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.

Guided by teacher Nerida Jolley, and with sustained support from Merri Creek Management Committee (MCMC) environmental educator Dr Angela Foley, the students undertook their planting during Waring – the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung season of cold, wet days, when conditions are just right to take advantage of mid-Waring rain and cool temperatures.

Also coinciding with World Environment Week, the project was the latest example of how MCMC’s long-running Learning Grounds program helps connect young people with local landscapes, environmental action, and to recognise Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Country’s seasons, plants and animals.

Nerida is a community inquiry specialist at Newlands Primary, who works to help students engage with the world around them, and she says the support from MCMC was vital.
“To get expert advice for both educational purposes and indigenous landscaping is invaluable,” she said. “In public schools we’re always running on limited budgets and time, and much of what I’ve done with my students over the past 18 months would have been out of reach without Darebin Council’s support of MCMC.”

With Angela’s help, Nerida successfully applied for a $5,000 Landcare grant, which funded the planting of a swale, the creation of an indigenous habitat corridor along Murphy Street, and a nature-connected wellbeing garden. A separate grant from Darebin Council funded an excursion and supported MCMC’s Learning Grounds program on caring for waterways.

Angela, who’s been running school-based indigenous garden projects with MCMC for more than 20 years, said the students’ enthusiasm and care were inspiring.

“They get really involved and proud,” she said. “Even though these are young students in the early grades, they learn how to plant properly, how to treat the seedlings gently, how to mulch and water. They’re so careful and on task. I teach them exactly the same steps I use with Year 12s – and they get it.”

Preparation for the project was extensive, involving site visits, classroom incursions, parent working bees and collaboration with the school’s groundskeeper, Rhenny Kemp. Angela praised Rhenny’s openness and practical contributions, including drilling hundreds of planting holes in a narrow, debris-filled space between buildings and the footpath.

“The area had been left pretty bare after building works – just rocks, rubble and weeds,” said Nerida. “It’s where most families walk past every day, so it felt really meaningful for the students to turn it into something beautiful.”

In line with Wurundjeri seasonal knowledge, the students learned about Waring and the importance of timing their planting to give the seedlings the best chance of survival. Where possible, they also learned the Woi-wurrung names of some plant species.

Eco-literacy, Angela says, is central to the program.

“We’re helping children to recognise Wurundjeri Country and build a language and understanding for the ecosystems they live in, and helping them become future advocates for places like Merri Creek and its catchment.”

Grade Three and Four students also attended an excursion to nearby Edgars Creek, where they observed freshwater animals and explored how stormwater flows from school drains to local waterways. These sessions inspired follow-up activities, including multilingual posters created with the Spanish Club, and discussions about how to reduce litter and protect waterbugs, eels and other wildlife.
With three distinct new garden areas now established in the school, and a student gardening club taking on long-term care, the project is set to leave a lasting legacy.

“Students have loved the hands-on nature of it,” said Nerida. “They’re doing something practical to make a difference – and they’re going home talking to their families about indigenous plants, about the difference between native and indigenous species, and how we can all care for Country. It means a lot to know that we’re giving the plants every success of thriving thanks to the advice and support of MCMC.”

Long time Friends of Merri Creek (FoMC) member Jonathan Tickner has created this handy guide to birding along the Merri, and is kindly donating all proceeds to FoMC! You can purchase the book here.

From Jonathan, “(I’m) very pleased to announce the publication of my eBook, all proceeds of which will be donated to FoMC. The illustrated guide helps birders who are starting on their birding journey or who aren’t familiar with the creek, providing maps, detailed descriptions of locations and the birds you may find there at different times of the year. Plus, it is a celebration of the bird life along the creek, through my photography. A printed version of the book can soon be ordered too.”

More about the book: A helpful guide to birders who want to explore the Merri Creek, enhance their birding skills and get to know the birds that visit the various habitats along the creek. The booklet includes detailed instructions of how to get to and navigate each location, clear maps, lists of birds that are found at each location at different times of the year, and stunning photographs of birds.

