Bordering the city, in Footscray, Newells Paddock is a very rare type of wetland – both fresh water and saline. It supports wonderfully quirky indigenous plants, some quite rare.
The vegetation types/ecosystems in the park include: woodland, tall reeds and rushes, open spaces, and semi aquatic plants, salt-tolerant plants and of course weeds. 😉 Friends of Newells Paddock has planted over 4,000 locally sourced plants in the past 2.5 years+ to slowly transform the park. Areas that were once weedy, forgotten spaces or just grass with Red gums now have under-stories or are naturally beginning to regenerate with indigenous plants.
Friends of Newells Paddock are restoring and re-establish the ecosystems that were originally in the park before the banks of the Maribyrnong River were industrialised in the 1850’s.