Editing Melba Gully State Park

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Use Australian English|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox Australian place
| type                   = protected
| name                   = Melba Gully State Park
| state                  = Vic
| iucn_category          = II
| iucn_ref               = 
| image                  = Melba Gully State Park.jpg
| image_upright          = 
| caption                = 
| image_alt              = 
| force_national_map     =
| relief                 = yes
| coordinates            = {{Coord| 38|41|50|S|143|22|10|E |display=inline,title}}
| coord_ref              = 
| pushpin_map_caption    = 
| pushpin_label_position = 
| map_alt                = 
| nearest_town_or_city   = [[Lavers Hill]]
| established            = 1978
| established_footnotes  = 
| area                   = 0.65
| area_footnotes         = <ref name="Catrice 1996">{{Citation| publisher = Parks Victoria| last=Catrice|first=D.| title = Victoria's Heritage: Melba Gully| date = 1996| url = http://m.parkweb.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/315528/Heritage-story-Melba-Guly.pdf}}</ref>
| visitation_num         = 
| visitation_year        = 
| visitation_footnotes   = 
| managing_authorities   = [[Parks Victoria]]
| url                    = https://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/great-otway-national-park/things-to-do/melba-gully
| footnotes              = 
}}
The '''Melba Gully State Park''' was formed to protect a small pocket of natural [[temperate rainforest]] in the [[Otway Ranges]] near [[Apollo Bay, Victoria|Apollo Bay]], [[Victoria, Australia]]. The {{convert|48|ha|adj=on}} park is extremely valuable as one of the few pockets of natural old-growth Otway Ranges rainforests to survive the logging and subsequent fires, making it a key part of the regeneration of the original Otway Ranges rainforests. The park now forms part of the [[Great Otway National Park]].

The gully has a dense cover of myrtle beech (''[[Nothofagus cunninghamii]]''), blackwood (''[[Acacia melanoxylon]]'') and tree-ferns, with an understorey of low ferns and mosses. Glow worms (''[[Arachnocampa|Arachnocampa otwayensis]]''),<ref name="Baker 2010">{{Cite journal| volume = 55| issue = 1| pages = 11–43| last = Baker| first = Claire H.| title = A new subgenus and five new species of Australian glow-worms (Diptera: Keroplatidae: ''Arachnocampa'')| journal = Memoirs of the Queensland Museum| date = 2010}}</ref> which are the [[Bioluminescence|bioluminescent]] larvae of small flies known as [[Fungus gnat|fungus gnats]], can be seen at night along the stream banks and walking tracks.<ref name="Catrice 1996">{{Citation| publisher = Parks Victoria| last=Catrice|first=D.| title = Victoria's Heritage: Melba Gully| date = 1996| url = http://m.parkweb.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/315528/Heritage-story-Melba-Guly.pdf}}</ref><ref name ="PV Parknotes Melba Gully">{{Citation| publisher = Parks Victoria| last = Parks Victoria| title = Parknotes: Melba Gully Great Otway National Park Visitor Guide| date = 2013| url = https://www.visitapollobay.com/assets-apollobay/Uploads/Park-note-Great-Otway-NP-Melba-Gully.pdf}}</ref><ref name ="PV Melba Gully">{{Citation| publisher = Parks Victoria| last = Parks Victoria| title = Melba Gully| date = 2019| url = https://parkweb.vic.gov.au/explore/parks/great-otway-national-park/things-to-do/melba-gully}}</ref>

The park has few facilities due to its small size, but it has a picnic ground and basic picnic facilities, with the main attraction being the 35 minute Madsens Track Nature Walk.<ref name ="PV Parknotes Melba Gully">{{Citation| publisher = Parks Victoria| last = Parks Victoria| title = Parknotes: Melba Gully Great Otway National Park Visitor Guide| date = 2013| url = https://www.visitapollobay.com/assets-apollobay/Uploads/Park-note-Great-Otway-NP-Melba-Gully.pdf}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Protected areas of Victoria|SP}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melba Gully State Park}}
[[Category:State parks of Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:Otway Ranges]]
[[Category:Barwon South West (region)]]