Waverley Flora Park is a 75-hectare bushland reserve across Bellerive and Mornington, with spring wildflowers, remnant grassy woodland, rich birdlife, a well-used track network and the Avenue of Honour. Botanists have described it as "a grassy gem on Hobart's eastern shore". It sits on Mumirimina Country and is a valued piece of a much larger bushland landscape. The updated Waverley Flora Park Reserve Management Plan 2025–2035 guides how we care for the park’s natural, cultural, and social values over the next decade. The draft plan also includes the nearby Carbeen Street Reserve.

The plan sets clear priorities for weed and pest control, habitat and threatened species management, appropriate fire regimes, safer access and wayfinding, and track maintenance. It builds on the previous reserve management plan and aims to share stewardship with the community, including support for volunteers. The goal is simple: protect what makes the reserve special while making everyday use safer and more enjoyable.

During our consultation in 2022, you told us what you valued about the reserves and how you would like to see them managed. Now, we want to give everyone a chance to review the draft Reserve Management Plan and let us know if we've missed anything important for the management of Waverley Flora Park and Carbeen Street Reserve.

Waverley Flora Park is a 75-hectare council-managed bushland reserve, including Hill, located in the suburbs of Bellerive and Mornington.

It is renowned for its prolific wildflower displays in spring, remnant grassy woodland ecosystems, cultural heritage sites including the Waverley Quarry, and the more recently established ‘Avenue of Honour’. Prior to European settlement, the reserve would have been utilised and traversed by the Mumirimina Peoples of the Oyster Bay Nation.

The reserve also includes an extensive track network valued by residents and visitors alike for a diverse range of recreational activities with the popular shared-use Charles Darwin Trail traversing the park.

The broad objectives of the reserve management plan are to:

• Ensure the reserve is sustainably managed to preserve and enhance its natural, cultural and social values.
• Identify priority management activities to be undertaken within the reserve by us and/or volunteer groups as resources become available.
• Encourage community engagement through raising awareness of the reserve’s values and encourage participation in activities to minimise threats to these values.

If you would like to learn more about Waverley's rich history, you can read more on City of Clarence's website .

In the 2022 consultation, people wanted to enjoy the reserves safely and easily for everyday nature walking, dog walking, bike riding and birdwatching. They wanted the bush cared for by controlling weeds and pests, using the right fire practices, monitoring threatened plants and protecting habitat for native animals. They also wanted recreation to be sustainable, with well-maintained tracks, consideration for how tracks are shared by various reserve users, and clearer wayfinding and signage.

We have used this feedback, together with ecological and social assessments, to prepare a draft Reserve Management Plan for Waverley Flora Park and Carbeen Street Reserve. It is not yet adopted. Please tell us if we have missed anything important or if you have local information that should change priorities or management actions.