Woodlands Historic Park is located in Greenvale, not far from Melbourne Airport.
We took our dog for a walk there on Sunday.
We started from Woodlands Homestead.
They serve Devonshire tea here.
Interesting design of benches around trees.
Just in front of the Homestead are real Living Legends! Established to bring retired champion horses back to the public, the front paddocks are home to some of Australia’s finest ex-racehorses.
The airport is nearby. You can also see a solar farm.
A multitude of tracks throughout the park cater for all trail enthusiasts including walkers, cyclists and in some areas, horse riders. You are likely to view kangaroos as you explore, sometimes in quite large mobs.
The sign reads:
MURRUP GURRONG YAN (Spiritual Creek Walk)
This 2.5km self-guided walk will take you along the Moonee Ponds Creek, through a landscape rich in Indigenous culture.
The walk memorialises Wayne Drew, a dedicated Park Ranger who often led groups through this area to provide an understanding of how Wurundjeri, Kurung-Willam Balluk people lived before their dramatic displacement from the land following European settlement.
Sadly, Wayne has passed away. His wish would be that others continue to enjoy this walk and explore the living history of the Wurundjeri, Kurung-Willam Balluk people.
Restoration of the 1840’s Landscape
The sign reads:
The main aim of park management here at Woodlands Historic Park is to restore the landscape, flora and fauna of the 1840s, when European settlement began.
The photo shows Woodlands Homestead with the hill behind it (where you are. now standing) covered with trees, mostly sheoaks. This was the original vegetation that the Greene family saw when they arrived in 1843 and built the
Homestead. Over the years much of this vegetation was cleared or used for building, fences or fuel. It often failed to regenerate because of grazing by rabbits and stock.
With the help of old maps, letters, paintings and photos, and surviving remnant vegetation, a Restoration Plan for Woodlands Historic Park has been prepared. This identifies the park’s original plant communities. Here on the hill, Friends and other volunteers have planted indigenous eucalypts, banksias, wattles, tree violets, bursarias and clematis, as well as sheoaks.
We walked 5.5 km total. It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to complete the walk.
This walk on Trail Navigator: Spiritual Creek Walk