Merri Creek.

The Merri Creek rises in The Great Dividing Range and flows for around sixty kilometres through the northern suburbs to the Yarra. It and its six tributaries are home to some of the most threatened ecosystems in Australia.

The Merri Creek at East Brunswick.

The Moonee Ponds Creek had been forced into a concrete drain, and to prevent the same fate befalling the Merri, concerned people met to discuss ways of reversing the decline that had been evident in the preceding decades.

Initial work involved the removal of rubbish and weeds from the waterways. Also lobbying began to require stricter legislation on contaminants that were being released into the creeks from agricultural, industrial and domestic sources.

In 1989 the Merri Creek Management Committee Inc was formed to develop policy and to liaise with the six municipal councils and the Water Authorities to outline their program. This included the development and maintenance of the Merri Creek and its tributaries, the sensitive ecological restoration of the waterways, in fact, to preserve the area’s natural and cultural heritage. Funding from local, state and federal governments, as well as grants from philanthropic trusts enabled work to begin on more than eighty sites. Planting local ( native ) grasses, shrubs and trees resulted in revegetation programs and parkland development – with the aim of linking these areas to form a linear park.

After twenty years of negotiations, work began on the Northcote Wetlands. Earth works created a billabong-type area, and since 2000, more than sixteen thousand plants have helped to restore the area to similar to what it may have been originally.

The Northcote Wetlands on the Merri Creek.

With the improvement in the flora, numbers of local fauna has been increasing. Frogs, lizards and birds such as wrens and finches have been seen in greater numbers. The kingfisher returned a few years ago, and last year there was a siting of a platypus! These have not been seen in this area for decades.

More than twenty staff are employed to implement these programs, and volunteers are always welcome. Friends of Merri Creek have a website with a calendar of coming events. They also have back copies of their newsletters. Friends of Merri Creek have won a Landcare award in the category ‘Community Group Caring for Public Land’.

Merri Park Wetlands