Herring Island is a small 3.2 hectares (7.9 acres) artificial island located in Melbourne's Yarra River at South Yarra, approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the city centre. It is the only island in the Yarra River.
Herring Island was formed in 1928 by cutting a channel through an old basalt quarry. The island was leased for many years by the scout movement, who named it after their patron, Sir Edmund Herring, the Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria. The Island contains indigenous vegetation, and provides important habitat for native fauna, particularly birds. It is currently managed by Parks Victoria and used as a sculpture park. Sculptures include works by Jill Peck, Ellen Jose, and Andy Goldsworthy.
Herring Island is an important environmental and recreational asset in Melbourne's inner suburbs, and forms an important focus for the linear parkland proposed for the lower reaches of the Yarra River. The Island contains indigenous vegetation, and provides important habitat for native fauna, particularly birds and insect eating bats. Grey headed flying foxes (megabats) visit at night in search of flowering and fruiting native trees. Such areas are rare in the inner suburbs, and are a valuable ecological resource. Herring Island is also an important recreational resource which provides opportunities for nature study, passive recreation and adventure play. The old scout hall was renovated to become the Herring Island Gallery.
Source: Wikipedia.
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I visited this beautiful island in February 2024, during my 2,5 month secondment to Melbourne.
Your task: Take a photo of the sculpture located at the given coordinates, the Cairn (by Andy Goldsworthy, 1997), and yourself (your face does not have to be in the photo) or your geocaching player name (as a nametag or written on paper or similar). See example photo in the image gallery. Add the photo to your log or send it to me via the message centre and log your find.
From January to April there is a free punt service to the island on weekends and public holidays. The service departs from the Como landing. See the details via this site (bottom of page, "Need to know" --> Herring Island Punt). At other times you will need a boat, kayak or similar to get to the island.
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Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.