It’s important to inspire the younger citizen scientists of today. As part of Platypus month, Julia Cirillo (MCMC Waterwatch Coordinator) partnered up with Ben Hudson (Melbourne Water Waterwatch Coordinator) and Charlotte Napper (Merri-bek Council Conservation Program Officer) in late September 2022, to deliver a fun school holiday morning focused around Platypus education for children and their families within the Merri-bek municipality.

Over 40 participants learned about waterbugs and the important role they play in the Platypus ecology. The kids enjoyed presentations on the platypus, quizzes, and testing the water quality of the local wetlands. The feedback was exceptional and it was great to get kids outdoors during school holidays.

The event was funded by Merri-bek City Council.

In mid 2022, we completed the second phase of a multi-year collaboration between MCMC and the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation (WWCHAC). The project is funded by a grant from the City of Yarra to explore cultural and ecological values at the Merri and Birrarung Confluence. 

The slideshows from two online events - Talking Merri Birrarung: Caring for Country where the Merri flows into Birrarung (Yarra River) in December 2021 and January 2022 - reflect the project’s goal to enrich community connections to Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country. They are valuable resources on local intercultural responses to Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung cultural practices.

Although Dr Beth Gott’s extraordinarily distinguished scientific career as an ethno-botanist ended on 8 July 2022, her legacy will endure. Dr Gott helped us to understand, preserve and recover indigenous flora and learn about fire regimes, Aboriginal languages, bush medicines and the multiple seasons of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung calendar. She deepened our conception of nearby cultural places enabling us to conceive of Merri Creek as Wurundjeri Country. Her commitment to scholarship, field work, learning and the community was always with acknowledgement of and respect for Traditional Custodians. Even well into her 90’s, Beth joined local Merri community events and taught us more about murnong, the yam daisy that was once so wide-spread across the grassslands of the Merri and beyond.

This Webinar showcases water quality data collected in 2020-21 by two sensors in Merri Creek (located in Galada Tamboore and Nth Fitzroy) which measured water temperature and light every hour, and turbidity (water clarity) every two minutes. The project, which involved RMIT University, local councils and MCMC, enabled data to be accessed without having to enter the stream.

In the Webinar, RMIT and MCMC discuss the results and what they mean for the ongoing ecological health of Merri Creek. Also, the Cities of Merri-bek (formerly Moreland) and Whittlesea reveal the water quality improvement projects they are undertaking.