Chelsworth Park (Ivanhoe)

Chelsworth Park is a 11 hectare reserve close to the Yarra River corridor. It has sporting fields, a shared walking/bicycle trail, indigenous river red gums and non-indigenous trees and shrubs. The reserve has a basic playground.

History

This reserve was once part of a dairy farm established by Patrick Stevenson in 1846. In 1930, Heidelberg Council took 57 acres of the Chelsworth Estate for park land and 2.5 acres for sport use.

The reserve is owned by Banyule City Council, and leased and maintained by Ivanhoe Grammar School.

Flora and Fauna

Chelsworth Park and nearby Wilson Reserve are good bird watching areas. Native Australian wildlife found in the area include the long-necked turtle, common brush-tailed possum, pacific black duck, chestnut teal, white-faced heron, superb fairy wren, bell miner and eastern yellow robin.

The reserve is in the Gippsland Plain bioregion, and has a floodplain riparian woodland - river red gum (terrace) vegetation community. It is managed by the Banyule Bushland Management Unit.