Merri Creek Management Committee

During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, MCMC's expertise and knowledge was deployed to help in the supervision and training of three Litter Data Officers employed by Moreland Council in early 2021. The role of these Litter Officers was to examine the state of litter and its sources across the municipality. 

Litter audits were conducted around several different sites including the Merri, Moonee Ponds and Westbreen Creeks, and in a variety of built-up site types. The results provide information that can help design education programs on source reduction and on locations for infrastructure, such as litter traps. 

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Merri Creek Management Committee has evaluated Creekulum, Moreland Primary School's ambitious and unprecedented creekside education program from 2019. The report is a visually attractive record suited to all ages. It shows how the community, guest educators and a whole-of-school approach worked together to meet the learning goals of Prep to Grade 6, with the Merri Creek at the centre of all our interests!

The full report is here (7.48MB PDF file).

Congratulations to the joint winners of the 2020 Moreland Environmental Sustainability Achievement Award: MCMC President, Ann McGregor, and her husband Bruce, for their decades of work on Merri Creek; and Stephen Northey, who founded the Friends of Edgars Creek. Below is a summary of their citations:

Ann & Bruce McGregor: When Ann and Bruce moved to Moreland in 1976, the Merri Creek trail was overgrown with weeds, loads of rubbish and neglected. They saw the Merri Creek as “a damaged asset that just cried out to be restored, not only for people but also for native birds and animals.”
They were founding members of the Friends of Merri Creek and have continued to be active members for over four decades of both the Friends of Merri Creek and the Merri Creek Management Committee, of which Ann is the current President. Without the foresight and commitment of people like Ann and Bruce McGregor, the Merri Creek would not be what it is today - a much loved environmental and social space, a valuable habitat for a range of native animals and home to significant indigenous vegetation.

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MCMC had to swiftly adapt the first year of a three year grant from Hume City Council for the A Little Nature Play project because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In consultation with early years educators, we moved delivery on-line. In October, Hume’s early years educators came together with other educators to talk over the experience of listening to children and exploring local 'nature play' areas. 

This conversation was documented in a 2020 webinar Stepping out: Leadership beyond the kindergarten setting. New plans to get out and about locally were supported, and recognition given to the importance of communicating with families about the value for children of time spent beyond the kindergarten setting. 

In response to the webinar, early years educators from four centres in Hume have come forward to enjoy support from the project.  Next year we will work with centres in Broadmeadows, Craigieburn, Coolaroo and Roxborough Park to get educators and kids out into nearby natural areas.