Standing in Woowookarung Regional Park on Ballarat’s eastern fringe, it’s hard to believe that 12 years ago, the site was a moonscape.

Logged for building materials in the Gold Rush, it was planted as a pine forest a century later, then cleared for a blue gum plantation in the 1990s, then cleared again in 2012 before being handed back to the state in a pretty sorry state.

Presumed to harbor little environmental value, the area was set to be sold off to residential developers until some locals stepped in arguing its potential as an ecological corridor for koalas and other creatures, and a recreational space for Ballarat’s growing human population. It became a park in 2016.

Today it is densely populated with messmate stringybark, tufts of grass trees (Xanthorrhoea) and native heath. Many bird species, kangaroos, koalas and echidnas call it home.

Turns out that all those years of human messing with the landscape had some useful if unintended consequences, explains Jeff Rootes, secretary of the environmental group Friends of Canadian Corridor – champions of the green stretch between the Wombat Forest and Enfield Forest.

“It actually created a phenomenal seed bed for new plants to flourish.”

With Ballarat’s population projected to grow by 55,000 to 170,000 by 2041, the eastern side of the city has been largely cordoned off from development on the basis of both its environmental value and fire risk.

While Rootes welcomes this protection, he worries about the implications for other areas around the city that might appear to be of marginal environmental value, but which – given the opportunity – could have similar potential for rehabilitation.

He’s urging the identification and safeguarding of green oases right across the sprawling city for the benefit of future human and non-human populations.

Growth areas identified for residential development by the City of Ballarat are on the north, north-west and western boundaries of the urban area. These are outlined in the recent 2041 housing strategy and the more detailed growth areas framework plan.

These areas were selected for development through a combination of public consultation, flora and fauna studies, Indigenous consultation, a precinct structure plan, and desktop analysis, says the council.

Many people are unaware of the wildlife that lives in and around Ballarat, says Dr Sarah Preston, a researcher at Federation University involved in a program tracking koalas, echidnas and other animals as their habitat is affected by urban sprawl.

“A lot of people don’t know we’ve got koalas left, but they’re just difficult to find.”

Rootes and Preston are urging that safeguarding biodiversity is a priority in both greenfields developments – that is, projects on previously undeveloped land like farming land – and infill projects within established city areas.

Ballarat’s housing development profile over the past five years averages 70 per cent greenfield and 30 infill, well short of the city’s target of 50/50. The Victorian Housing Statement released by the state government in 2023 commits to a target of 70% infill development across Victoria.

Preserving waterways in both contexts would provide opportunities to support biodiversity and liveability as the climate changes, says Rootes. Effective planting and retention of waterways will also assist with managing future flooding, Rootes says.

Council plans identify that many of Ballarat’s waterways, particularly in the north-western growth areas, have been degraded over the years. But the lesson of Woowookarung is not to write these areas off, Rootes says. Planting trees next to creeks and rivers grows habitat and improves overall waterway health.

He points to the transformation of the Yarrowee River through the planting of half a million trees on its banks over the past 50 years.

“It was a rubbish dump in 1970, nothing more than a gorse-infested tipping station for abattoirs and the woolen mill … now there are wonderful koalas, and it’s actually a bike path through the city.”

With foresight and good planning, areas around creeks in new and established suburbs could provide green havens, Rootes argues.

“On this side,” he says, looking across the Woowookarung park, “we’ve managed to create a recreation wonderland and it’s going from strength to strength”. Other areas of the city deserve the same care.

“The potential is there.”

This story continues a special reporting project, with stories by our Master of Journalism students co-published with the Ballarat Courier.