Golden hour: a surprise visitor to Merri Creek
“Whenever I’m lucky enough to see a Golden Whistler, it’s always because I’ve heard it first,” says Adi Tudor, a wildlife photographer who enjoys regular walks along Merri Creek. “They’ve got a very beautiful, melodic song. It always takes me by surprise, but it’s such a delight.”
Small insect-eating birds like Golden Whistlers have a preference for habitat where there is dense understorey and mid-storey shrubs to provide protection from larger, more territorial birds. While they are a relatively common species, and not under imminent threat, it’s unusual for them to be seen in the inner-north part of the Merri Creek.
Golden Whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis), photograph by Adi Tudor
MCMC winner in the Victorian Landcare 2023/24 awards
In July, Landcare Victoria awarded Merri Creek Management Committee winners of the 2024 Australian Government Community Partnerships Landcare Award. This award acknowledged our work over 35 years, transforming the Merri Creek from a weed-smothered drain to a much-loved waterway running through a picturesque bushland corridor together with our many volunteer and Friends-of groups. We thank the many people that have been part of this ongoing journey and who continue to love the Merri Creek through their volunteering, their advocacy, their donations and their support.
The awards received a record number of 146 nominations over 16 categories. We congratulate all nominees and award winners, including our friends at Darebin Creek Management Committee (DCMC) together with Narrap, the natural resource management unit of Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation who we work with regularly. Narrap and DCMC won the First Nations Landcare Collaboration Award in recognition of their knowledge sharing and skills exchange with other community organisations.
Merri Creek Management Committee now goes into the National Landcare Awards, which will be announced in June 2025.
Design award win for marram baba Merri Creek Parklands signage
Dr Toni Roberts, photograph by Dianna Wells“Wominjeka Wurundjeri balluk yearmann koondee biiik.”
“Welcome to the land of the Wurundjeri people.”
This is the warm and generous greeting, written in Woi-wurrung and endorsed by Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Elders, which visitors to the marram baba Merri Creek Parklands receive when they view the suite of interpretive and wayfinding signs that were installed in the parklands in July 2023.
A year on from the unveiling of the new signage, the thoughtful work of the project team has been recognised with a win at the Melbourne Design Awards 2024, receiving a Gold Award in the Graphic Design – Environmental Award category.
Porneet on the Merri
Long-tailed Bombyx (Trichiocercus sparshalli), photograph by Nayt Housman
Take a walk on the Merri Creek this time of year and you’ll notice the changes that have guided generations of Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people through the season of Porneet – tadpole season. During Porneet (normally observed in the months of August and September) Pied Currawongs can be heard calling, Grass Candles begin to respond to the warmer temperatures and longer daylight hours, and tadpoles begin to wriggle their tiny tails in their wetland homes.
The first thing that Merri Creek Management Committee’s Nayt Housman notices as Porneet approaches is the dragonflies darting among the grasslands. Nayt is a member of our “bush crew” or Ecological Restoration team, which spends its days caring for the landscapes that hug the banks of the Merri Creek and its tributaries. In rain, hail or shine, Nayt has observed the Merri’s plants and animals for four years, including two as a volunteer and the last eighteen months as a bush crew member.
“The invertebrates are the first to notice the early changes in season,” says Nayt. “You see lots of amazing caterpillars this time of year.”
My Place: Claudia James, Wallan Environment Group
Merri eNews talks to Claudia James, President of the Wallan Environment Group. Tributaries of the Merri Creek (Wallan, Taylors, Mittagong and Stathaird Creeks) run through the growing town of Wallan, on the northern edge of suburban Melbourne, where Claudia James has led the group since 2016.
How is caring for waterways in Wallan different from other parts of the catchment?
Rapid urban development is our greatest challenge. Much time is spent advocating for the protection, extension and connection of public open spaces aligning the creek lines. As new subdivisions arise there is also the need to advocate for the protection of valuable remnant vegetation and natural wetlands, along with the connectivity of habitat for native species. Another point of difference is that the Merri tributaries mainly flow through private property in Wallan – only short, disconnected stretches of Wallan, Taylors and Mittagong creeks are accessible to the public. This means that advocating strongly for the best planning outcomes, at both local and state government levels, for the Merri Creek is really important.
Claudia James, President of the Wallan Environment Group
Growling Grass Frog fans answer its call
In the early hours of a Melbourne morning, Danny Reddan can be found running a ten-kilometre route along the urban waterways of his inner-Melbourne neighbourhood. As he rounds the stretch of trail that takes him past the Moomba Park Wetlands, his mind turns to the Growling Grass Frogs he knows are busying themselves nearby.
“Growling Grass Frogs just remind me of my childhood in Warrnambool,” says Danny. “I was always out chasing frogs and lizards and so I have an idea of what habitat on the Merri Creek and its tributaries would once have been like – and what they could be like again too, if we work hard enough, if we come together as a community.”
Growling Grass Frog (Litoria raniformis), photograph by Geoff Heard
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