Organ Pipes National Park - Geography

Geography

The national park, designated to cover an area of 121 hectares (300 acres), is situated 20 hectares (49 acres) to the northwest of Melbourne city. It is part of the Victoria Park system. It is approachable from the Calder Highway. The Jacksons Creek, which is at the heart of the park, is bounded by the city of Hume on the northern side while the city of Brimbank is to its south; Deep Creek and Keilor Plains to the west of Melbourne are also part of this geographical setting. The complementary areas to the park are the Holden Flora Reserve (65 hectares (160 acres)), Holden School Site (25 hectares (62 acres)), Derrimut Grassland Reserve ( 154 hectares (380 acres)) and Laverton and North Grassland Reserve (52 hectares (130 acres)).

OPBNP is located just off the M79 Calder Freeway (Melway map 3, grid position D3). The road network around the park consists of the Calder Highway on the south and the Calder Raceway also on the southern direction but close to its entrance.

Out of the total area of 121 hectares (300 acres), the conservation area is 107.3 hectares (265 acres) (88.6%), conservation and recreation area is 13 hectares (32 acres) (10.8%), visitor center accounts for 0.7 hectares (1.7 acres) (0.6%), and 2 hectares (4.9 acres) (1.6%) is the special management area.

The park is drained by Jackson Creek, Deep Creek and Emu Creek. These are the major tributaries of the Maribyrnong River, which has a catchment area of 1,300 square kilometres (500 sq mi). Jackson Creek rises in the Wombat State Forest, flows east to the Roslynn Reservoir, joining Deep Creek near Sydenham Park. It outflows from the reservoir through Gisborne, Sunbury before flowing through Organ Pipes National Park.