When the sun sets over the grasslands, and traffic noise from the nearby highway begins to ease, Curly Sedge Creek begins to reveal its secrets.

During a night-time frog survey, something rare catches the beam of a torch: the delicate, distinctive spirals of Curly Sedge, unmistakable even in the dark. Nearby, the low, throaty call of a Growling Grass Frog cuts through the stillness. For Yasmin Kelsall, Environmental Planning Lead for MCMC, it’s a moment of quiet revelation – proof that this overlooked stretch of creek could still offer refuge for threatened species.

Thanks to the support of our community during last year’s Growling Grass Frog campaign, MCMC has been able to confirm the species’ presence in and around Curly Sedge Creek. Surveys have been conducted at four sites – two on the creek itself, one at O’Herns Swamp, and another on Merri Creek.

The Growling Grass Frog, listed as vulnerable at both state and national levels, has suffered dramatic declines since the 1970s. Urban expansion has stripped away much of its habitat, leaving only isolated patches of suitable wetland in which the species can breed, forage and shelter. Finding the frog here was a hopeful sign.

“We now know that Growling Grass Frogs are resident in Curly Sedge Creek and surrounds,” says Yasmin. “They come into the creek to breed in spring and summer, then move out into the grasslands and stony knoll areas in winter.”

Growling Grass Frogs need a mix of habitat types to survive: still and slow-moving water to lay eggs in, submerged vegetation for tadpoles, rocky, warm spaces to bask and a mix of vegetation and open spaces to forage and to hide from predators. That makes Curly Sedge Creek ideal – if we can maintain the right conditions.

This year, our campaign to protect Curly Sedge Creek, will also directly benefit the frogs. Invasive weeds like Spiny Rush, Lobed Needle Grass and Chilean Needle Grass are clogging the creek and crowding out native vegetation. Their removal will create open spaces and healthier waterway conditions.

“The work we’re asking our community to support will include sensitively managing these invasive species – and that will benefit Growling Grass Frogs too,” says Yasmin. “Managing these exotic species leaves more open space for frogs to forage in. It also helps them fight off the devastating Chytrid fungus, which is such a threat to these beautiful frogs.”

MCMC’s Ecological Restoration Program Manager Michael Longmore adds that the frogs’ return is a signal that the broader landscape still has conservation value. “The greatest threat to Growling Grass Frogs is loss of habitat,” he says.

“While the presence of frogs at Curly Sedge Creek is encouraging, it’s also a reminder of how important these places are. As our city grows, so too does the pressure on habitat. Knowing that frogs are here gives us another reason to value and protect the creek – not just for curly sedge, but for all the creatures that live there.”

“Curly Sedge Creek is like a little hidden paradise,” Yasmin adds. “You can be walking across wide-open plains, then suddenly come across these meandering waterways. It really feels reminiscent of the landscape that used to exist across northern and western Melbourne.”

Our current campaign will help protect this special place, ensuring that both Curly Sedge and Growling Grass Frogs are able to survive – and thrive – in Merri Creek and its tributaries.

Find out more about how you can support Growling Grass Frogs and Curly Sedge Creek.

Tucked behind the industrial fringes of Craigieburn, hidden from view by housing developments and highways, lies a unique patch of remnant grassland. And at its heart: Curly Sedge Creek.

Meandering through galgi ngarrk (formerly Craigieburn Grassland Conservation Reserve), this little-known tributary of Merri Creek still supports a remarkable array of life, including Growling Grass Frogs, Golden Sun Moths, and Latham’s Snipe.

Most significantly, it is Melbourne’s only stronghold for the nationally endangered Curly Sedge, described by MCMC’s Environmental Planning Lead Yasmin Kelsall as one of our most important local plants. 

“Curly Sedge Creek is like a little hidden paradise,” Yasmin says. “It’s a piece of Melbourne that not many people get to see. You can be walking across wide-open plains, then suddenly come across these little meandering waterways; it really feels reminiscent of the landscape that used to exist right across northern and western Melbourne.”

