Herring Island Environmental Sculpture Park

Located in the Yarra River at South Yarra, Melbourne, is the serene Herring Island Environmental Sculpture Park. This 3.2-hectare (7.9 acres) artificial island was created by cutting a channel through an old basalt quarry in 1928, as part of flood control measures.

The island was later leased to the scout movement, who aptly named it after Sir Edmund Herring, their patron. The island is currently managed by Parks Victoria and has been transformed into a wildlife reserve, a recreational park, and a sculpture park.

Como Island, as it was originally called, was built up with silt dredged from the river, and trees and shrubs were planted. In 1934, a major flood swept away the vegetation, and the islands levee banks were once again constructed with more river silt. The scouts eventually leased the island and re-established vegetation. After years of silt-dumping on the island, Parks Victoria took over the lease in 1994. They set out to restore the island's vegetation and eventually opened it to the public. The Friends of Herring Island continue to assist Parks Victoria in growing and maintaining the island's native flora.

Over the years, the island has become a vital ecological resource given how rare such areas are in the inner suburbs. The vegetation mainly includes indigenous plants, such as river red gums, silver wattle, manna gum, southern mahogany, wallaby grass, and spear grass. The island is also home to a variety of fauna, such as honeyeaters, willie wagtails, cormorants, kookaburras, magpies, wattlebirds, and white-faced herons. In the surrounding waters,