Current view: Text account
Site description (2008 baseline):
Site location and context
The IBA is identical to Great Otway National Park, which is located in southern Victoria, approximately 150 km south-west of Melbourne. The park experiences a temperate climate with cool to cold winters, mild to warm summers and mean annual rainfall which varies from about 600 mm to more than 1900 mm around the Otway Range. The park encompasses a substantial portion of the sandstone Otway Range and associated foothills, and also includes much of the coastline between Torquay and Princetown. The ranges and foothills are dominated by tall (and mainly wet) eucalypt forests with a shrub understorey, with smaller patches of cool non-eucalypt temperate rainforest. Tracts of open eucalypt forest and eucalypt-dominated low heathy woodland occur in drier areas and lowlands. Coastal areas are dominated by closed tussock grasslands and wind-pruned shrublands, the latter often with emergent eucalypts.
Fifty-nine rare or threatened bird species have been recorded from Great Otway National Park, including five species listed at national level (Shy Albatross, Wandering Albatross, Swift Parrot, Southern Giant-Petrel and Fairy Prion) and at least eighteen species listed under international treaties. Other notable species recorded in the park include the vulnerable Fairy Tern, the near threatened Bush Stone-curlew, Hooded Plover and Flame Robin, Caspian Tern, as well as Lewin's Rail, Ground Parrot, Powerful Owl, Barking Owl, Masked Owl and Chestnut-rumped Heathwren (Parks Victoria and DSE 2007; Atlas of Australian Birds database). Six confirmed breeding pairs of Hooded Plover were recorded in the IBA in 2006/07 (Birds Australia Annual National Hooded Plover Survey).
Non-bird biodiversity: Ninety-seven rare or threatened flora species (including six species listed at national level) and 76 rare or threatened fauna species or subspecies (including 15 species or subspecies listed at national level) have been recorded from Great Otway National Park. The six nationally listed flora species recorded in the park are Tall Astelia (Astelia australiana), Anglesea Grevillea (Grevillea infecunda), Wrinkled Buttons (Leiocarpa gatesii), Dense Leek-orchid (Prasophyllum spicatum), Leafy Greenhood (Pterostylis cucullata) and Spiral Sun-orchid (Thelymitra matthewsii). The 15 nationally listed fauna species or subspecies recorded in the park include 10 non-avian species or subspecies, these being Spot-tailed Quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis), Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus obesulus), Southern Elephant Seal (Mirounga leonina), Long-nosed Potoroo (Potorous tridactylus), Smoky Mouse (Pseudomys fumeus), Grey-headed Flying-fox (Pteropus poliocephalus), Australian Grayling (Prototroctes maraena), Macquarie Perch (Macquaria australasica) and Growling Grass Frog (Litoria raniformis; Parks Victoria & DSE 2007).
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
Undertake prescribed fire management to reduce the risk of landscape scale fires and to preserve the natural values of the park. Continue ongoing management of pest species. Monitor the impact of human activity on the natural values of the park and undertake remedial action where necessary.
The IBA is identical to Great Otway National Park.
Victorian State Government with management the responsibility of DSE.
Site access / Land-owner requests
Public access is permitted at Great Otway National Park.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Otway Range (Australia). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/otway-range-iba-australia on 26/11/2024.