This landscape also once offered quiet refuge to the elusive and critically endangered Plains Wanderer, last recorded here in 1991 Victorian Grassland Earless Dragon, recorded in 1990.

But the secret of Curly Sedge Creek has become its vulnerability. Once home to a rich community of native species, galgi ngarrk – out of sight from the community and under the care of sparsely-funded government agencies – is now under threat: Invasive weeds such as Spiny Rush, Artichoke Thistle and Lobed Needle Grass are taking hold. Without urgent intervention, native plants like Curly Sedge, Matted Flax-lily and Brackish Plains Buttercup could be lost – and with them, the creek’s ecological health.

With your support, we can turn things around.

At MCMC, we have an ambitious plan to protect and rehabilitate Curly Sedge Creek and the surrounding  grasslands. We need $40,000, to carry out targeted weed control and habitat restoration – giving Curly Sedge and the many species that could flourish in this ecosystem, a fighting chance.

Our vision also relies on building awareness of Curly Sedge Creek among those best-placed to protect it: local communities. We need your support to run community events that connect communities with the rare grassland environment just beyond their back fences – but which most don’t even know about.

Will you help protect Curly Sedge Creek with a tax-deductible donation before June 30th to carry out this critical work? 

Your donation will help fund:

• Targeted weed management to protect Curly Sedge at its only Melbourne stronghold
• On-ground habitat restoration efforts, to improve the quality of habitat for a range of companion plant and animal species
• Walk on Country with Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Traditional Owners
• Deeper community engagement and connection with the Curly Sedge Creek landscape

“Our key goal is to create a buffer along the creek – a zone where Curly Sedge and native grasses can thrive without competition from invasive species,” says Yasmin. “The main focus will be weed control. That will be key to reducing the threat to Curly Sedge – a special plant within a special creek and a special grassland.”

As we launch this urgent campaign, we are delighted to have the support of ecologist Doug Frood, who first identified the Curly Sedge population in 1990.

“I’m really pleased that the Merri Creek Management Committee is taking on this work,” says Doug.

“They’ve got the experience and skills to manage remnant vegetation carefully – using techniques like hand weeding and selective spraying to avoid the non-target damage we so often see. It’ll be great to see this kind of sensitive ecological management finally get the resourcing it needs.”

Doug’s right – sensitive ecological management doesn’t come cheap. Strategic management needs to ensure other species such as the woodland birds that seek refuge within the invasive weeds (in the absence of the ideal indigenous habitat these birds once found here) are considered.

Sensitive ecological management also considers the various factors that impact on creek and grassland health: how will our weed management impact the delicate balance of this ecosystem? How will we ensure the Growling Grass Frogs, Black Falcons, Red-Chested Button-quails and Freshwater Blackfish that call this place home, benefit from our work alongside the endangered Curly Sedge?

You can help us strike this delicate balance. With the passionate support of the Merri Creek community – people just like you – we can do it.

Can you help us protect this stronghold for an endangered species? Donate today to support our important work at Curly Sedge Creek – Melbourne’s only stronghold for Curly Sedge.

Photograghy and videography by Annette Ruzicka Photography. 

Tucked behind the industrial fringes of Craigieburn, hidden from view by housing developments and highways, lies a unique patch of remnant grassland. And at its heart: Curly Sedge Creek.

Meandering through galgi ngarrk (formerly Craigieburn Grassland Conservation Reserve), this little-known tributary of Merri Creek still supports a remarkable array of life, including Growling Grass Frogs, Golden Sun Moths, and Latham’s Snipe.

Most significantly, it is Melbourne’s only stronghold for the nationally endangered Curly Sedge, described by MCMC’s Environmental Planning Lead Yasmin Kelsall as one of our most important local plants. 

“Curly Sedge Creek is like a little hidden paradise,” Yasmin says. “It’s a piece of Melbourne that not many people get to see. You can be walking across wide-open plains, then suddenly come across these little meandering waterways; it really feels reminiscent of the landscape that used to exist right across northern and western Melbourne.”

