Wolli Creek Regional Park

Wolli Creek Regional Park
Sandstone Outcrop along Two Valley Trail.
Type	Nature reserve
Location	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Nearest city	Rockdale
Coordinates	33°56′S 151°08′E / 33.933°S 151.133°E / -33.933; 151.133Coordinates: 33°56′S 151°08′E / 33.933°S 151.133°E / -33.933; 151.133
Area	50 hectares (120 acres)
Operated by	NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service
Status	Open

The Wolli Creek Regional Park is a 50 hectares (120 acres) regional park, located adjacent to Wolli Creek within the Wolli Creek Valley, between Bexley North and Tempe in south-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The park was announced by the NSW Government in 1998 as a result of sustained community campaigning for the area to be preserved and for the M5 East Freeway to go underground. Whilst some of the park has been formed and management handed over from local government authorities to the NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, including the 8.9 hectares (22 acres) Girrahween Park, Turrella Reserve, and some privately held land that was compulsorily acquired, some areas of the originally planned park remain in the hands of government agencies including Sydney Water and Roads and Maritime Services.

When complete, the planned nature reserve will offer easy public transport access, family picnic areas, extensive views and bushland, rugged sandstone escarpments with walking tracks, a mixture of parkland, heathland, and woodland forest, and great birdwatching within close proximity to heavily developed residential and industrial landscape.

In Pre-European times the Wolli Valley was home to the Bidjigal clan who relied on the bushland for food and shelter. After European settlement land uses began to effect the ecology of the area by drastically changing the animals and plants found here. Trees were cut down and the cleared land used for orchards, market gardens, dairies, poultry and pig farming. Later European settlement affected the landforms of the area. The land was used for noxious industries such as making tallow from animal carcasses and wool scouring. The construction of the Illawarra railway in 1882 altered the flow of Wolli Creek and caused floodwater to drain into it. In 1890 construction of a sewer network began for the drainage of Sydney’s suburbs. Small scale stone quarrying on the Turrella side of Wolli Creek occurred during the 19th and early 20th Century and the sandstone was used for local buildings. The old quarry is located in the bushland below Highcliff Road, east of Turrella Reserve. A dam was built on Cooks River at Tempe which caused problems in the flow of Cooks River and Wolli Creek. These historical land uses have resulted in changes to flow regimes, soils and vegetation within the park.