Plenty River Trail

The Plenty River Trail starts north of the Western Ring Road in Greensborough and ends far to the south, meeting the Yarra River Trail in Viewbank. Following the winding Plenty River, the trail passes playgrounds, sport fields, bushland and open areas suitable for picnicking, bike riding and dog walking.

This shared trail is concrete throughout Banyule and is accessible from many of entry points, including wheelchair users and bicycles. The Parks Victoria section of the trail is unsealed between the bridge south of Lower Plenty Road and the Yarra River Trail.

The Friends of Plenty River are active volunteers, helping to manage bushland along the Plenty River in Yallambie. They meet on the second Sunday of each month.

History

The Plenty River starts on the forested slopes of Mount Disappointment, Humevale. The 47km river flows south and is joined by three minor tributaries before reaching the Yarra River in Viewbank. Before European settlement, it was a major pathway for the Wurundjeri-willam people, providing water, food and shelter.

The trail passes several sites of post-European historical significance, including the remains of an early public swimming pool built into the river in Greensborough and a number of 100-150 year old fruit trees that mark the location of many orchards established in the late 1800s. In Lower Plenty, the trail crosses a historical bluestone bridge dating from the 1860s, one of the first bridges across the Plenty River to be built of its kind.

Flora and fauna

The Plenty River is home to many threatened, endangered and vulnerable vegetation communities, including floodplain riparian woodland, valley grassy forest and riparian scrub, grassy dry forest/box-stringybark woodland and herb-rich foothill forest. It is managed by the Banyule Bushland Management Unit.

The native vegetation along the river is part of a corridor that provides shelter and food to wildlife travelling between the Yarra River and Plenty Gorge Parkland. Swamp wallabies, echidnas and wombats are all found in the area, along with many native birds.

Fauna

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Common name	Scientific name
Brushtail possum	Trichosurus vulpecula
Eastern brown snake	Pseudonaja textilis
Gang gang cockatoo	Callocephalon fimbriatum
King parrot	Alisterus scapularis
Laughing kookaburra	Dacelo novaeguineae
Musk lorikeet	Glossopsitta concinna
Rainbow lorikeet	Trichoglossus moluccanus
Short-beaked echidna	Tachyglossus aculeatus
Sugar glider	Petaurus breviceps
Sulfur-crested cockatoo	Cacatua galerita
Tawny frogmouth	Podargus strigoides
Tiger snake	Notechis scutatus
Yellow-tailed black cockatoo	Calyptorhynchus funereus

Flora

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Scientific name	Common name
Acacia implexa	Lightwood
Bursaria spinosa	Sweet bursaria
Clematis decipiens	Slender clematis
Einadia nutans	Nodding saltbush
Eucalyptus melliodora	Yellow box
Eucalyptus viminalis	Manna gum
Goodenia ovata	Hop goodenia
Gynatrix pulchella	Hemp bush
Lomandra longifolia	Spiny-headed mat rush
Melicytus dentatus	Tree violet
Pteridium esculentum	Austral bracken
Rytidosperma sp.	Wallaby grass

Location

17 Edward Willis Court, Lower Plenty 3093  View Map

-37.73241, 145.104215

17 Edward Willis Court , Lower Plenty 3093

17 Edward Willis Court , Lower Plenty 3093

Plenty River Trail