Yarra Glen Reserve - Yarra Glen, Vic, Australia
S 37° 39.663 E 145° 22.508
55H E 356681 N 5830549
This section of river flats became Crown Land in 1998, and is a great place to cycle, walk and geocache. South of Yarra Glen are 85 hectares to explore.
Waymark Code: WMWDR8
Location: Victoria, Australia
Date Posted: 08/20/2017
Views: 1
The coordinates are for the entrance to the cycle and walking trails along the Upper Yarra River and through the Yarra Flats Billabong area.
If going through the Yarra Flats Billabong area looking for a geocache you will come across an 'Interpretative Sign' that has the following info:
"Since European settlement of the area around 1840, most of the billabongs have been degraded. They receive less frequent flooding from the river since the construction of the Upper Yarra Dam. They have been used like dams to water stock. The billabongs, once so full of life, have become ditches full of exotic grasses and weeds.
"The Yarra Flats Billabongs are one of the last billabong systems to be managed to restore the complex ecosystem of plant and animal life that once occupied this land.
"The Reserve you are now entering became Crown Land in 1998 after the construction of a new bridge over the Yarra River at Yarra Glen. The area is being allowed to return to a condition typical of that before European settlement.
"Introduced grasses and weeds are being eliminated to encourage the spread of the native plant species that have survived. Extensive revegetation work has been undertaken and management of the site is ongoing. The native birds and animals are returning as the billabongs are restored."
Another interpretative sign, which is very hard to read has:
"Yarra Flats Billabong"
"Billabongs are filled when a river floods, leaving ponds of water along the path where the river once flowed. Heavy rains can also fill these low lying areas of land.
"During low river levels and dry seasons the billabongs dry out. A unique set of plants have evolved to cope with this changing wet-and-dry cycle. many plants thrive in the billabongs themselves and around the edges.
"In turn, these plants provide an ideal environment for a variety of birds, lizards, snakes and other small creatures that use the area for feeding, nesting or as a hiding place from predators.
"The area here is a small part of an extensive billabong system beside the Yarra River that extends from Healesville to Wonga Park and beyond. It can be seen clearly from the surrounding hills."
There is a bit more local info, and photos from the Bushwalking Journal Blog: (
visit link)
Car park gates are open from 6am to 6pm, extending to 9pm during Daylight Saving times.
* Dogs must be on a leash at all times - except the fenced Annulus Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary.
Visited: Wednesday morning, 4 May, 2016 - while looking for a geocache