Photo above: Herne Swamp after heavy rain, Mt Fraser in background. Sept 2016.

Herne Swamp is a hidden gem on the upper Merri Creek awaiting the opportunity to be brought 'back to life'.  Lying to the south and east of the town of Wallan it has 'all the ingredients required for a spectacular restoration project'. This is the central point made in an inspiring discussion paper from the Nature Glenelg Trust -  Restoration Vision for the Wallan Wallan wetlands, including Herne Swamp, as the centrepiece of the Wallan Wallan Regional Park. The Nature Glenelg Trust are experts in wetland restoration and were invited by local community members to inspect Herne Swamp in 2018. 

Sunday 31 March, 10am-1pm
Join the Merri Creek Management Committee's Waterwatch Coordinator on the upper Merri Creek in Donnybrook to collect data on waterbug diversity for Melbourne Water project priorities. The session will cover sampling and collecting of live macroinvertebrates, and identifying live macroinvertebrates to family level in order to determine the water quality of the Merri Creek. Lunch is provided (please provide dietary requirements). Some previous experience with macroinvertebrate identification is preferred. Bookings essential below. This event is proudly funded by Melbourne Water.

This event is fully booked. To be alerted for future events please subscribe here: http://www.mcmc.org.au/get-involved/subscribe

Our latest Fauna & Flora report summarises 53 sightings from our fauna book between October 2017 and September 2018, including Platypus and Eastern Rosellas, which are rare in the lower Merri. Significant flora include the Fireweed Groundsel, Senecio linearifolius, which is only known to occur naturally in the catchment at Galada Tamboore, and our experimental plantings of White Elderberry, Sambucus gaudichaudiana, the endangered Tough Scurf-Pea, Cullen tenax, as well as the rare Western Golden-tip, Goodia medicaginea (photo left).

A wildlife garden puts us in touch with the natural seasons of our land.  "True Spring" in  the Six Seasons Calendar (the last several weeks of "winter") is marked by the opening of many kinds of wildflowers and arrivals of migratory birds. This forms an extended spring-like season that precedes the burst of flowering, insect activity and birdsong in September and October.  All this occurs in MCMC's own front garden in East Brunswick - see the pdf article (a modified version of which first appeared in the Friends of Merri Creek newsletter, Merri Growler, November 2017).

Join Us for a fun family event celebrating our local creeks and the life they support.

The whole family can take part in the following interactive activities:

Making bush toys, Walk-in butterfly enclosure; Building Blue-banded Bee hotels, Skin art painting, Making trash puppets and a Frog Activity

Bring along a Picnic and enjoy a coffee from Mr Jitters van

Saturday 22nd October, 11am - 1pm

Outside Fawkner Library, 77 Jukes Road Fawkner

For any queries call 9380 8199.

Merri Creek Management Committee has a Catchment Programs group which develops and delivers waterway and indigenous biodiversity engagement programs. This new video, Celebrating Merri Creek's biodiversity 2016, celebrates some of the many ways that this team works with the community to experience the beauty and wonders of nearby nature in the local urban environment.

Please get in touch with us to discuss how we could support your educative goals and curious instincts about local natural areas: or (03) 9380 8199.

Hearty congratulations to the Friends of Merri Creek on the huge success of their Help the Blue-banded Bee crowd-funding campaign.  The campaign raised $25,073 which more than 66% greater than the original target of $15,000. 441 people supported the campaign which will now receive a further $15,000 from the Dept of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. The funds will be used in a project designed by Merri Creek Management Committee to establish pollination ‘stepping stones’ between endangered Matted Flax-lily populations along the Merri Creek in Fawkner and Reservoir.

 Merri Creek's Matted Flax-lily is threatened by population isolation  

See a web version of these fabulous panels which celebrate the outstanding community achievement since 1975 in transforming Merri Creek from a weed-smothered drain to a much-loved waterway running through a bushland corridor: fronts of panels (17MB file); backs of panels (9MB file).

The two metre size panels were originally displayed at libraries and other public places throughout the Merri Creek catchment over 16 months until late 2016, in celebration of MCMC's 25th Anniversary. 

Continuous public parkland and a connected trail along the entire length of Merri Creek.

This is our vision, from the confluence of the Merri with the Yarra in Clifton Hill/Abbotsford upstream to its headwaters beyond Wallan.  Currently, the much loved Merri Creek Parklands and the Merri Shared Trail only extend along a quarter of Merri Creek’s length, from the Yarra confluence to the Metropolitan Ring Road. If you want to go further north along the creek, you can’t! 

The Marran Baba Parklands concept makes up another 25% of the creek’s length, but much of its implementation is still languishing ten years after Parks Victoria released the draft plan. Meanwhile, a huge 50% of Merri Creek is waiting for a coherent park plan. To fill the gap, community groups have developed a plan for a Greater Wallan-Merri State Park from Craigieburn to Wallan. See the details of our park proposal including a map here. 

Within a two month period two industrial fires threatened  Merri waterways. In late November 2015, runoff from at a large fire at an illegally operated wood dump had serious impacts on the ecology of  Merri Creek in Somerton and 7km downstream. Then in January, a tyre recycling facility in Broadmeadows caught fire, with runoff entering upper parts of the Merlynston and Campbellfield Creeks, both tributaries of Merri Creek. In both instances, rapid response by Melbourne Water prevented more serious impacts.