Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

is the smallest mainland state in Australia. it contained separate protected areas with a total land area of (17.64% of the state's area). The parks are 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. The ''Parks Victoria Act 2018'' updates ...

, a

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

agency. There are also many smaller state areas which are subject to commercial activity such as logging.

Main parks

National parks

National parks provide the highest level of protection to diverse natural areas. They usually contain the best and most unique examples of our natural values and biodiversity. There are 45 national parks in Victoria, totalling (72.53% of the state's protected areas).

State parks

State parks help protect the state's natural values. They are very similar to national parks, however, the conservation values and landscapes they protect are smaller or less diverse. There are 26 state parks in Victoria, totalling (3.94% of the state's protected areas).

Regional parks

Regional parks are found close to urban centres or major tourist routes. While still places of natural beauty, visitor recreation is the primary purpose of regional parks.

Metropolitan parks

Metropolitan parks are very similar to regional parks, however, are located in metropolitan Melbourne.

Indigenous Protected Areas

Indigenous Protected Area An Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) is a class of protected area used in Australia; each is formed by voluntary agreement with Indigenous Australians, and declared by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander representative organisation ...

s (IPAs) are "areas of land and sea managed by Indigenous groups as protected areas for biodiversity conservation through voluntary agreements with the Australian Government". There are 5 indigenous protected areas in Victoria, totalling (0.1% of the state's protected areas). The following IPAs have been declared in Victoria: *

Budj Bim Budj Bim, also known as Mount Eccles, is a dormant volcano near Macarthur in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It lies within the geologically-defined area known as the Newer Volcanics Province, which is the youngest volcanic area in Austra ...

** Kurtonitj **

Lake Condah Lake Condah, also known by its Gunditjmara name Tae Rak, is in the Australian state of Victoria, about west of Melbourne and north-east of Heywood by road. It is in the form of a shallow basin, about in length and wide. The lake is loca ...

** Tyrendarra * Deen Maar * Framlingham Forest

Historic and heritage

Parks Victoria is responsible for the largest and most diverse collection of heritage places on public land in Victoria. They manage more than 3,000 historic assets including cultural landscapes, buildings, infrastructure, significant trees, objects and artefacts, archaeological sites, and shipwrecks.

Historic and heritage parks

Historic or heritage parks are significant historic cultural landscapes of heritage value. There are 6 historic and heritage parks in Victoria

Historic and heritage areas

There are 75 historic and heritage areas in Victoria including:

Heritage River

There are 18 heritage rivers in Victoria, totalling (3.96% of the state's protected areas). These are defined under the Heritage Rivers Act 1992 as parts of rivers and river catchment areas that have significant nature conservation, recreation, scenic or cultural heritage values

Marine protected areas

Victoria is the first jurisdiction in the world to create an entire system of highly protected marine national parks at the same time. Victoria contained separate

marine protected area A marine protected area (MPA) is a protected area of the world's seas, oceans, estuaries or in the US, the Great Lakes. These marine areas can come in many forms ranging from wildlife refuges to research facilities. MPAs restrict human activity ...

s with a total area of (11.87% of the state's coastal waters). Marine national parks and sanctuaries contain important marine habitats and species, or encompass areas of significant natural features; and are highly protected areas in which no fishing, extractive or damaging activities are permitted.

Marine national parks

There are 13 marine national parks in Victoria, totalling (43.05% of the state's protected waters).

Marine sanctuaries

There are 11 marine sanctuaries in Victoria, totalling (0.71% of the state's protected waters).

Coastal and marine parks

Coastal Parks and Marine Parks protect areas of coastal, intertidal or subtidal land. There are 6 marine (or marine & coastal) parks in Victoria, totalling (56.24% of the state's protected waters). There are also 5 coastal parks in Victoria, totalling (1.13% of the state's protected land areas). * The former Point Cook Coastal Park (proclaimed in 1978) became part of the Point Cooke Marine Sanctuary. * The former Cape Schanck Coastal Park (proclaimed on 1 December 1975) became part of the old Point Nepean National Park in 1988.

