Volunteers want an equal seat at the table

Bayside Council is moving to create a new management structure for Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve, prompting concern from the volunteers who helped create the urban-habitat vision for the reserve.

The Yalukit Willam Nature Association (YWNA), which represents community volunteers at the reserve, has urged supporters to attend Tuesday’s Bayside Council meeting, where councillors are expected to vote to draft terms of reference for a new committee to oversee the reserve’s management and future works.

Under the proposal, the committee would include YWNA, Melbourne Water and other relevant parties. Its responsibilities would include setting the reserve’s monthly work program and deciding what interventions outside groups could carry out on the site. Council officers have been directed to consult with the association and Melbourne Water on draft terms of reference and report back by August 2026.

The move follows years of collaboration between the council and the association, formerly known as the Elsternwick Park Association, as well as growing tension over communication, ecological priorities and how decisions should be made for one of Melbourne’s most closely watched urban restoration projects.

Since 2018, the former golf course has been progressively transformed under the Elsternwick Park Masterplan 2020 into a large public open space with a focus on biodiversity, amenity and water quality. The association has played a central role in earlier decisions that supported a wetland, the return of the land to passive open space and the naming of the reserve as Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve.

YWNA members have also contributed to planting, weeding, landscape works, education programs and research at the site. In a recent update, the group said it remained unclear whether the proposed governance model would give it meaningful input or limit volunteers to advisers with limited influence over management decisions.

The association wants the council to recognise it as a long-term partner in the reserve’s development, support its work through timely approvals for an agreed annual action plan, and help prepare a management plan that protects threatened species and the site’s ecological integrity while maintaining public access and passive recreation.

For the association, the new committee will test whether Bayside Council wants a more constructive relationship with the volunteers who have invested years in the reserve, or a more controlled process in which community expertise carries less weight. Tuesday’s meeting is expected to set the direction for how that balance is struck.