Bayside Parklands
The Bayside Parklands is made up of a 16 kilometre stretch of parks located at Wynnum North, the foreshores at Wynnum, Manly and Lota, and bushlands along Tingalpa and Lota Creeks. The parklands consists of over 500 hectares of bushland, waterways and wetlands.
The parklands include mangroves, mudflats, tidal creeks, melaleuca wetlands, salt marshes and wallum and open eucalypt forest. The foreshores of the parklands adjoin Moreton Bay Marine Park which is listed as a Wetland of International Importance.
Visitors to the parklands can enjoy:
- walking along the boardwalks and the foreshore - Two boardwalks provide opportunities for ideal viewing of mangrove habitat. The Wynnum Mangrove Boardwalk links to a bird hide overlooking tidal saltmarshes and the Lota Creek Boardwalk links to bushwalking tracks in the reserves on the southern side of the creek.
- leisurely bike rides on the bikeway
- swimming in the Wynnum Wading Pool
- checking out the playground at Pandanus Beach
- playing along the foreshore – kick a ball, fly a kite or play cricket
- watching the shorebirds, but do not disturb them
- enjoying the surroundings with a barbecue
- sailing around Moreton Bay, with access from the Whyte Island Boat Ramp and the boat ramps at Wynnum Creek, Manly and Lota.
Walking track information and track map
The Bayside Parklands offer a variety of walking tracks, and horse riding is permitted on designated paths only. There is a bikeway that can be used for cycling.
To see a map of the parklands, track locations, grading and length of the tracks, download the:
Flora and fauna
Bayside Parklands includes tidal wetlands, intertidal flats, mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrass areas. The major natural values in the area are the mangrove areas and the paperbark-eucalypt woodland remnants in the Tingalpa Creek corridor. The southern area of Bayside Parklands contains open dry eucalypt forest. Melaleuca wetlands and freshwater lagoons lie behind the creeks.
Migratory shorebirds feed on the food-rich mud flats and roost in the saltmarshes and mangroves along the shore. Each spring they fly to Moreton Bay from countries such as Siberia, China, Japan, Mongolia and Alaska. The bay is also an important refuge for the vulnerable dugong and green and loggerhead turtles that are threatened species worldwide.
Other animals you can see include:
- birds of prey such as ospreys and brahminy kites
- yellow robins and rufous whistlers
- pelicans at Wynnum Creek and Manly Boat Harbour
- kingfishers and many other birds in the mangroves at Elanora Park and Lota Creek
- lace monitors.
History
Before European settlement, the Winnam Aboriginal people hunted and fished along this part of the coast. Their name, and the name of the suburb Wynnum, is derived from winnam, the pandanus palm that grew along the foreshore. The first European settlers in the area were timber cutters, sugar cane farmers and pastoralists. A fishing industry was based at Wynnum. In the 1930s, the mudflats along the foreshore were reclaimed for parkland and the Wynnum Wading Pool was built.
The tidal wetlands of Moreton Bay have vital local and international conservation significance. Moreton Bay is a marine park and is listed as a Wetland of International Importance.