The Melba Gully State Park was formed to protect a small pocket of natural temperate rainforest in the Otway Ranges near Apollo Bay, Victoria, Australia. The 48-hectare (120-acre) park is extremely valuable as one of the few pockets of natural old-growth Otway Ranges rainforests to survive the logging and subsequent fires, making it a key part of the regeneration of the original Otway Ranges rainforests. The park now forms part of the Great Otway National Park.
| Melba Gully State Park Victoria | |
|---|---|
 | |
  Melba Gully State Park | |
| Nearest town or city | Lavers Hill |
| Coordinates | 38°41′50″S 143°22′10″E / 38.69722°S 143.36944°E |
| Established | 1978 |
| Area | 0.65 km2 (0.3 sq mi)[1] |
| Managing authorities | Parks Victoria |
| Website | Melba Gully State Park |
| See also | Protected areas of Victoria |
The gully has a dense cover of myrtle beech (Nothofagus cunninghamii), blackwood (Acacia melanoxylon) and tree-ferns, with an understorey of low ferns and mosses. Glow worms (Arachnocampa otwayensis),[2] which are the bioluminescent larvae of small flies known as fungus gnats, can be seen at night along the stream banks and walking tracks.[1][3][4]
The park has few facilities due to its small size, but it has a picnic ground and basic picnic facilities, with the main attraction being the 35 minute Madsens Track Nature Walk.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b Catrice, D. (1996), Victoria's Heritage: Melba Gully (PDF), Parks Victoria
- ^ Baker, Claire H. (2010). "A new subgenus and five new species of Australian glow-worms (Diptera: Keroplatidae: Arachnocampa)". Memoirs of the Queensland Museum. 55 (1): 11–43.
- ^ a b Parks Victoria (2013), Parknotes: Melba Gully Great Otway National Park Visitor Guide (PDF), Parks Victoria
- ^ Parks Victoria (2019), Melba Gully, Parks Victoria