Iramoo means 'grassy plains' in the Woiwurrung language.
The Iramoo reserve at VU’s St Albans Campus is a flourishing grassland of Indigenous Australian grasses and wildflowers. These native plants, which are adapted to the dry volcanic climate, have been a source of food and material for art and tools for First Nations peoples over thousands of years. They also provide a safe habitat for blue-banded bees, spotted marsh frogs and blue-tongued lizards.
But beyond the reserve, due to urbanisation, native flora has been fast disappearing from our region. These indigenous plants and grasses, which are essential to biodiversity and water conservation in Victorian Volcanic Grasslands in the west of Melbourne, are at 1 per cent of their original population.
Iramoo at VU is dedicating to re-establishing these plant populations, with the Iramoo grassland centre and nursery, and education, outreach and partnership initiatives in the local area.
