Re-wilding Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve

From an under-utilised golf course to large-scale restored biodiversity and habitat sanctuary, right in the heart of Melbourne.

The community-driven rewilding and transformation of the former Elsternwick golf course in North Brighton into the Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve features expansive restored wetlands, waterways and reintroduction of locally extinct plant species. It has been planned and restored to maximise the benefit to local indigenous birds and other species. This ambitious project has only been made possible through the collaboration, enthusiasm and hard work of a number of parties including highly motivated community groups, the Bayside community, @Bayside City Council and councillors, ecological experts and traditional landowners, and our own staff were very excited to participate.

This is one of the most inspiring projects Australian Ecosystems have worked on in our 25 year history. Projects like these are inspired and help us to see the potential for nature to thrive in our cities. Our staff at Australian Ecosystems were privileged to be able to contribute to the restoration of the site, including collection of seed and cuttings for a very technical and diverse plant list, propagation of tens of thousands of plants alongside contributing local community nurseries, installation of plants and jutemat, installation of customized netting to protect the plants from bird grazing as well as maintenance of the site during establishment phase.

You can see the level of enthusiasm for this project in this film, and we hope to see more of these types of projects in our cities in future. You can find out more about this outstanding project at https://www.elsternwickpark.org