Ms Bonga said more than 1200 yellow box, red box, ironbarks and other native trees would face the chop under the proposal. "Some of those trees are over 100-years-old," she said. "They are what this area is known for, its gorgeous tree canopy and the wildlife you can see in trees." She said possums, koalas, echidna, owls and many other birds were among the animals to call those spaces home. Nillumbik mayor Peter Clarke said his council did not want to sell off the land – but that its hand had been forced by a state government slashing at its last budget.

"In short, the state government cut $25 million from its growing suburbs fund, which funds community infrastructure for councils like ours," he said. "Equally we've got no intentions of putting up rates – even if we could, we're capped 2 per cent and for us that's $1 million a year." Credit:Luis Ascui The mayor said the cuts had left his council with a $23 million shortfall as it looked to fund a number of significant projects aimed at boosting children's and women's participation in sport and major recreational projects including the Diamond Creek bike trail. The land sales would account for around $13 million, council coffers would cover a further $8 million, while sporting clubs which received upgrades would chip in the rest.

"The bike trail has been waiting 15 years for funding, we've got 5000 kids a week playing basketball in a 40-year-old facility which has been waiting 15 years for funding," Mr Clarke said. The mayor said he sympathised with the protesters. "This isn't our preferred option either," he said. "This isn't an easy thing to do ... to sell this land, but essentially we are in a desperate situation given the lack of funding." The council will vote on selling off the land in April. In the meantime, the mayor said he was meeting with state and federal politicians in a desperate bid for funding to prevent at least some of the sell-offs.

But he said that the picture being painted by protesters of much loved parks and wildlife was not entirely accurate. Ms Bonga, however, refuted the idea the lands were not valued. "These reserves council labels as 'unused land' – we feel very strongly they are not," the mother-of-two and accountant said. "They are spaces to go and relax, to go and enjoy meeting up with friends, where children can explore and use their imagination. "Just because it doesn’t have a playground, doesn't mean that it's unused."

She said the green space was the very reason her family of four moved to the area 14 years ago. Others at the protest were born and bred in the area. Debbie Yeomans said she was not normally the protesting type. Credit:Luis Ascui "Actually, I've never been to a protest before," the small business owner and mother of one said.

"I was born in Eltham and lived most of my life here, and I'm really passionate about its open land. "It's hypocrisy on behalf of the council, which is called "the green wedge" and they want to sell everything off. "If they can't afford these big projects, they shoudn’t be building them or they should be scaling them back."