By Adam Carey
A vast swath of land on Melbourne’s northern fringe should be locked away for a new park before it is snapped up by developers for new housing and industry, Victoria’s environment department has urged the state government.
More than six years ago, the state Labor government committed to investigating a proposal to create a regional park on rural land used for generations for farming but which could be developed over the next 10 years into housing and industrial estates between Craigieburn and Wallan.
Wallan Environment Group president Norbert Ryan (left) and former presidents Cr Claudia James and Rob Eldridge on Green Hill, Wallan, with the drained Hernes Swamp and the Wallara Waters housing estate behind them. Credit: Penny Stephens
The proposed park would potentially be the largest in Melbourne’s outer north, providing a refuge for native wildlife and an expansive outdoor escape for hundreds of thousands of residents of booming outer suburbs such as Kalkallo, Donnybrook and Beveridge.
But the government was warned three years ago that the window of opportunity to secure the land was closing, as the area being proposed for the regional park is mostly in private hands and likely to increase in value, and potentially be carved up for housing.
Victoria’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change has urged the government to apply a public acquisition overlay on the land “as soon as is practicable” to avoid a blowout in costs, as property values rise due to demand from residential and industrial developers.
The park could span up to 2888 hectares – about 76 times the size of Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens – taking in the headwaters of Merri Creek, Kalkallo Creek and four volcanic cones that are landmarks for travellers on the Hume Freeway.
The twin volcanic cones of Mount Fraser, long a landmark for Hume Freeway travellers, could be included in the regional park. Credit: Penny Stephens
Local environmental volunteers hope the park would encompass a network of drained swamps that would be revived into a healthy wetland. They point to work conducted by Yarra Valley Water that restored a small part of Hernes Swamp as an experiment in 2020. The area exploded with native birdlife within one season, becoming a breeding ground for black swans.
Campaigner and former local councillor Rob Eldridge said the swamps and creek lines were degraded after many years of being drained and used for agriculture but could be restored in a short time.
“If you look at it historically, the Yarra was very degraded, the Maribyrnong was degraded,” he said. “You’ve only got to walk along Merri Creek. You don’t have to do a lot to bring it back.”
Eldridge was instrumental in developing the park proposal, dubbed the wallan wallan Regional Park, but now fears the push is losing momentum as the state government advances its plans for new housing in the area.
The Andrews government committed in the 2018 election campaign to complete a feasibility study for the wallan wallan Regional Park as part of its $150 million promise to create a 6500-hectare “ring of new parkland in our growing suburbs”.
The environment department completed the study in 2022 but did not release it until last week, following a freedom-of-information request by The Age. It has made no other commitments towards the park.
The released report advises the government that any delay in putting an acquisition overlay on land that would be turned into a public park would probably increase costs to the state, due to rising land values. This has already happened in some places identified in the report as suitable parkland which have since been designated for future housing.
Green spaceCredit: Matt Golding
Mitchell Shire councillor Claudia James said the government needed to swoop quickly to secure the land for the park, as it would probably face a fight from developers over land use.
The land for the proposed park forms part of a number of undeveloped precinct structure plans that are due to be developed as part of Melbourne’s urban expansion over the next 10 years.
“There is a window of time available,” James said. “It would have been better if it happened two years ago. If it’s not done now, it’s not going to happen.”
A spokesperson for the Allan government said the feasibility study would be used to guide future planning decisions on land use in the area.
The spokesperson did not answer a question on whether the government had moved to apply a public acquisition overlay on any land within the proposed park’s boundaries.
“We are creating and upgrading 6500 hectares of open space across Melbourne through the Suburban Parks Program and delivering more open spaces for families in Wallan with the new Wallan Central Cycle and Nature Trail Project and upgrades to the playground at Greenhill Recreation Reserve,” the spokesperson said.
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