Westerfolds Park

Westerfolds Park is a large 120-hectare metropolitan park on the Yarra River in Templestowe, within the City of Manningham, about 15 km northeast of central Melbourne. Part of the Yarra Valley Parklands and managed by Parks Victoria, it is notable for its open woodlands, wetlands, river frontage and extensive trail network. The park preserves former farmland and orchard landscape and serves as a major recreation area for picnics, cycling and nature-based activities.

Visitors can expect a spacious riverine parkland with rolling grassy areas, remnant River Red Gums, wetlands and billabongs along the Yarra River (Birrarung). The park offers sealed and unsealed walking and cycling trails, picnic areas with barbecues and shelters, a playground, canoe launch points, and lookouts over the river valley. The environment is open and natural, with kangaroos, waterbirds and native vegetation, and facilities concentrated around the main picnic areas near Fitzsimons Lane.

The area was traditionally part of Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country along the Birrarung (Yarra River). In the 19th and 20th centuries it was used for farming and orchards. The land was acquired by the Victorian Government in the 1970s to create parkland as part of the Yarra Valley Parklands system, opening to the public as Westerfolds Park in the late 1970s.

Located on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country, the Yarra River (Birrarung) holds cultural significance for Traditional Owners. The park is valued as a community recreation and environmental conservation area within metropolitan Melbourne, reflecting the preservation of riverine landscape for public use.