Map - Herring Island (Victoria) (Herring Island)

Herring Island  (Herring Island)
Herring Island is a small 3.2 ha artificial island located in Melbourne's Yarra River at South Yarra, approximately 3 km from the city centre. It is the only island in the Yarra River.

Herring Island was formed in 1928 by cutting a channel through an old basalt quarry. The island was leased for many years by the scout movement, who named it after their patron, Sir Edmund Herring, the Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria. The Island contains indigenous vegetation, and provides important habitat for native fauna, particularly birds. It is currently managed by Parks Victoria and used as a sculpture park. Sculptures include works by Jill Peck, Ellen Jose, and Andy Goldsworthy.

Herring Island is an artificial island that was formed in 1928 by cutting a new path for the Yarra River through an old basalt quarry, as part of a plan to control flooding of the river. The new island, which was initially called Como Island, was built up with silt dredged from the river. Levee banks were constructed up on the island, and trees and shrubs were planted; but they were swept away by a major flood in November 1934.

After the flood waters receded, new trees and shrubs were planted, and the levees were built up with more river silt. The island was leased by the scouts in the 1950s and 1960s. They renamed the island after their president, Sir Edmund Herring, who was also the Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria. In 1994, Parks Victoria assumed control of the island, and turned it into a wildlife reserve and recreational park. The Friends of Herring Island have assisted Parks Victoria in re-establishing native vegetation on the island.

Herring Island is an important environmental and recreational asset in Melbourne's inner suburbs, and forms an important focus for the linear parkland proposed for the lower reaches of the Yarra River. The Island contains indigenous vegetation, and provides important habitat for native fauna, particularly birds and insect eating bats. Grey headed flying foxes (megabats) visit at night in search of flowering and fruiting native trees. Such areas are rare in the inner suburbs, and are a valuable ecological resource. Herring Island is also an important recreational resource which provides opportunities for nature study, passive recreation and adventure play. The old scout hall was renovated to become the Herring Island Gallery.

Herring Island is little known to the people of Melbourne despite its prominent position in the Yarra River. For years, the Island had been used as a depository for silt dredged from the Yarra River and has experienced periods of neglect. This has left a legacy of land degradation, particularly soil salting, tree dieback, and weed invasion.

Access to the island is from a punt service that leaves from Como landing. The punt service operates on Saturdays, Sundays and some public holidays from December through April. Visitors can also travel down the Yarra River in their own boat, but swimming in the Yarra is prohibited.

 
Map - Herring Island  (Herring Island)
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of 7617930 km2, Australia is the largest country by area in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country. Australia is the oldest, flattest, and driest inhabited continent, with the least fertile soils. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates, with deserts in the centre, tropical rainforests in the north-east, and mountain ranges in the south-east.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south east Asia approximately 65,000 years ago, during the last ice age. Arriving by sea, they settled the continent and had formed approximately 250 distinct language groups by the time of European settlement, maintaining some of the longest known continuing artistic and religious traditions in the world. Australia's written history commenced with the European maritime exploration of Australia. The Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon was the first known European to reach Australia, in 1606. In 1770, the British explorer James Cook mapped and claimed the east coast of Australia for Great Britain, and the First Fleet of British ships arrived at Sydney in 1788 to establish the penal colony of New South Wales. The European population grew in subsequent decades, and by the end of the 1850s gold rush, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and an additional five self-governing British colonies established. Democratic parliaments were gradually established through the 19th century, culminating with a vote for the federation of the six colonies and foundation of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January 1901. Australia has since maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and wealthy market economy.
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