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Campaign for the Central West Parks

In October 2010, Wombat Forestcare launched a campaign for Park status for the Wombat State Forest

In association with the Victorian National Parks Association, Wombat Forestcare also campaigned for a Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC) investigation into the Wombat/Macedon area, Mt Cole/Pyrenees area and the Wellsford Forest in Bendigo.

In March 2017, the Hon Lily D’Ambrosio, the then Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change (DEECA), requested that VEAC undertake a Central West Investigation into these areas of public land.

VEAC is a well-respected independent council that conducts investigations and assessments to provide advice to the Victorian Government on the protection and ecologically sustainable management of public land and natural resources. These assessments can include advice on changes to land tenure, including the creation of national parks.

A draft proposal paper was published in August 2018.

The final report on VEAC’s Central West Investigation was publicly released on 21 June 2019. www.veac.vic.gov.au/investigations-assessments/current-
investigations/investigation/central-west-investigation

The Government response to the recommendations was tabled in Parliament on 24 June 2021.
www.forestsandreserves.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/537069/Victorian-Government-Response-to-Assessment-of-Victorias-Coastal-Reserves.pdf

The government has undertaken to create three new national parks: Wombat-Lerderderg, Mt Buangor and Pyrenees National Parks, a series of conservation and regional parks and nature reserves.

Despite written undertakings by the Minister for the Environment, the Hon. Steve Dimopoulos, to present the Bills for the legislation for the parks to Parliament, we are still waiting.

Make WoMbat Forest a state Park PROTECT IT ForeVer

Legislation for the Wombat-Lerderderg National Park

Our community is celebrating the tabling of the bill to create the new Wombat-Lerderderg National Park. 24,000 hectares of the Wombat Forest will be conserved for our amazing animals, plants and fungi and for future generations to enjoy.

Wombat Forestcare congratulates the State Government for creating this national park and the Mt Buangor and Pyrenees National Parks, all incredibly important habitat for endangered creatures and plants. The creation of the Hepburn and Cobaw Conservation Parks will safeguard these ecologically important areas. The Wellsford State Forest, with its wonderful range of wildflowers, will be included in the Bendigo Regional Park.

Gayle Osborne said “Wombat Forestcare members and supporters, together with the Victorian National Parks Association, have campaigned for many years for the protection of our unique forest and its inhabitants. We are delighted that the parks will be legislated, and look forward to the legislation of the promised regional parks and bushland reserves in the central west region”

The Wombat Forest provides habitat for so many wonderful creatures including the magnificent Greater Glider. This beautiful creature, the size of a domestic cat, is covered with thick fur, with a bushy tail that is half a metre long and used as a rudder. They can glide an amazing 90 metres between trees. Once considered a very common forest animal they are now listed as endangered. It is exciting that most of our Wombat Forest population will now be protected in the new national park.

The Wombat Forest is home to the critically endangered Wombat Leafless Bossiaea. There are only five known plants in the wild and they are all in the Wombat Forest.

Powerful Owls successfully breed in the Wombat Forest. This is a great indicator of forest health as the owls need a steady supply of food such as ringtail possums to sustain themselves and their chicks.

Gayle Osborne said “Our community has worked so hard to have the Wombat recognised for its incredible wildlife. For more than the 14 years that Wombat Forestcare has campaigned for ‘Park’ status for our forest, so many people have attended protest events, written letters to politicians and supported the campaign in so many ways.”

Wombat Forestcare members and supporters campaign for the Central West Parks. Photo by Sandy Scheltema.

UPDATES

Campaign for Wombat-Lerderderg National Park

Campaign for Wombat-Lerderderg National Park

Jul 30, 2025

Members and supporters of Wombat Forestcare expressed their disappointment in the failure of the Victorian government to present the Bill to create the Wombat-Lerderderg and Mount Buangor National Parks to the Victorian Parliament last year as promised.

The Environment Minister, the Hon. Steve Dimopoulos, has now informed Wombat Forestcare members that all the Victorian Environment Assessment Council recommendations that were accepted by his government will be legislated later this year.

 

Campaign for Wombat-Lerderderg National Park Photo Sandy Scheltema

Photo Sandy Scheltema

Greater Gliders need a new national park in the Wombat Forest

Greater Gliders need a new national park in the Wombat Forest

Apr 26, 2022

The Wombat Forest, near Daylesford, is a vital refuge for the Greater Glider, Australia’s largest flying mammal. A new report suggests that a new national park here would secure long-term protection for this species that is in decline across the state.

At least a quarter of Greater Glider habitat has been impacted by the unprecedented fires in the east of Victoria. The Wombat Forest is one of the forests in the west of Victoria that has been recommended by VEAC to be protected in the national parks system.

DOWNLOAD THE REPORT

Wombat Forest A greater Refuge for Greater Gliders

Photo: Greater Glider by Gayle Osborne

An open letter to the Andrews Government – Less talk, more protection for nature

An open letter to the Andrews Government – Less talk, more protection for nature

Jul 23, 2021

A mighty collaboration of groups, coordinated by local community conservation group Wombat Forestcare, is calling on the Andrews Government to hurry up and get on with creating and implementing new parks for Victoria, through a series of full page adds in six papers across key regional centres of Bendigo, Ballarat, Castlemaine, Moorabool, Daylesford, Macedon.


Over forty state, national and international groups representing hundreds of thousands of Victorians, call on the Andrews’ Government to accept recommendations for new national parks in Victoria’s central west.

Following the two-year expert investigation by the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council (VEAC), recommendations have been made for large areas of public forests of the Wombat, Wellsford, Mount Cole and Pyrenees Ranges in Victoria’s central west to become National (almost 60,000 hectares) or Regional Parks (almost 20,000 hectares).

The Andrews’ Government decision is already over 12 months overdue, and after years in the making, the lack of action has left regional and conservation groups from around the state feeling deeply disappointed.

READ THE LETTER

Central West Open Letter2021

 

Photo: Some of the 200 members of Wombat Forestcare met on the Lederderg River near Blackwood to discuss their hopes for the Wombat Forest to be reclassified as a National Park. Picture © Sandy Scheltema