What’s special

It’s the closest state park to Melbourne with the Yarra River flowing along lightly wooded banks and through the Warrandyte Gorge.

Best time to visit

Walking, riding and exploring the park are possible all year round. Canoeing can be limited by low flows in summer and dangerous floods after heavy rain. Spring is excellent for wildflowers.

What to do

The park is very popular for walking, birdwatching, horse riding, canoeing, cycling, fishing, swimming and abseiling (by permit at the Whipstick Gully quarry).

Where

The park is located along the Yarra River, in both directions from Warrandyte, and is just a drive of 34km northeast of Melbourne. Much of the park is accessible by public transport.

Accommodation

You can find accommodation in the township of Warrandyte. There is no camping in the park, but there are two adjacent scout camps – Clifford Park Activity Centre and Cresco Park adjoining Pound Bend – and a Parks Victoria site at the Longridge Camping Area.

About the park

The first reservation of 135ha was in 1975, with additions since then. Stane Brae and Yarra Brae were purchased in 1982 and added in 1987. Mt Lofty was bought from Melbourne Water and added in 1997. The park is now 686ha.

The name ‘Warrandyte’ is of Woiwurrung derivation. In 1845, James Dawson gave the name to his station and it was adopted by surveyor Robert Hoddle as the name for the parish. It became the name for the township and the park.

There are two main visitor areas. One is at Pound Bend, a 5km loop in the river. This was briefly an Aboriginal Reserve and a stock pound in the 1850s. In 1870 a 145m tunnel was cut under the neck to divert the river so that the bed could be dredged for gold. Near the tunnel exit is a picnic area and toilets.

The other is the picnic area at Jumping Creek, where there are toilets, fireplaces and an information shelter. A guide sheet is provided for a 2km nature walk.
The site of Victoria’s first official gold discovery (June 1851) lies within the park and is marked by a cairn on Andersons Creek at Fourth Hill, an area of disturbed ground with shafts and tunnels and a maze of sign-posted tracks.

At Whipstick Gully is the Victory Mine tunnel with an interpretive display and a replica poppet head. Black Flat is another old mining area and the site of the Caledonia mine, which collapsed, literally and financially, in 1912. At 180m, it is the deepest in the area.

From Whipstick Gully there is a riverside path upstream to Jumping Creek and on to Blue Tongue Bend. Mt Lofty, off Homestead Road, is former cleared grazing country. The surrounding bush is regenerating, particularly in fenced enclosures.

Natural history

The Yarra River winds through a narrow valley of rocky cascades and slower flowing pools. Gum-forested alluvial flats lie between often steep slopes with shallow stony soils and dry forest vegetation.

The park is valuable as one of the most important remaining areas with remnant indigenous plants and animals in the northeast of Greater Melbourne. It has diverse habitats and many threatened species.

A conservation zone on the river’s south bank includes Yarra Brae, Stane Brae and Blue Tongue Bend.

Friends groups

Friends of Warrandyte State Park
Friends of Warrandyte State Park