You Yangs Regional Park, 55 km south-west of Melbourne, Victoria

The granite hills of the You Yangs range are visible from many kilometers away. It's not that they are very high, but they rise conspicuously from the broad surrounding basalt plain. This is Wathaurung (Wadawurrung) country. Historically, the lives of the original inhabitants and the landscape and character of the area changed dramatically with the arrival and occupation of Europeans from the first half of the 1800s. For many years after that, the You Yangs area was used for grazing, and resources such as timber and gravel were removed. It wasn't until 1992 that the Regional Park was declared, with use of the area since then being more focused upon recreation and conservation. 
The park is now particularly well known for its varied bird life, but also for the large amount of the invasive weed, boneseed Chrysanthemoides monilifera, that grows there. The plant originated in South Africa and became established in the You Yangs by the 1950s. In some areas boneseed plants now form much of the understorey. Some of my visits to the park are to take part in the BirdLife (BL) You Yangs Birding and Boneseeding days. On these visits we spend much of our time birding and also pull out numerous boneseed plants, mostly in our designated site. Where the weeds are removed, native plants are able to grow.
Valuable information about the You Yangs can be found in Trevor Pescott's interesting and informative book, 'The You Yangs range, published by Yaugher Print in 1995. It is available in some second-hand book shops and it is well worth the effort of locating a copy.
Parks Victoria has produced a booklet entitled 'Flora Guide. You Yangs Regional Park'. It includes general information about the park and specific information about the plants and is available free of charge at the Park Office.
The Parks Victoria Park Notes and map are available here:  
http://parkweb.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/315631/Park-note-You-Yangs-Regional-Park.pdf

For my reports of visits to the You Yangs and photos taken in particular years please see the relevant pages on this site by clicking on the links below.

You Yangs 2016
You Yangs 2015
You Yangs 2014
You Yangs 2013
You Yangs 2012 and earlier

For some information about plants at the You Yangs please see the You Yangs plants page on this site