A NEW group is being formed to open up and improve the 15-hectare Oliver’s Creek Bushland Reserve at Tyabb.
Mornington Peninsula Shire has allocated $52,000 towards the upkeep and revitalisation of the reserve.
David Chalke, of the Tyabb and District Ratepayers group, said the reserve was an “under-appreciated treasure … and is the largest piece of publicly accessible bushland in the district”.
“The last fauna report showed it to be home to both koalas and echidnas as well as a range of other natives. We hope to improve access to the reserve, particularly for the less than fully abled as well as reduce the weed load,” he said.
It is hoped forming a Friends of Oliver’s Creek Bushland Reserve will have the same success as a similar group which has worked to transform the Clifford Drive Bushland Reserve from “a blackberry and pittosporum-infested jungle into an award winning, thriving, native bushland habitat”.
Olivers Creek reserve is on Mornington-Tyabb Road, west of Tyabb Primary School. Its northern boundary follows Oliver’s Creek, which eventually flows into Western Port.
The reserve has lowland forest, swampy riparian woodland and grass woodland areas. There is a picnic shelter and old tennis courts, which could be used for car parking.
The initial meeting to form a Friends of Oliver’s Creek Reserve will start at 10am at the reserve’s Wellington Road entrance on Sunday 21 July.
Details: call 5950 1356 or email Hannah.brown@mornpen.vic.gov.au
First published in the Western Port News – 10 July 2019