This landscape also once offered quiet refuge to the elusive and critically endangered Plains Wanderer, last recorded here in 1991 Victorian Grassland Earless Dragon, recorded in 1990.

But the secret of Curly Sedge Creek has become its vulnerability. Once home to a rich community of native species, galgi ngarrk – out of sight from the community and under the care of sparsely-funded government agencies – is now under threat: Invasive weeds such as Spiny Rush, Artichoke Thistle and Lobed Needle Grass are taking hold. Without urgent intervention, native plants like Curly Sedge, Matted Flax-lily and Brackish Plains Buttercup could be lost – and with them, the creek’s ecological health.

With your support, we can turn things around.

At MCMC, we have an ambitious plan to protect and rehabilitate Curly Sedge Creek and the surrounding  grasslands. We need $40,000, to carry out targeted weed control and habitat restoration – giving Curly Sedge and the many species that could flourish in this ecosystem, a fighting chance.

Our vision also relies on building awareness of Curly Sedge Creek among those best-placed to protect it: local communities. We need your support to run community events that connect communities with the rare grassland environment just beyond their back fences – but which most don’t even know about.

Will you help protect Curly Sedge Creek with a tax-deductible donation before June 30th to carry out this critical work? 

Your donation will help fund:

• Targeted weed management to protect Curly Sedge at its only Melbourne stronghold
• On-ground habitat restoration efforts, to improve the quality of habitat for a range of companion plant and animal species
• Walk on Country with Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Traditional Owners
• Deeper community engagement and connection with the Curly Sedge Creek landscape

“Our key goal is to create a buffer along the creek – a zone where Curly Sedge and native grasses can thrive without competition from invasive species,” says Yasmin. “The main focus will be weed control. That will be key to reducing the threat to Curly Sedge – a special plant within a special creek and a special grassland.”

As we launch this urgent campaign, we are delighted to have the support of ecologist Doug Frood, who first identified the Curly Sedge population in 1990.

“I’m really pleased that the Merri Creek Management Committee is taking on this work,” says Doug.

“They’ve got the experience and skills to manage remnant vegetation carefully – using techniques like hand weeding and selective spraying to avoid the non-target damage we so often see. It’ll be great to see this kind of sensitive ecological management finally get the resourcing it needs.”

Doug’s right – sensitive ecological management doesn’t come cheap. Strategic management needs to ensure other species such as the woodland birds that seek refuge within the invasive weeds (in the absence of the ideal indigenous habitat these birds once found here) are considered.

Sensitive ecological management also considers the various factors that impact on creek and grassland health: how will our weed management impact the delicate balance of this ecosystem? How will we ensure the Growling Grass Frogs, Black Falcons, Red-Chested Button-quails and Freshwater Blackfish that call this place home, benefit from our work alongside the endangered Curly Sedge?

You can help us strike this delicate balance. With the passionate support of the Merri Creek community – people just like you – we can do it.

Can you help us protect this stronghold for an endangered species? Donate today to support our important work at Curly Sedge Creek – Melbourne’s only stronghold for Curly Sedge.

Photograghy and videography by Annette Ruzicka Photography. 

On a beautiful sunny day in February during the biderap season, a group of land managers, scientists and community supporters gathered by wetlands in Fawkner’s Moomba Park to celebrate the launch of a new strategy for the Growling Grass Frog, a species that once thrived along the Merri Creek but now faces serious threats.

The strategy envisions a future where the frog is regularly heard and seen throughout the Merri Creek and its tributaries from Somerton to Fawkner, supported by collaboration between land and water managers, scientists, Traditional Owners, and local communities.

Yasmin Kelsall, Environmental Planning Lead with Merri Creek Management Committee (MCMC), explains the urgency of the strategy: “The southernmost populations of Growling Grass Frog in the Merri Creek exist in a precarious state, threatened by an intensification in private land development, particularly within the last 20 years. These beautiful frogs are also threatened by the devastating chytrid fungus, as well as the effects of new developments upstream within Melbourne’s northern growth corridor.”

