It starts with a match. A tiny flame blossoms amid the dry grasses along the Merri Creek in early autumn.  Lighting the flame is an elderly man. Witnessing the event are a dozen younger men and women, mostly strangers to the elder. They are ready with equipment to direct the growing flames and keep the fire from running away. An hour later, a hectare of blackened grass is smoking quietly, waiting for rains to rejuvenate the grassland’s wildflowers and ecological processes.
The group rejoices in a job well done and reflects on the significance of the event: an Elder of the Wurundjeri has again lit the fires that were central to his ancestors’ culture, ecology and economy for thousands of years. A few years later, and the man’s relatives are now the ones holding the hoses, the drip-torches and weather meter that are part of current burning practice for Native Grassland near the Merri Creek. The little flame of interest sparked in 2011 has taken among the Wurundjeri community. This burning season, Wurundjeri Elders and trainees from the Wurundjeri Narrap team, and even members of the next generation, took part in the ecological burns along the Merri Creek alongside MCMC and Darebin bush crews.
 Mentoring and partnership has taken on new urgency as Wurundjeri build the skills to again conduct their own burns. Sites in Sunbury and Mount William were returned to Wurundjeri ownership and management in 2012. A growing exchange in knowledge between Wurundjeri and MCMC has been building through cultural days and relationships fostered through joint activities. A deeper appreciation for the land, its people and the work to repair it is growing among both groups.

Over the next four years, the Merri Creek catchment will benefit from three State Communities for Nature grants totalling over $287,700.

Reinforcing Grassland Ecological Values in the Merri Catchment north of Melbourne is the title and intention of a
three-year project by Merri Creek Management Committee. Works are funded under the Federal Caring for Our Country grant and supported by Darebin and Hume Councils, Parks Victoria, and the Merristock agricultural company.  Works have also been carried out in cooperation with VLine. 

Between 2010 and 2013, five diverse significant Volcanic Plains landscapes have been subject of projects to achieve ecological improvements.

Several innovative approaches have been trialled and are being carefully monitored.  Findings from these trials will be shared via communication resources developed under the grant including E-newsletter, tours, journal articles and a google Earth Tour.

For further information, including signing up for our E-newsletter, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Merri Creek Management Committee has been working with the Victorian National Parks Association Nature Watch program to monitor remnant populations of Plains Yam Daisy, or Murnong, on the Merri Creek at kalkallo, north of Melbourne.  A report of this program appears in the June edition of Park Watch on pages 8 & 9.

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This tour was prepared by Tony Faithfull.

On Wednesday 25 January, Lauren Keim, an East Brunswick resident and teacher at a local primary school rescued a large male platypus from the Merri Creek 200 metres north of Moreland Rd bridge.
The platypus was tangled in rubbish and debris and had a wound in his side.  Lauren took the platypus to Essendon Emergency Vet who treated the platypus’ wound.  The vet called a Wildlife Carer who took him to Healesville Sanctuary.  After determining the platypus was healthy, Jessica Thomas, a Platypus Keeper at Healesville Sanctuary, decided that he should be released back where he had come from. So he was put back into Merri Creek.
Lauren has kept the tangled mess of rubbish to show her class and to educate them about rubbish in the creek.
Melbourne Water has advised that members of the public should not attempt to rescue platypus in trouble. Male platypus have a poisonous spur on their back legs that can cause serious injury to people. Platypus are also easily stressed through handling and can even die. If you see a platypus in trouble please contact wildlife specialist Josh Griffith – 0422-783-994.
We’d love to know if you’ve seen the Merri Creek platypus.  Please contact us or make a report through our website animal sightings form.

Merri Creek is Victoria’s most popular urban waterway – says a Dept of Sustainability & Environment survey: ‘My Victorian Waterway: Personal connections with rivers, wetlands and estuaries in Victoria’ Nov. 2011, p6. See survey HERE.

On 20 January, hundreds of dead carp were found in the wetlands upstream of Edwardes Lake in Reservoir (Edwardes Lake is on Edgars Creek, a major tributary of the Merri.) A large influx of organic matter used up oxygen in the water, causing it to turn black and smelly, leading to the death of aquatic life. Darebin City Council liased with Yarra Valley Water to pump some of the black water to sewage.

Blue Green algae bloom

Some weeks later a Blue Green algae bloom arose in Edwards Lake and this has been managed by council with advice from Melbourne Water. However, Melbourne Water tested the water quality downstream of the Lake found on Friday 24 February that the bloom has progressed downstream at least as far as Henty St. Reservoir (Melway 18 C6).  Signage will be erected along the waterway at major public access points through to the confluence with Merri Creek.

Merri Creek has won the dubious honour of being Melbourne's most polluted waterway according to a article in The Age on Monday 21 November by Environment Reporter, Tom Arup, entitled "Not so Merri reputation for creek." See article HERE.

In the 2011 planting season MCMC organised the planting of 21,390 plants. Of these 2.5% were trees, 6.5% were shrubs and 82% were ground storey. Nine percent were semi aquatics and aquatic species.
Clustered Wallaby Grass (Austrodanthonia racemosa), Weeping Grass (Microlaena stipoides) and Common Tussock Grass (Poa labillardieri) were the top three species planted with over 4,000 individual plants each. They accounted for over half of the total plants. The first two small grasses are hardy colonising plants that have been planted beside pathways and to consolidate existing sites with mature trees. The larger Tussock Grass creates attractive swathes of Tussock grassland in more open areas beside creeks such as alongside Merri Creek between Rushall Station and Queens Pde in North Fizroy and at Edwardes Lake in Reservoir.