Indigenous Vegetation

The area within the City of Brimbank boundaries supports more than 500 indigenous plants with many of them being rare, threatened or endangered.

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Since European occupation, Sunshine & it's surrounding district has lost most of its indigenous vegetation due to land clearing, farming, transport corridors and for industrial & residential use. There is now less than one percent of the critically endangered Grassland's ecosystem left in Victoria.

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Some of the remnants of this vegetation can still found in railway corridors, transmission powerline reserves, along some creeks and in some under developed land. Without protection by authorities there is no doubt some of this vegetation would have been lost.

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The dominate vegetation in the area is “Themeda australis” (Kangaroo Grass) and is the most recognizable member of the grass family.

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The Isabella Williams Memorial Reserve has a number of raised garden beds where examples of the native plants have been planted. Just north of this reserve is the Isabella Williams Grasslands Reserve. 

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Four sites within the City of Brimbank district contains the near-extinct orchid “Diuris fragrantissima" (Sunshine Orchid). Another site in the district has the endangered Button Wrinklewort (Rutidosis leptorhynchoides), a perennial daisy with yellow spherical flower heads 8-15 mm in diameter at the end of long flowering stems. This daisy is found in fewer than 30 known locations across Victoria, NSW and the ACT. The exact location of these sites have been removed to protect the risk of the flowers being picked or otherwise damaged.

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The feature hoarding on the new Sunshine Railway Station built in 2014 was designed by Martine Corompt and is dedicated to Sunshine's local indigenous vegetation.

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Without the community groups such as "The Friends of Kororoit Creek" & "Friends of Iramoo" and their working partnership with Brimbank Council much of this important indigenous vegetation may have been lost forever. 

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A number of these sites also contain important geological and geomorpholical features. For further details see the "Geological and Geomorphogical Page".

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Ref: Sites of Botanical Significance in the Western Region of Melbourne, Keith McDougall

Ref: S&DHS Newsletter - Series 3, No 04, November 2004 & Newsletter - Series 5, No 08, December 2008

Ref: Friends of Iramoo

Ref: The Friends of Kororoit Creek

Photos: S&DHS