The support group is a keen collection of local residents. We help the site managers with ongoing biodiversity conservation works, mow the tracks and research the history of the site.
The Paddocks are in Wadawurrung Country. They sit across a particularly attractive section of the Coolebarghurk Creek valley and would have offered an attractive sheltering and hunting spot for the Wadawurrung who moved through this area for tens of thousands of years. It has been public land since European settlement and the site of the first police presence in the district, including a portable lock-up, a bluestone police station, and horse yards. It was the site for changing horses and troopers guarding gold coaches travelling from the Ballarat goldfields to the Geelong port. More recently, it was one of a handful of sites around the state for resting police horses, a role it served up until the early 1980s.
In 2007 the State Government delegated management of the site to Ballarat Environment Network. (BEN). At the same time the Support Group was formed by local residents, to promote community use and appreciation of the site. BEN assumed responsibility for weed and pest control and the Support Group developed plans around three themes: History, Environment and Recreation. Management of the site changed in 2024 to the Western Region Ecological Network (WREN)