Healesville Sanctuary

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. Please include more appropriate citations from reliable sources.
This article has been tagged since December 2006.

Healesville Sanctuary, or the Sir Colin MacKenzie Fauna Park, is a zoo specializing in native Australian animals. It is located at Healesville on the outskirts of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and has a history of breeding native animals. It is one of only two places to have successfully bred a platypus, the other being Sydney's Taronga Zoo.

The zoo is set in a natural bushland environment where paths wind through different habitat areas showcasing wallabies, wombats, dingoes, kangaroos, and over 200 native bird varieties.

Conducted tours, bird shows and information areas are available to visitors.

Dr. Colin MacKenzie (knighted in 1929) set up the Institute of Anatomical Research in 1920 on 78 acres (316,000 m²) of land which had formerly been part of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve. The Reserve passed to the Healesville Council in 1927 and became the Sir Colin MacKenzie Sanctuary in 1934.

The first platypus bred in captivity was born at the Sanctuary in 1943.