elevations of up to . It is part of the pardalote family, Pardalotidae. One of the smallest of all Australian birds at in le ...

and

whistling kite The whistling kite (''Haliastur sphenurus'') is a medium-sized Diurnal animal, diurnal Bird of prey, raptor found throughout Australia (including coastal islands), New Caledonia and much of New Guinea (excluding the central mountains and the north ...

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

land 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)