Reference areas

Reference areas are tracts of public land containing viable samples of one or more land types that are relatively undisturbed. There are 144 reference areas in Victoria, totalling (2.81% of the state's protected areas) and all but are located inside other protected areas including:

Other nature areas

Wilderness and Nature parks

Wilderness parks are large areas with native plant and animal communities that are relatively unaffected by humans. They are managed for conservation, with no facilities provided for visitors and no vehicles are permitted. There are 3 wilderness parks in Victoria, totalling (5% of the state's protected areas). There is 1

nature park A nature park, or sometimes natural park, is a designation for a protected area by means of long-term land planning, sustainable resource management and limitation of agricultural and real estate developments. These valuable landscapes are pres ...

in Victoria, totalling (0.05% of the state's protected areas).

Wilderness zones

There are 19 wilderness zones in Victoria, totalling (15.98% of the state's protected areas) and all but are located inside other protected areas. * Bowen * Buchan Headwaters *

Cape Howe Cape Howe is a coastal headland in eastern Australia, forming the south-eastern end of the Black-Allan Line, a portion of the border between New South Wales and Victoria. History Cape Howe was named by Captain Cook Captain James Cook ...

* Chinaman Flat * Cobberas * Galpunga *

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Indi Indi may refer to: *Mag-indi language *Division of Indi, an electoral division in the Australian House of Representatives * Indi, Karnataka, a town in the state of Karnataka, India * Instrument Neutral Distributed Interface, a distributed control s ...

* Minook * Mount Cowra * Mount Darling – Snowy Bluff * North Wyperfeld * Razor-Viking * Sandpatch *

Snowy River The Snowy River is a major river in south-eastern Australia. It originates on the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mainland peak, draining the eastern slopes of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, before flowing through the ...

* South Wyperfeld *

Sunset Sunset (or sundown) is the disappearance of the Sun at the end of the Sun path, below the horizon of the Earth (or any other astronomical object in the Solar System) due to its Earth's rotation, rotation. As viewed from everywhere on Earth, it ...

* Tingaringy *

Wilsons Promontory Wilsons Promontory is a peninsula that forms the southernmost part of the Australian mainland, located in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. South Point (Wilsons Promontory), South Point at is the southernmost tip of Wilsons Promon ...

Natural catchment area

There are 25 natural catchment areas in Victoria, totalling (3.77% of the state's protected areas).

Remote and natural area

There are 24 remote and natural areas in Victoria, totalling (7.55% of the state's protected areas).

Other reserves

In Victoria, there are a total of 2776

nature reserves A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...

, totalling (11.64% of the state's protected areas) divided is the following different groups: ;Bushland Reserve There are 1592 bushland reserves in Victoria, totalling (1.13% of the state's protected areas). ;Cave Reserve There are 9 cave reserves in Victoria, totalling (0.01% of the state's protected areas). ;Conservation park / reserve There are 13 conservation parks / conservation reserves in Victoria, totalling (0.52% of the state's protected areas). ;Flora & Fauna Reserve There are a total of 186 flora and/or fauna reserves in Victoria, totalling (2.98% of the state's protected areas). ;Geological Reserve There are 14 geological reserves in Victoria, totalling (0.01% of the state's protected areas). ;Gippsland Lakes Reserve There are 39 gippsland lakes reserves in Victoria, totalling (0.18% of the state's protected areas). ;Nature Conservation Reserve There are 263 nature conservation reserves in Victoria, totalling (3.41% of the state's protected areas). ;Natural Features and Scenic Reserve There are 49 natural features reserves in Victoria, totalling (0.26% of the state's protected areas).
There are 50 scenic reserves in Victoria, totalling (0.24% of the state's protected areas).
There are 24 combined natural features and scenic reserves in Victoria, totalling (0.49% of the state's protected areas). ;Streamside Reserve There are 259 streamside reserves in Victoria, totalling (0.2% of the state's protected areas). ;Tall Trees Reserve There is 1 tall trees reserve in Victoria, totalling . ;Wildlife Reserve There are 277 wildlife reserves in Victoria, totalling (2.2% of the state's protected areas). ;Some of the nature reserves include: * Deep Lead Nature Conservation Reserve * Jackass Flat Nature Conservation Reserve * Long Forest Flora & Fauna Reserve * Marble Gully - Mount Tambo Nature Conservation Reserve *

Mount Elizabeth Nature Conservation Reserve Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...

* Mount Hope Nature Conservation Reserve * Mullinger Swamp Wildlife Reserve * The Spit Wildlife Reserve * Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve

References

External links

Parks Victoria

Travel Victoria – National & state parks

Travel Victoria – Metropolitan parks

Travel Victoria – Coastal & marine parks
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Protected areas Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewoo ...