NEWPORT LAKES

1. NEWPORT LAKES

2. History: quarry 1850-1968 • a farm and pastoral property to William Hall in 1852 after an auction in 1851. • Rate records from 1868-9 first record the property as a quarry and as occupied by Doherty. stone quarry for seven years from June 1869 for one hundred pounds per annum paid monthly. This arrangement carried on into the 1880's. • The bluestone quarried was used as ballast by ships returning to Europe from docks at Footscray, Newport and Williamstown. The bluestone was an important source of building material in Melbourne

3. History- A quarry becomes a tip. • In 1968, the quarry was considered 'worked out' again and, after negotiations the land use zoning was changed from light industrial to public open space. “to make the land reusable” • In 1973-4, the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works proposed a grant to be made available to the City of Williamstown under the condition that the land be used as a regional refuse disposal. The site would then be developed as public open space and remain in public ownership. • Pavey's Hole operates as a tip from 1975 until 197?. It accepted putresible and non-putresible waste from the public and the cities of Altona, Richmond, Williamstown and Port Melbourne. • The former quarries were left with vertical cliff faces and a child of four and a 40-year old mentally disabled man fell to their deaths from the cliffs at the north-western edge.

4. History: 1980's • The first Friends group formed in 1984, until 1987, as an action group to stop The City of Williamstown plans to turn the northern lake into a tip. • There were many disputes within Council and the public against using the area as a tip as local newspapers of the time show. • Between 1992-5, Martin Hulzebosch planned the current reserve (he now works with Werribee Open Range Zoo). He drained the lakes and made them shallower, about three metres. This was a safety measure.

5. History: Nature reserve. • Martin (the designer) built the up the land and placed the stepping stones between north and south lake. He erected the dead gums in north lake as perches for larger water birds like Cormorants. Each tree cost $500 to plant. He sculpted the 20 metre drop of the cliffs surrounding North and South Lake in order to make them safer. • Between 1992 and 1995 several unemployed work schemes did more planting and weeding, built the toilet blocks, put up possum boxes in the tallest outer trees, produced a leaflet and conducted tours.

6. History: The Current Newport Lakes • In October 1996, the Hobsons Bay City Council's (HBCC) developed a Masterplan for the Newport Lakes Reserve Bushland Park. There were two versions exhibited for public comment in the following year. The other plan included a shop/tearooms and an environmental educational centre. The following is an excerpt from the bushland plan: • "This plan sees the creation of a very simple bushland park. The lakes (eastern) area of the park, which is already open for visitors, will continue to be a bushland haven. Planting will be extended into the western half of the park. New picnic areas will be created on the sites which were formally the tip holes and have now been "capped" with clay.

8. Surrounds: Pavey's Park • In the early decades of the twentieth century this area was a quarry called, Pavey’s Hole, after its owner. This area was used as a tip after the quarry was worked out and then redeveloped as a park. It now is made up of the Ranger’s office, a native nursery, a car park, barbecues and shelters, a playground, paths and a large grassy open area.

9. Surrounds: North West Area • This area was once one of the biggest quarries in the park and then a Council tip in the 1980s. The tip was capped in layers of clay to seal in the decomposing rubbish and the resulting gasses. It is often the home of many weeds (and a source of weed seeds that blow into the rest of the park), but a lawn of sorts and its own bird community is developing. • What will happen to this area? We still don’t know and Council keep putting off plans to start redevelopment. Many suggestions have been made including more forest, more open park, native grassland, community allotments and a viewing mound or platform.

10. Surrounds: Bird Trails • The trails range in length between 1200 and 2100 metres, taking between 25 and 40 minutes to complete. Some pathways in the park are steep and covered with recycled concrete gravel. They may be slippery and unsuitable for visitors with mobility difficulties. Do not venture into tall grass, to avoid damaging plants and encountering snakes. • Part of one trail features a bird hide constructed and painted by members of the Friends of Newport Lakes.

11. Surrounds: Amphitheatre • Like the rest of the park, this area was once a small quarry. This work left a bluestone cliff that surrounds the circular area. • The common plants in this area include: the Bull Rush, Thin Duck Weed, Combugi, Sedges, Common Mardoo, Water Button and bush tomatoes. • The most obvious bird in the Amphitheatre is the Purple Swamp Hen, a black hen-like bird with a purple breast and large feet.

12. water • After rain, you may see waterfalls (though they can also be turned on by arrangement). • In the centre of the Amphitheatre, you’ll see a metal box. This contains a pump to draw up water through a bore into the ground water 200 metres below the surface. This water maintains the water level of all the lakes. When the water reaches the surface, it enters the four small lakes, above and below the cliff, densely packed with bull rushes. The park designer called these ‘feeder lakes’ because bore water filters through these lakes, improving its quality, before it reaches North and South Lake.

13. Surrounds: North & South Lakes • Bull rushes surround the lakes while banks and slopes are planted with gums and wattles. The larger trees planted in the 1980s, include yellow box, black wattle, she oak and hemp bush. Some of the oldest trees, at the park's edges have possum boxes. • Stepping stones divide North and South Lakes; these are an essential part of any visit to the park. From the bird droppings, mostly Seagull, you can tell people love to feed birds from the stones. • The water is much shallower here than the body of the lake, a deliberate safety feature by the park's designers.

14. Resources: Fauna List • Over 86 species of birds have been recorded in the park from birds of prey such as the Australian Black Shouldered Kite to parrots and wetland birds like grebes and cormorants. Such a variety of birds is possible because the park provides a wealth of diverse habitats and areas to rest and feed. • Some of the oldest trees around the edges have possum boxes, the council is hoping to attract local possums out of neighbouring roofs and into the park!