In February we were delighted to publish our 2022–2024 Biennial Report – a wonderful opportunity to share just some of the stories that we at MCMC are privileged to be a part of, with you, the people who make it all possible.

Paul Piko lives in Hidden Valley, a residential village and bushland area in the Upper Merri catchment on the northern edge of Melbourne. Paul is an orchid expert and Chairman of the Hidden Valley Environment Subcommittee, which formed in 2023 to support the work of the Wallan Environment Group and to protect the bushland in Hidden Valley.

Favourite spot in the Merri Creek catchment?

My favourite place in the Merri Creek catchment has to be the remnant bushland in the north section of the valley, which we unofficially call the Hidden Valley bushland reserve. The gullies feed into Mittagong Creek which in turn flows towards Merri Creek, not all that far from its source. When I moved into Hidden Valley I was delighted to discover this seemingly forgotten woodland. I was already an orchid enthusiast and was pleased to document a good number of species there, including one listed as Threatened. With the help of Chris Cobern from MCMC, we’ve also confirmed this bushland is also home to the Brush-tailed Phascogale. It is a special place.

Paul Piko at the 2024 MCMC staff field trip. Photograph by MCMC's Chris Coburn.

A long-awaited feasibility study for the wallan wallan Regional Park has finally been released, sparking hope and enthusiasm among conservationists, local advocates, and the wider community.

This proposed parkland, extending north from the existing marram baba Upper Merri Creek Parklands, would protect a significant green corridor – comprising both environmental refuges and outdoor recreation areas – within Melbourne’s rapidly expanding northern growth corridor.

As Yasmin Kelsall, Environmental Planning Lead with Merri Creek Management Committee (MCMC), explains, the area consists of “a group of volcanic cones rising from a grassy plain full of wetlands with the Merri Creek running along one side. That combination of wetlands and volcanic cones – Green Hill, Spring Hill and Mt Fraser – is unique.”

Wallan Environment Group members: Norbert Ryan, Cr Claudia James and Rod Eldridge.

On a beautiful sunny day in February during the biderap season, a group of land managers, scientists and community supporters gathered by wetlands in Fawkner’s Moomba Park to celebrate the launch of a new strategy for the Growling Grass Frog, a species that once thrived along the Merri Creek but now faces serious threats.

The strategy envisions a future where the frog is regularly heard and seen throughout the Merri Creek and its tributaries from Somerton to Fawkner, supported by collaboration between land and water managers, scientists, Traditional Owners, and local communities.

MCMC launch of the Strategy - 'Securing the Southern Metapopulations of the Growling Grass Frog in the Merri Creek.' Photograph by MCMC's Bernadette Thomas. 

When Lauren Branch walks along the Merri Creek in the hot, dry seasons of Gunyang (kangaroo apple season) and Biderang (hot and dry), there are usually around 20 pairs of little feet following close behind. As a teacher at Coburg’s Barry Beckett Children’s Centre (which enjoys a location just five minutes’ walk from the Merri) Lauren sees the creek as the perfect setting for place-based learning.

“Interacting with the creek gives opportunities for STEM (Science, Technology, English and Mathematics) as well as environment and wellbeing,” she says.

One of the concepts that Lauren enjoys exploring with her four- and five-year old kinder students is the changing of seasons according to what they are noticing in front of them, guided by the Wurundjeri seasonal calendar.

“At the beginning of the season, everything's quite green at the creek,” says Lauren. “You see more flowers out this time of year, but it will start to dry out very soon – even on the ground. The eucalyptus trees present in these really beautiful colours, all the way from yellows and reds, to pinks and greens, muted yellows and browns, even into purply colours.”

Students from Barry Beckett Children's Centre, with MCMC's Julia Cirillo.

Here at Merri Creek Management Committee, we celebrated the incredible commitment of volunteers the world over, on International Volunteers Day in December as well as year-round. Thank you!

Volunteers like you achieve so much for the Merri Creek: cleaning up litter, serving on committees to ensure the work of volunteer groups is effective, sharing a connection to nature with others, testing water-quality, planting trees, weeding and monitoring birds and other species. Happy International Volunteers’ Day to all our wonderful volunteers!

Hear from our WaterWatch and Litter Clean-up Coordinator, Julia Cirillo, together with some of the wonderful volunteers from the Merri Platypus Paddle Group about why volunteering makes so much of an impact – for us and for those who do it – in this video.

MCMC's Julia Cirillo with Colin Abbott, Heather Harris and Helena Kelada from the Merri Platypus Paddle Group talk about the joys of volunteering. 

Find out more about volunteering with the Friends of Merri Creek or the Merri Creek Management Committee.

Video kindly shared by the Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Action. 

Do you live near the Merri Creek close to the Fawkner area? Are you from a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse or Indigenous Australian background? Do you want to help populations of Growling Grass Frog living near you?

Merri Creek Management Committee is seeking volunteers for a new WaterWatch group, to collect important information about what these precious frogs need to survive and thrive.

Growling Grass Frog (Litoria raniformis), photograph by Anna Lanigan.

If you’ve ever taken a Sunday stroll along the Merri Creek and noticed a group of people clutching clipboards and buckets, gathering water samples along the bank, there’s a good chance it was one of the nine WaterWatch groups currently active along the Merri and Darebin creeks and tributaries.

WaterWatch is a Victoria-wide citizen-science program dedicated to monitoring waterway health. In the Merri Creek catchment, the program is hosted and supported by MCMC. Through a range of practical, hands-on activities with volunteers and school groups, the program engages local communities to foster understanding and ownership of local water-quality issues.

WaterWatch volunteers the Merri Mayflies

Make your festive season more meaningful by choosing gifts that have impact. The Friends of Merri Creek offer four delightful gifts that bring stories of Wurundjeri country into homes, with much of the proceeds* funding the protection of Melbourne’s much-loved waterway.

Select pickup when purchasing through the Friends of Merri Creek website, for collection from Thornbury (exact address shared after purchase). All of these products can also be purchased at the CERES Nursery and Bookstore. 

Photographs with thanks to designbynature.

Fiona Taylor is a Humanities and Geography teacher at Coburg High School, a local resident and a member of the Merri Birdies, one of the WaterWatch groups along the Merri Creek.

What’s your favourite spot on the Merri Creek?
There are too many to choose! One I love is where we do the Merri Birdies and WaterWatch monitoring with our Coburg High students, opposite De Chene Reserve. It’s quite enclosed under the trees, and the sound of water flowing over the rocks is so peaceful. I also love riding along the track, especially in drizzly rain. I always arrive in the best mood after riding along the creek.

Favourite time of year?
I love spring – the cygnets and ducklings and the wattle and eucalypts flowering, seeing deep into the creek, inspecting the fish and creek bed.

Fiona Taylor, member of WaterWatch group the Merri Birdies and teacher at Coburg High School.