Watch the recording HERE of this popular webinar held in late July 2021. Local environmental legends Ann and Bruce McGregor discuss their 45 years of involvement in transforming Merri Creek from a weed-infested drain to bushland haven, illustrated with graphic before-and-after images of favourite areas.

Photos: Ann McGregor on the remains of a winch in East Brunswick, looking across to Merri Park Northcote, 1986 and 2019. Photographer: Bruce McGregor

The Strategic Plan is a guiding document for all Merri Creek Management Committee activities and decisions. It provides an excellent overview of MCMC, what we do and how we do it, the benefits that we bring, and the key issues we face.

The Strategic Plan identifies priorities and actions under five strategic focus areas:

• Leadership & Advocacy
• Partnerships & Collaboration
• Waterway Corridor Restoration
• Education & Engagement and
• Organisational Strengthening.

You can see the Strategic Plan here (10.8MB PDF).

MCMC is delighted that the October 2020 Planning Panel Panel Report for the Beveridge North West Precinct Structure Plan (PSP) has recognised the importance of Hanna Swamp. Hanna Swamp straddles two large areas proposed for urban development (PSPs). It is part of the Strathaird/Taylors Creek system, a north-west tributary of Merri Creek near Wallan. 

Although the future of Hanna Swamp as a restored wetland is not secured, support from the Panel is a helpful step forward to realising this vision. This reasoning is explored in more detail in a recent Nature Glenelg Trust blog.

A crucial factor in gaining the Panel's support for Hanna Swamp was a presentation made by Mark Bachmann of the Nature Glenelg Trust on behalf of Friends of Merri Creek.  The Friends also successfully argued that biodiversity and regional park planning should be acknowledged in the PSP. 

Merri Creek, Darebin Creek and Edgars Creek Waterwatch data is now easy to discover via MCMC's new Waterwatch Water Quality Summaries.

Find out about the surveys, observations and reports collected by Waterwatch staff and volunteers and learn how your contributions could help shape our understanding of waterway health in the future. 
It's all HERE.

With increasing numbers of people using the Merri Creek Shared Path, MCMC is receiving more reports from people concerned about litter and rubbish. We appreciate being notified of these issues. However the best way to get action on dumped rubbish is to report it to the relevant Council, as they are responsible for rubbish clean-ups.

The SnapSendSolve app makes reporting of rubbish easy. You use your phone to snap a photo and send a report. The app knows which Council area you are in. One of our staff members recently used SnapSendSolve for this photo of rubbish under the Moreland Rd bridge over Merri Creek. Moreland Council promptly responded and the rubbish was removed.

Hanna Swamp, a remnant wetland of the upper Merri, is ripe for restoration. It is vital that imminent planning decisions don't preclude this option. Hanna Swamp lies about 50km north of Melbourne on the eastern side of Herne Swamp near Wallan. The future of Hanna Swamp is the subject of a recent blog and a hard-hitting discussion paper from the Nature Glenelg Trust.

Despite agricultural drainage, Hanna Swamp's morphology persists across the bulk of its original footprint and it still temporarily inundates on a semi-regular basis. Natural wetlands are very forgiving ecosystems, capable of supporting plants that are especially adept at bouncing back after decent rainfall. Sustained recovery of Hanna Swamp is potentially only a single season away, as long as water is retained instead of drained away.

Photo: Spectacular habitat recovery at Scale Swamp, near Dunkeld, SW Victoria in 2017, 3 years after restoration. Prior to restoration, this site was largely devoid of native vegetation and has a broadly similar agricultural drainage history to Hanna Swamp. © NGT

If you want to know about our community events please subscribe to our events emails. You'll be notified of upcoming activities. 

Access our webinars

Missed one of our webinars?  Recordings and related material are available on our Digital Resources page.

We have reprinted our popular full colour book, Creek Life: Flora & Fauna of the Merri Creek Valley. This is the story of a Sacred Kingfisher's journey to find a home, traversing 13 flora and fauna communities along Merri Creek. It features beautiful illustrations by former MCMC staffer, Brian Bainbridge, along with evocative descriptions of the communities. 

It's available for $20 at the MCMC office, 2 Lee St Brunswick East (cash, cheque or direct deposit) or from our neighbours at CERES Nursery. If you'd like the book posted, email us at  and add $3 for postage.  For direct deposit details see further.

Are you curious about what Merri Creek looked like 30 or more years ago? Or maybe you'd like to have a trip down memory lane?  You can do this by taking our web-based tour of Merri Creek sites in Brunswick East and Northcote from the 1980s. Just follow this link. Even better, visit Merri Creek with your web-enabled device.  Then you'll be able to view photos from decades ago and simultaneously appreciate the amazing ecological transformation that can be seen today.   

In January some of our field staff were lucky enough to hear several Endangered Growling Grass Frogs (Litoria raniformis) calling from Merri Creek, at two different locations in Fawkner’s Moomba Park Reserve. This is the first time these frogs have been recorded in the lower sections of the Merri for many decades, most likely due to pollution and the loss of their habitat, We don't know how long the frogs might remain in this section of the creek, as they need still or slow moving water to breed in, and heavy rains can make the creek flow ferociously.