Traveller safety information

With over nine kilometres of paths and trails, hectares of wide open spaces and picnic areas for everyone to enjoy, the park attracts over 1,000,000 visitors a year.

It is easy to see why Jells Park is so popular. It has so much to offer, with natural bushland, wonderful scenery and reminders of our history, protected for the future and ours to enjoy now.

• Oxfam Trailwalker (Fri, 16 Apr 2010)
• Jells Park South Farmers Market (Sat, 20 Feb 2010)

• Experience the Dandenong Creek Trail on foot or by bike as it makes its way through a variety of bush landscapes and parklands.
• Enjoy a family get together at one of the many barbecue and picnic areas.
• The Yabbie Hill Playscape and two other playgrounds in the park provide an adventure wonderland for children.
• Relish the wide open spaces, panoramic lake views and the tranquillity of peaceful surroundings.
• Cycle, walk, run or rollerblade around a network of sealed trails.
• Fish from the jetties on the western side of the lake for redfin or short-finned eels and yabbies (valid Recreational Fishing Licence required).
• At the bird hide, you can view Australian native birds such as swamphens, darters, cormorants and pelicans as well as birds that migrate to Jells Park from Asia during summertime.
• The Oaks and Ashes ovals may be booked for large group outings or functions. All inquires for booking an oval are to be addressed to Michael Morgan at Madelines, phone (03) 9561 4522.

• Eight picnic areas, each offering a different environmental ambience;
• Four with solid fuel BBQ's, wood provided;
• Two picnic grounds at Jells South providing free electric BBQs;.
• Six with picnic shelters;
• Each picnic area with water and toilets nearby;
• Three adventure playgrounds for the kids;
• A Liberty Swing at Jells South allows people in wheelchairs the fun of swinging, (see below in the special needs access for further information);
• The Jells Park Visitor Centre provides visitor information about the parklands.

Madelines @ Jells:

• Provides a licensed café/restaurant and takeaway kiosk
• Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as catering and function services.
• Sit back and enjoy Sunday afternoon entertainment featuring live music from 1pm to 4pm.
• For opening hours and further information please visit www.jells.com.au or phone (03) 9561 4522.

Shepherd Road Community Gardens Update

The Community Gardens Program is part of a 2006 government funding initiative. A budget was allocated to establish five gardens in the Melbourne metropolitan from 2007-09. Braeside Park and Dandenong Valley Parklands were selected as the first two gardens. The Community Gardens Program (CGP ) is an in-park activity targeted at encouraging local park and non-park users to broaden their enjoyment, expertise or experience of open spaces. The CGP has risen out of a desire to continue to build on the range of activities delivered by Parks Victoria which support connecting communties and their parks.

Parks Victoria held a successful community forum on 16 March 2008 at Shepherds Road to seek interest in a community gardens concept. This was held at their nursery site and had good attendance despite the hot conditions on the day.

Since then there have been follow up meetings and the group reached agreement on the location and concept of the proposed garden and the direction of the garden.

If interested in being part of this project please contact David Allen or David Collins at the Park Office on 8544 1555.

Jells Park is named after one of the earliest settlers Joseph Jell who grazed cattle in the mid to late 1800s. The park has an interesting history and was utilised as a piggery in the late 1930s to the 1960s and even a storage area for the American Army during the Second World War.

The area was originally the homelands of the Woiworrung (Wurundjeri) and Boonerwrung Aboriginal tribes who lived on the land for over 30,000 years prior to European settlement.

Jells Park was officially opened in April 1976 and is now one of the most popular parks in Melbourne catering for over 1,000,000 visitors each year.

Aboriginal Traditional Owners

Parks Victoria acknowledges the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Victoria - including its parks and reserves. Through their cultural traditions, Aboriginal people maintain their connection to their ancestral lands and waters.
Further information is available from Aboriginal Affairs Victoria AAV and Native Title Services Victoria

The major habitat areas such as Jells Lake and the billabongs are linked by the Dandenong Creek and its tributaries. These areas are welcome havens for wildlife, especially birds, in a densely established urban environment.

Over 150 bird species either live in or visit the park so you are sure to see swamp hens, cormorants, herons, coots, native ducks and even the elegant pelican around the lake and in the wetlands of Jells Park. During the warmer months of the year a number of birds migrate to Jells Park from China and Japan to escape the cold winters of their homelands. They make Jells Park their home for several months of the year, and breed, rest and feed on fish and insects.

We ask that visitors do not feed the birds and animals that live in Jells Park. If birds eat bread they become unhealthy, dependent on people and easy prey for foxes and cats.

The 129 ha that make up Jells Park contain a diversity of vegetation communities. Along the Dandenong Creek and throughout the park's floodplains and wetlands, riparian plants and trees flourish, including melaluca and the rare Yarra gum. Up on the higher slopes, where the plants have adapted to lower water levels, dry forest species such as the stringybark and yellow box eucalypt prevail.

Remnant, indigenous vegetation still exists along the Dandenong Creek with 116 species of native plants being recorded in Jells Park alone. This vegetation plays an important role in sustaining over 200 species of animals including birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish that inhabit the park.

• We have a "carry in, carry out" policy, so please take your rubbish with you;
• Please keep your dog on a lead at all times. To help us protect our native plants and animals no dogs are allowed within the conservation areas;
• Camping is not permitted within the park;
• No fires, including barbecues, may be lit on days of Total Fire Ban;
• Light fires only in designated fireplaces;
• Portable solid fuel barbecues are not permitted, however, portable gas barbecues can be used (except on days of Total Fire Ban);
• Please extinguish the wood fire BBQ's with water before leaving the park.

Vehicle access to the Jells South picnic areas is available from Ferntree Gully Road (Melway ref: 72 A10). Access to the Visitor Centre, Madelines Restaurant and all other picnic areas is available from Waverley Road (Melway ref: 71 J5). Pedestrian paths are accessible along the Dandenong Creek Trail from Nortons Lane, Scotchmans Creek trail and Corhanwarrable wetlands. Alternatively take Waverley Bus 754 and 1753 from Glen Waverley.

Jells Park is a popular place for outdoor recreation, and offers a high level of accessibility. The car parking areas are large, with several designated accessible spaces. The paths around the park are sealed and wide. The Visitor Centre/restaurant building has a good accessible entry, and an open floor plan. Designated accessible toilets are provided in four locations, although they do not meet all current access standards.

Liberty Swing @ Jells South

Description

The Liberty Swing is a revolutionary new concept in playground swing equipment for people with disabilities which allows children in wheelchairs to enjoy the fun and recreation of swinging. In the past, children with disabilities could not experience the freedom, joy, fun and exhilaration that comes from a "swing in the park". (www.libertyswing.com.au)

Location

The Liberty Swing is located in Oakes Picnic ground at Jells Park South, Wheelers Hill. Entry to this area is off Ferntree Gully road (Melway reference 72 A9).

Accessibility

A carpark with disabled parking is only 20 meters away from the swing. A disabled access toilet is located next to the carpark. There are sealed and non sealed paths located throughout the park.

• Bushy Park Wetlands
• Nortons Park
• Police Paddocks
• Shepherds Bush