Historically, Growling Grass Frogs flourished in natural wetland environments along the creek, but changes in urbanisation and stormwater runoff have made the waterway a less stable habitat.

“Stormwater really flushes through in great volumes,” Yasmin explains. “It washes away vegetation that the frogs like to use, and in breeding season, it can wash away the eggs.” As a result, the frogs increasingly seek refuge in off-stream locations, such as quarry holes. Interestingly, these environments – while far from pristine – offer warm, saline groundwater that can help the frogs fight off chytrid fungus. “It’s been a really interesting project looking at habitat through a different lens,” says Yasmin. “The area covered by the strategy presents challenges but also offers unique opportunities.”

The strategy’s ambitious goals include increasing the number of sites occupied by Growling Grass Frogs by 20% within the next decade and expanding off-stream wetland areas by the same margin. Importantly, it aims to ensure that no breeding populations identified in 2024 are lost.

This vision has been bolstered by community support. A 2024 fundraising campaign allowed Merri Creek Management Committee (MCMC) to begin monitoring frog populations at four sites, including three new locations. Initial results from November 2024 were promising: Growling Grass Frog activity was detected in locations along and adjacent to the Merri Creek in Campbellfield, Somerton and Epping and in Fawkner. In one location, more than 30 adult frogs were observed – many foraging in areas that have seen habitat improvement works. The final round of monitoring, completed recently, has determined in almost all locations, that breeding was successful.

Habitat restoration efforts are already underway. Weed control began last spring and will continue in the coming weeks, with Merri-bek Council’s First Nations Working Group and Friends of Merri Creek volunteers set to assist with revegetation efforts in late winter. These efforts are vital to creating and maintaining the wetlands needed for the frogs to thrive.

Community engagement remains a central pillar of the strategy’s success. One of the recent MCMC events, a torchlit ‘After Dark with Growling Grass Frogs’ tour, gave volunteers and local residents a chance to see the frogs up close. Adalita Srsen, a participant in the tour, shared her excitement: “Seeing the frogs in the wild was such a thrill and privilege. They’re truly incredible creatures. I appreciate the passion, dedication, and everything MCMC does for the frogs and the beautiful natural wonderland right on our doorstep.”

With strong scientific backing, community engagement, and on-the-ground conservation efforts, this strategy represents a hopeful step forward for the Growling Grass Frog. As Yasmin puts it, “It’s just so good to be empowered to learn more about what’s happening with our local frog populations; it allows us to make better decisions.”

In the early hours of a Melbourne morning, Danny Reddan can be found running a ten-kilometre route along the urban waterways of his inner-Melbourne neighbourhood. As he rounds the stretch of trail that takes him past the Moomba Park Wetlands, his mind turns to the Growling Grass Frogs he knows are busying themselves nearby.

“Growling Grass Frogs just remind me of my childhood in Warrnambool,” says Danny. “I was always out chasing frogs and lizards and so I have an idea of what habitat on the Merri Creek and its tributaries would once have been like – and what they could be like again too, if we work hard enough, if we come together as a community.”

In July, the future of these frogs, known for their remarkable call, became more hopeful, thanks to the generosity of MCMC supporters, who donated over $34,000 to our campaign to protect the recently returned populations in the southern parts of the Merri Creek.

MCMC Executive Officer Bernadette Thomas is thrilled with the passion she has seen across the Merri Creek community for the Growling Grass Frog, which defied the odds in the early 2020s by returning to southern parts of the Merri Creek where they hadn’t been seen for decades.

“We’ve known for a long time that the Merri Creek community is willing to devote their time and money towards protecting what is left of the biodiversity along our waterways, and in particular to this very special frog. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we are already planning habitat improvements at Moomba Park that will provide the unique habitat needs of the Growling Grass Frog.”

Research by scientists like Dr Geoffrey Heard from University of Queensland and Australian National University has told us that a range of in-stream and off-stream habitat is critical for these frogs, which hunt for their insect breakfasts in partly submerged grasses that also provide their tiny offspring, protection from prey.

