More than 65,000 hectares of forest in central-west Victoria are now under national park protection, following legislation passed by the Victorian Parliament in November 2025. Three parks have been created: Mount Buangor, Pyrenees and Wombat-Lerderderg, with the last one the largest of the trio. It is the state's first meaningful expansion of its national park network in 15 years.
The newly protected forests shelter an impressive cast of Australian wildlife: platypuses in the creeks, greater gliders and brush-tailed phascogales in the tree canopy, goannas and mountain skinks on the forest floor, and powerful owls overhead. Rare plants are part of the story too, including the Mount Cole grevillea, plus a rich assortment of fungi.
The announcement is the result of a long community campaign. It began back in 2010, when a group called Wombat Forestcare held a public conference in Hepburn to rally support for protecting the area. Volunteers spent years carrying out ecological surveys and writing reports that documented why the forests mattered — work that eventually helped convince the state government to act. The Victorian National Parks Association and the Wilderness Society, along with local groups, have welcomed the move.
The parks sit on the traditional lands of six Aboriginal groups: the Dja Dja Wurrung, Eastern Maar, Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, Gunaikurnai and Taungurung peoples, who have looked after these landscapes for thousands of years.
What happens next matters for visitors. Parks Victoria will spend the next 12 months developing management plans with local communities and stakeholders, aiming to balance long-term ecological health with continued public access. Conservation groups say they will stay involved, pushing for the resources and on-ground management the new parks need to actually protect their wildlife.
For travellers, this is a good excuse to put central-west Victoria on the map before the crowds do. The region is within easy reach of Melbourne and sits near the wine region of the Pyrenees and the spa town of Daylesford. Wombat-Lerderderg offers forest walks, old gold-mining history and the chance of spotting gliders at dusk; Mount Buangor has campsites, waterfalls and stands of snow gums. As management plans roll out, expect better marked trails, facilities and information about the wildlife the parks were created to protect. If you enjoy seeing conservation in action — and hiking or camping in forests few international visitors have heard of — these parks are worth an early visit.
