What I've always thought of as the Newport Lakes I realise is the Paisley Challis Wetlands which was the site of the Cut Paw Paw Sanatorium opened in tents
and small building
for a small pox outbreak in 1884
After the close of the Sanatorium
the graveyard was neglected until
1929 when a local newspaper
reported that, ‘a small, forgotten
cemetery surrounded by barbed wire
fencing and overgrown with weeds
was discovered by a party of
surveyors in a desolate situation
several miles west of Newport.’
The work of community groups like this FO Wetlands and FO Kororoit Creek in Altona as well as Newell's Paddock in Footscray is best seen in comparison photos
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| Starting work 2003 |
2018
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| there is a walking and bike trail around the Lakes |
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| A bird hide above the lake that dozens of water birds make home |
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| A timely warning but never seen one |
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| a Moorhen watching me! |
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| Good spot for a picnic |
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| There are 157 variety of birds spotted in the area in the previous 12 months |
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| View back to Altona refinery |
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| the area was also military rifle range an area now with houses |
Adjacent to the area is the old Merritt Rifle Range
Military restrictions meant a coastal fringe habitat was preserved. When housing was developed the smaller lakes were installed to filter storm water
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| jawbone marine Reserve |
Jawbone Marine Sanctuary, named after its shape, is located in Williamstown and protects 30ha of coastal waters. The little promontory, west of the beach at Williamstown, has been fenced off from the rest of the world for over 80 years by a coastal rifle range. This forgotten and unspoilt place is now considered a haven for coastal and marine life right next to Melbourne.
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