The wattles of the Wurundjeri season of Guling were bursting into colour as fourteen members of the newly formed Friends of Bracken Creek put down their trowels and trays of tube stock to pick up tools they were far less familiar with – pencils and paper.

“Some people were a bit reluctant at first,” says group founder Melanie Del Monaco. “They thought they couldn’t draw.”

The sentiment is a familiar one to environmental educator Angela Foley from Merri Creek Management Committee, who facilitated the learning and is used to giving participants time to recognise themselves as both artists and scientists.

“I meet people all the time, whether they are six or 60, who think that artists are a different kind of people,” says Angela. “But drawing is about being observant. Your drawing is data – a record of what you observed of a specific plant at a specific day and time.”

Friends of Bracken Creek planting day, along the Merri Merri in Northcote

The event was the first community engagement event under our $463,000 Green Links grant, awarded by the Victorian government in early 2024 as part of their program to fund up to 200 hectares of revegetation projects along urban waterways over three years. Merri Creek Management Committee will use the funding to create fenced, densely planted refuge areas for urban populations of Swamp Wallabies and small insectivorous woodland birds, on a four-kilometre stretch of the Merri Creek between Coburg and Northcote.

The planting of 200 plants at the Bracken Creek planting day is the first part of this plan to install over 17,000 mid-storey shrubs, grasses and herbs at strategic locations to improve habitat connectivity under the Greenlinks program.

According to Melanie, the impact of the planting was enhanced by the opportunity for volunteers to learn about the ecology of the creek habitat and instil greater custodianship. Activities like the botanical drawing exercise facilitated by Angela serve to draw participants into a greater connection with the nature they move through in their daily lives.

“Angela shared her incredible knowledge about so many different indigenous plants and their features. It was an opportunity to actually learn about the plants we were installing - the name and features of the plants, and how to more readily identify them. We also learnt how to look after them, their special properties and significance and use by First Nations people.”

According to Angela, just being able to recognise one plant can give people an entrée into the plant world.

“I want people to make friends with the plant,” she says. “I want people to become fascinated by indigenous biodiversity and share respect for Country.”

Friends of Bracken Creek are a new group that formed after Covid lockdowns increased the local community’s awareness of Bracken Creek, a small tributary that flows through parts of Thornbury and Northcote through the golf course and into the Merri.

“Our group had worked in previous sessions to weed and prep the area and were excited to finally be able to plant it out,” says Melanie. “Our goal is to create a bird and wildlife corridor, so we’re planning litter clean-ups along and around the creek, weeding sessions, bird surveys, history and cultural walks and much more.”

The event was supported by Darebin Council, who opened up space near Northcote Golf Course to the community. When Friends of Bracken Creek approached them for support, they responded by offering their bush crew, who assisted in the August planting.

Melanie has appreciated the support provided by both Darebin Council and Merri Creek Management Committee.

“MCMC have provided such valuable support to help our group get established. They’ve also supported other activities like a clean-up day earlier this year where we collected almost 300kg of rubbish. The support provided in helping get our initial planning activities happening to establish the group was extremely useful too.”

The Connecting up Communities Project is supported by the Victorian Government through the Green Links Program.