Friends of Westgate Park

The Westgate Park project began in 1984. Prior to the project the land, originally saltmarsh, had been employed for a number of uses – it was mined for sand in the 1930s, used as a rubbish tip for 23 years, and during World War II was used as an aircraft factory and airfield. In 1985, the land was dedicated to the people of Victoria to mark the State of Victoria’s 150-year anniversary, and in 1988 Westgate Park was officially opened.Originally flatlands, the park’s slopes and landscape were created using fill soil brought in from regional worksites. Water for the freshwater lakes and dam is supplemented by stormwater piped in from Wharf Road, as well as run-off taken from the roof of the Herald Sun printing plant next to the park’s northern boundary.

The Friends of Westgate Park group was founded in 1998 with the co-operation of Parks Victoria. The group aims to revegetate the land, which was originally planted with flora native to Western Australia, with plants that would have been present in the region prior to European colonisation and land-clearing. In 2005, FoWP received a $75,000 grant from Landcare Australia to landscape the strip of land along the park’s northern border to create a red gum woodland and wetlands, as well as leading to the establishment of their “compound” and on-site nursery.

The FoWP group is composed of a dedicated core group of volunteers supported by a variety of other groups which donate their time – the group now averages over 1,000 volunteer hours per month, the equivalent of more than 7 full-time employees, and has hosted 50 corporate volunteering days in the period April 2010-April 2011. In the past, corporate volunteering groups have come from a variety of companies, including PricewaterhouseCoopers and Holden. In particular, a group of 40 employees from Goldman Sachs have volunteered annually since 2005.

The project also hosts a Green Corps group, with twelve team members working at the park four days a week to learn a combination of environmental theory and practice, including habitat restoration, landscaping, weed control and plant identification. School groups attend the site for excursions which include activities based on the culture of the traditional owners of the land, the Bunurong and the Woiworung tribes.

Following the creation of their compound in 2005, FoWP has begun production of plants on their on-site nursery. Approximately 40% of the plants used by the project are produced on-site, while the remainder come from the St Kilda Indigenous Nursery Co-operative (SKINC). The project plants over 20,000 plants and spreads over 150 truckloads of mulch every year. Since the park vegetation (both understory and tree growth) isn’t established enough to provide a complete habitat for wildlife, logs found in the Yarra river after heavy rains are taken and placed in the park.

Funding for the project comes from Landcare Australia, as well as Greening Australia, Conservation Volunteers Australia, Parks Victoria, and the Federal Government. The project won the 2010 National Urban Landcare Award.

The project has increased the diversity of the Westgate Park site, as well as provided examples of a variety of the vegetation classes that existed in the Melbourne region prior to European settlement. It has provided habitat for a large amount of different animal species, including over 120 bird species and a variety of frogs.The park’s proximity to the Melbourne CBD, combined with its four-day midweek schedule for volunteering, means the project is not limited to weekend events and provides easy access for corporate groups to run volunteering days. These volunteering days not only result in environmental benefits from the understorey planted but also have team-building benefits for the groups involved.

The project has also provided valuable education to community members, including school groups and members of the Federal Government’s Green Corps. These groups have learned useful practical skills while learning about the importance of conserving and restoring Australia’s unique environment.