Bush's Paddock
Large grassland with long history of community management by the Pinkerton Landcare and Environment Group (PLEG) that has reversed some impacts of a long history of stock grazing. Now managed by Melton. Stone walls have created small microclimates with unique suites of species.
Main photo: A long history of community care
2: A rare twining, scrambling pea
3: An unusual variant attracts attention
4: Beauty in detail
5: Drumstick flowers beat out a welcome
6: Kaboom! Here I am
7: Wolf spider!
Other names:
Mulla Mulla Grasslands
Owner:
Melton Shire Council
Manager:
Melton Shire Council, Pinkerton Landcare
LGA:
MELTON
Notes:
This grassland is in a spectacular location, on the western slopes of Mt Cottrell, a small extinct shield volcano, and just above the gorge carved into the basalt rock by the Werribee River. Open grassland merges into a Grey Box grassy woodland (with a few River Red Gums) further down the slope, similar to the woodlands at nearby Eynesbury and Pinkerton Forest. A wide range of grassland species are present, and more are being reintroduced in some sections as management removes weeds. The grassland structure appears as a mosaic of Kangaroo Grass and Spear Grass dominated stands. The now rare Featherheads, Ptilotus macrocephalus (also called Mulla Mulla) is common in the reserve. Individuals of this species have had their roots carbon dated at 300 years old, making a small herb quite amazingly as old as giant Grey Box and River Red Gum veterans nearby. An old fenceline halfway through the reserve contains an interesting collection of Tree Violets: the taller Melicytus dentatus, common along waterways, and the rarer Melicytus angustifolius, a smaller, densely thorny plant of the plains. Both are happily growing together along the fence where birds have indiscriminately deposited seed of both.
Key features:
Numerous less common and endangered native wildflowers such as Featherheads, Grassland Candles (Stackhousia subterranea), Clover Glycine (Glycine latrobeana), Small Scuf-pea (Cullen parvum), Button Wrinklewort (Rutidosis leptorrhynchoides), Blue Stars (Caesia calliantha). Wedge-tail Eagles above and rich bird life in the woodland section.
Access:
By permission of Council
Type:
NATURE CONSERVATION RESERVE
Status:
Extant
Address:
1572 Mount Cottrell Rd, Mount Cottrell VIC 3024, Australia
Area (ha):
45.69918044
Lattidude (decimal):
-37.75976082
Longitude (decimal):
144.6042262
Location:
Contributors:
BC
External URL one:
https://www.pinkertonforest.com/areas/mulla-mulla-grasslands