Waterproof waders might not be your typical weekend wardrobe, but for a group of 20 WaterWatch volunteers gathered in the inner-north of the Merri Creek catchment in late November, these garments are simply the trademark of a passion for waterway health.

For once, these WaterWatch volunteers kept their socks dry, while attending MCMC’s first-ever Citizen Science networking workshop: although WaterWatch volunteers routinely head out to collect samples, record observations and monitor the health of local creeks, they rarely have the chance to meet one another.

For most Melburnians, the view from a Metro train window rushes past in a blur – an unremarkable stretch of grass, perhaps a small patch of scrub. Few realise that these seemingly ordinary rail corridors are home to some of Victoria’s most threatened grassland species and ecological communities.

Since 2018, MCMC has played a central role in helping Metro Trains protect and restore these vitally important ‘biosites’. When the current Metro franchise began, there were 30 sites identified as having significant ecological values, many of them neglected or poorly documented. Metro engaged specialist contractors to restore and monitor the sites, with MCMC taking responsibility for the majority – particularly the most sensitive or complex grassland reserves.

As founder of the Friends of Bracken Creek, Melanie del Monaco dreams of creating a bird and wildlife corridor along a stretch of Bracken Creek, a small tributary which flows through parts of Thornbury and Northcote and into the Merri.

Image by Melanie Del Monaco.

On 13 November 2025, as Buath Gurru (grass-flowering season) brought warm rains to the Merri, Victoria marked an historic first.

The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, members of the Victorian Cabinet and the Governor of Victoria gathered at Government House to sign Australia’s first Treaty between First Peoples and a state government. Merri Creek Management Committee (MCMC) acknowledges the significance of this moment in the very season when Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country is flourishing.

The signing formalises a renewed relationship between the Victorian Government and First Peoples, recognising those communities as ongoing decision-makers on the lands and waters they have cared for over tens of thousands of years. On the Merri Merri – rocky creek Country long tended by Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people – this care is embedded in living practice and deep ecological knowledge.

As 2025 reaches its close, we at Merri Creek Management Committee thank you for your wonderful support this year. We can only do the important work we do for the Merri Creek – and its lifegiving landscapes – thanks to your support. We invite you to celebrate our shared achievements by reading our 2024–2025 Annual Report here.

Image by Annette Ruzicka.

As the busyness of nearby shops increase to a Christmas-time fever, we at Merri Creek Management Committee encourage you to find reprieve in a walk on the Merri in Gunyang season. Gunyang is a time during which Wurundjeri people bring attention to the grass seed ripening, the characteristic flutter of male Golden Sun Moths, and skinks and lizards basking in the sun. (Perhaps you could also hear the call of the Growling Grass Frog in the evenings?)

Image by DesignByNature.

When: 4pm - 6pm, Thursday 23rd October 

This Teachers Education Network (TEN) event is for educators in the Cities of Whittlesea, Banyule and Nillumbik, to consider innovative leadership and to better forefront and connect with Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country for early years, primary, secondary and tertiary educators.

When: 1pm - 3pm, Friday 24th October

We'll notice how birds and habitat reveal Wurundjeri Country's seven seasons through animal behaviour and plant display, as part of the Great Southern Bioblitz campaign in Greater Melbourne.
Join Hume Council's Urban Biodiversity Officer, Melissa Dougherty and MCMC's Biodiversity and Waterway Dr Angela Foley to visit one of Hume's most significant grasslands at Bababi Marning, aka Cooper St Grasslands, between Cooper Street, Metrolink Circuit and Merri Creek, Campbellfield.

Horsfield''s Bronze Cuckoo, image by Jonathan Tickner.

There was an unusual sight at Newlands Primary School one chilly morning in June: dozens of Grade One and Two students carefully planting seedlings in a narrow strip of land along Murphy Street.

Working with quiet focus despite their excitement, the children moved expertly through the steps they’d learned: checking the plants’ root systems, packing soil, laying mulch, and gently watering the seedlings once they were settled in the earth. The activity was part of a broader project to transform neglected areas of the school grounds into a thriving indigenous habitat corridor and wellbeing garden.

Students from Newlands Primary School planting. 

Amy Sledziona, founder of Friends of Malcom Creek. Amy Sledziona is a veterinarian and the founder of the reinvigorated volunteer group Friends of Malcom Creek, a tributary of the Merri Creek. Amy lives on the rapidly expanding northern edge of Melbourne where she identified a need for new locals to connect with and protect nature and waterways.