Ringwood Field Naturalists Club Inc.

Donnelly’s Weir is in the Yarra Ranges National Park, 3km from Healesville in an open forest area. It is the start of the BICENTENNIAL NATIONAL TRAIL up the East Coast of Australia to Cooktown in Queensland, a 5330km walking trail and the longest marked trekking route of its kind in the world.
We accessed the car park by crossing a shallow ford and explored the area near the old weir looking at the flora and keeping an eye and an ear out for the resident birds. The tracks were good and much time was spent identifying botanical specimens. After morning tea we walked alongside the aqueduct that carries water from the Maroondah Dam to Melbourne.
The main Eucalypts were Manna Gum, Mountain Grey Gum and Messmate. The middle and lower stories had Acacias, Pomaderris, Bedfordia, and other mountain forest shrubs, with Tree Ferns in the moist gullies. Birds included Golden Whistler, several different Honeyeaters and Parrots.
Highlights were: getting a good look at a Sacred Kingfisher resting on a dead branch overhanging the aqueduct track; finding Bird Orchids and some Mountain Greenhoods on the forest track margins; seeing magnificent Manna Gums by the creeks; seeing the almost abrupt change from dominant Gums to a Messmate/Peppermint mix after climbing only about thirty metres.

Acacia dealbata - Silver Wattle: Acacia decurrens; Acacia implexa - Lightwood: Acacia leprosa - Cinnamon Wattle; Acacia longifolia - Sallow Wattle; Acacia melanoxylon - Blackwood; Acaena novae-zelandie - Bidgee Widgee; Adiantum aethiopicum - Maiden Hair Fern; Bedfordia arborscens - Blanket Bush; Blechnum nudum - Fern; Cassinia arcuata - Drooping Cassinia; Cassinia longifolia - Shiny Cassinia; Chiloglottis valida - Common Bird-orchid; Clematis aristata - Old Man's Beard; Comesperma volubile - Love Creeper; Coprosma quadrifida - Prickly currant; Cyathea Australis - Rough Tree Fern; Drosera peltata subsp. auriculata - Tall Sundew; Eucalyptus cypellocarpa - Mountain Grey Gum; Eucalyptus obliqua - Messmate; Eucalyptus radiata - Narrow Leaf Peppermint; Eucalyptus viminalis - Manna Gum; Exocarpus cupressens - Cherry Ballart; Glycine clandestina - Twining Glycine; Gonocarpus tetragynus - Common Raspwort; Goodenia ovata - Hop Goodenia; Goodia lotifolia - Golden Tip; Hedycarya angustifolia - Austral Mulberry; Helichrysum sp.; Hymenathera dentata -Tree Violet; Lepidosperma sp. – Sword Sedge; Leptospermum continentale - Prickly Tea Tree; Lomandra longifolia - Spiny Mat Rush; Lomandra filiformis - Wattle Mat Rush; Lomatia fraseri - Tree Lomatia; Olearea lirata - Snowy Daisy Bush; Pandorea pandorana - Wonga Vine; Pomaderris aspera - Hazel Pomaderris; Pteridium esculentum - Austral Bracken; Pterostylus alpina - Mountain Greenhood; Rubus parvifolius - Native Raspberry; Solanum prinophyllum - Toothed nightshade; Spyridium parvifolium - Dusty Miller; Stylidium sp. - Trigger Plant; Viola hederacea - Native Violet.