Forest Trails and Heritage at Fingerpost Regional Park

Overview

Fingerpost Regional Park (formerly part of the Wombat State Forest) protects an extensive landscape of eucalypt forest, recreation areas and historic sites in central Victoria. The park combines the character of the Wombat forest country with places that reflect more than a century of forestry, settlement and outdoor recreation.

Walking tracks, cycling routes, horse riding trails and forest roads extend through the park, while places such as Firth Park and Anderson Mill provide a closer look at how people have used this landscape over time. It is a park where recreation and local history remain closely connected to the surrounding forest.

Highlights

Firth Park is one of the park’s best-known recreation areas, with a campground set beneath mature ornamental trees and easy access to the surrounding bushland. From here, visitors can explore the forest on foot, by bike, on horseback or along the network of roads and tracks that cross the park.

The area’s forestry history is another defining feature. Anderson Mill Walk leads through the forest to the site of a former sawmill, while other remnants across the park reflect an era when timber harvesting, sawmilling and eucalyptus oil production supported settlements and communities throughout the Wombat forest district.

Best Time to Visit

Spring is a rewarding time to explore Fingerpost Regional Park, when the forest is greener, wildflowers appear along tracks and bird activity increases through the woodland. The cooler conditions of autumn and spring are also well suited to longer walks, cycling and horse riding.

Winter can bring a quieter atmosphere to the forest, with damp tracks, mist and lush vegetation creating a very different character. Summer visits are best planned around cooler parts of the day, particularly during periods of hot or dry weather when conditions in the forest can change quickly.

Plants and Animals

Fingerpost Regional Park protects eucalypt forest typical of the Wombat region, with woodland, understorey vegetation and sheltered gullies providing habitat for a range of native animals. The mix of mature trees and connected forest makes the park particularly valuable for species that depend on large areas of woodland.

Kangaroos, wallabies and koalas may be encountered while exploring the park, along with reptiles and a wide variety of forest birds. The tree canopy and quieter parts of the forest also provide habitat for Powerful Owls.

Wedge-tailed Eagles can sometimes be seen soaring above the forest and surrounding open country, while smaller birds are common around tracks, campgrounds and areas of denser vegetation.

Culture and Heritage

Fingerpost Regional Park lies within the traditional lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples, whose connections with Country extend across the forests and waterways of central Victoria. These landscapes continue to hold cultural significance and form part of a much older history than the industries and settlements that later developed here.

The more recent history of the park is closely tied to forestry. Sawmills, forest settlements and eucalyptus oil production once operated throughout the district, and surviving sites such as Anderson Mill and Firth Park provide tangible links with the people and industries that helped shape the Wombat forest region.