Great Otway National Park

The Great Otway National Park is located in Victoria, Australia, in the Barwon South West region. The 103,185-hectare (254,980-acre) national park is 162 kilometers (101 miles) southwest of Melbourne. It is located in the Otway Ranges and has a diverse range of landscapes and vegetation types.

The Otway forests have a long logging history and have been a valuable source of timber for more than 150 years. The production peaked in 1961, but has since declined. The forests that still stand today demonstrate the time required to regrow and reproduce the giants of the past. Several wildfires have burned through the park this century, shaping its ecology and plant and animal diversity – the most recent major fire was Ash Wednesday in 1983.

The park was officially formed in 2004 when Otway National Park, Angahook-Lorne State Park, Carlisle State Park, Melba Gully State Park, areas of the Otway State Forest and a number of Crown Land reserves were combined into one park.