The much-needed funds from the campaign will also allow us to begin monitoring four populations, including three new sites. This monitoring is a step up from the surveys completed by the MCMC team to date, which served to confirm not just the presence of the frogs in 2023 and 2024, but the fact that they were breeding, according to MCMC Ecological Restoration Manager Michael Longmore.

“The monitoring that we’re now able to begin, thanks to the support of the community, will provide a year of data that will allow us to understand what the unique needs of these populations are and will inform how we protect them in future,” says Michael. “We’re planning to begin surveying in October and the habitat improvement works will begin in January next year. We’ll be looking for other funding sources to complete the additional four years of surveying.”

Bernadette cites collaboration across multiple organisations as critical in the fight to protect the Growling Grass Frog, an idea that Danny Reddan, who also works with our sister organisation, the Darebin Creek Management Committee shares.

“Bringing different groups together is where you get the best results,” Danny says. “Working on your own is quite difficult – people can feel they’re a lone voice and it’s easy to lose conviction or momentum. There’s a real appetite there to learn and improve environmental outcomes together.”

Danny is not alone in his vision for the Growing Grass Frog – it’s our vision too. Merri Creek Management Committee has recently endorsed an overarching strategy for the southern metapopulations of the Growling Grass Frog, the culmination of four years’ work by a Project Steering Group comprised of the Merri Creek Management Committee, Hume City Council; City of Whittlesea; Merri-bek City Council; Melbourne Water; Parks Victoria and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action and due for release in October.

Thank you to the many supporters that answered our call and donated to our Growling Grass Frog campaign in July. Your support has allowed us to begin important work to protect this endangered frog. We will be seeking further funding for the remainder of our plans.

Photograph by Geoff Heard. 

As Dr Brendan Casey sits at his desk, the beautiful and eerie calls of the Growling Grass Frog coming from his computer take him back to the banks of the Merri Creek where he spent childhood days exploring with wonder. The passion born from those early days drives him through the laborious process of manually working through 20,000 frog call recordings gathered over three years of research.

Brendan grew up near the Merri Creek, at a time when native frogs – including Growling Grass Frogs – were abundant. Several decades later, with the Growling Grass Frog listed as vulnerable at both national and state levels, Brendan returned to the area to undertake a monitoring project that would lead to improved understanding of the environmental conditions that affect the frogs’ call activity.

Brendan’s research and support of our monitoring programs for this precious frog has significantly increased community knowledge of the Growling Grass Frog, according to Julia Cirillo, from Merri Creek Management Committee.

“Brendan has generously contributed his time and expertise as a teacher, mentor, volunteer and researcher. His lifetime of passion and knowledge for this frog is a gift to organisations like ours, as well as our member councils, who are working to protect the populations of Growling Grass Frogs in our patches and across the landscapes we love.”

“As a child, I played in Merri Creek a lot,” says Brendan. “It was a really interesting, nice place. There wasn’t the same access as there is today with paths and tracks – you’d just walk over the paddocks to get to the creek. There were no weeds and there were animals everywhere.”

A love of nature ran in Brendan’s family. He remembers his older brother Peter, who was always out roaming around Merri Creek, bringing lizards home to show him. “I thought they were creatures from another world,” laughs Brendan. “That was what initially prompted me to go down to the creek and have a look myself. It was very special having the chance to see Merri Creek at that time when it was so undisturbed.”

As an adult, Brendan maintained his connection with the area and was an active volunteer with the Friends of Merri Creek community group. While he eventually had to step away, his longstanding love for the creek was rekindled in 2018 when he began a PhD at RMIT, on bioacoustic monitoring of frogs (which entails learning about animals by studying the sounds they make).

Over the years, Brendan had noticed that Growling Grass Frogs often call very intensively, but then stop quite suddenly. Sometimes when they stop, it’s just for a couple of hours, whereas at other times, it might be for days or even weeks. (Listen to one of Brendan’s recordings here – jump to 1.58 to hear the call.)

