Wollert Community Farm: the community that cares for Curly Sedge Creek
Just a short walk from Curly Sedge Creek, a new kind of farm is growing: one that’s as focused on caring for Country as it is on growing plants.
Wollert Community Farm is an exciting partnership between Whittlesea Community Connections and Yarra Valley Water, developed with the support of Melbourne Polytechnic and the City of Whittlesea, one of Merri Creek Management Committee’s six member councils. The farm is designed as a place where community, conservation and cultivation meet: combining social enterprise, environmental education, First Nations-led activities, local food growing, and hands-on restoration of the land.
At MCMC we love hearing the ways that our fellow Merri Creek catchment lovers are caring for Merri tributaries – including the little-known Curly Sedge Creek, where we have ambitious plans, that support, align with and extend those of the Wollert Community Farm.
Wollert Community Farm's nugal biik conservation volunteers. Photo by Julia Cirillo
Growling Grass Frogs at Curly Sedge Creek
When the sun sets over the grasslands, and traffic noise from the nearby highway begins to ease, Curly Sedge Creek begins to reveal its secrets.
During a night-time frog survey, something rare catches the beam of a torch: the delicate, distinctive spirals of Curly Sedge, unmistakable even in the dark. Nearby, the low, throaty call of a Growling Grass Frog cuts through the stillness. For Yasmin Kelsall, Environmental Planning Lead for MCMC, it's a moment of quiet revelation – proof that this overlooked stretch of creek could still offer refuge for threatened species.
Thanks to the support of our community during last year’s Growling Grass Frog campaign, MCMC has been able to confirm the species' presence in and around Curly Sedge Creek. Surveys have been conducted at four sites – two on the creek itself, one at O’Herns Swamp, and another on Merri Creek.
MCMC's Yasmin Kelsall at Curly Sedge Creek. Photograph by Annette Ruzicka Photography.
wallan wallan Regional Park: A vision for Melbourne’s North leaps closer
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.
A collaborative vision for the Growling Grass Frog
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.
My Place – Paul Piko
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.
MCMC releases its 2022–2024 Biennial Report
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.
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