“There is this pattern of on-off calling and I really wanted to try and work out why that was,” he explains. “I set up acoustic recorders to collect frog calls at three different places. I was trying to determine whether there was any connection between the call behaviour and environmental conditions like air and water temperatures. It was quite intense data analysis, but the sounds of the frogs calling made me think of my childhood, so I enjoyed it.”

One of the strongest pieces of statistical evidence Brendan collected was from a pool in Merri Creek in Somerton. At this site, he discovered that Growling Grass Frogs wouldn’t call immediately before, during, or after a rain event. They would only call once the rain had passed and the water level had stabilised or started to drop.

Brendan also believes that water chemistry plays an important role in the health of the frog populations and that management options to address that could include establishing more off-stream water bodies, and increased treatment and filtering of stormwater before it is discharged into the creek.

While further work is required to address some of the knowledge gaps that exist around the Growling Grass Frog’s behaviour, Brendan’s research has provided crucial information that will help with protecting the species. Merri Creek Management Committee (MCMC) has now developed plans to monitor water quality and improve the habitat for the Growling Grass and is calling on the community to get behind these efforts.

“Merri Creek Management Committee have already made some really important discoveries, especially about the Growling Grass Frogs moving into the constructed habitat at the Moomba Park Wetlands,” says Brendan. “That’s a huge step forward and a massive victory.”

“I’m also pleased MCMC is actively seeking to involve the local community with their goal to consistently monitor the water quality over a long period – that is a very good idea. They can’t do it without the community’s support. The fortunes of the Growling Grass Frog have waxed and waned over the years but knowing that they are still living in and near Merri Creek is great cause for optimism. With a little bit of help, maybe they’ll stay there a lot longer.”

Join us in our vision for the Growling Grass Frog – help us ensure that children playing by the Merri Creek in the future can delight in hearing the remarkable call, just like Dr Brendan Casey did as a child. 

Donate now.

Story by Ruth Dawkins / Images by Dr Brendan Casey

We thank Melbourne Water and Merri-bek Council for generously funding the creation of Growling Grass Frog habitat at Moomba Park Wetlands.

Have you ever heard the call of the Growling Grass Frog?

In the darkness, the call of the Growling Grass Frog can surprise you. At first, it’s a gentle, deep sound, which expands into the night as it grows.

But if you’ve heard this call recently, you’re remarkably lucky. The Growling Grass Frog, listed as vulnerable at both national and state levels, is holding on against the odds. Populations have declined since the 1970s, including those along the Merri Creek.

Our ecologist, Michael Longmore, is one of the lucky people. A few months ago, we sent Michael to the Moomba Park Wetlands where his teammates had reported hearing these frogs in 2019 (for the first time in years), to survey and confirm the presence of Growling Grass Frogs.

“When the call sounded out across the wetland, my heart started to race,” Michael told me. “I couldn’t believe I was hearing this frog – we’d thought it might be lost to the lower Merri.”

But Michael wants to hear that call again.
That’s why we’re asking for your support.

“I feel such a sense of responsibility for them now. We need the community to feel that responsibility too.” says Michael.

The presence of the Growling Grass Frog at these wetlands is good news, but we don’t have long to help them stay. With your support, we will gather much-needed knowledge and improve foraging habitat for this vulnerable frog.

“It’s fabulous to know there is potential for the Moomba Park Wetlands to act as a breeding ground,” Michael said. “But this newly returned frog is still at imminent risk of extinction. That’s why we need you behind us.”

Frog researcher Dr Brendan Casey grew up exploring the Merri Creek and delighting in the then-plentiful frogs he saw there.

“Growling Grass Frogs were literally everywhere along the Creek when I visited as a child,” says Brendan. “We would watch them basking in the creek and swimming through the water, trying to escape from us.”

Brendan’s love of those frogs led him to long-term frog monitoring along the Merri Creek as part of his PhD studies with RMIT. His research has taught us so much about the frog but we need to know so much more.

With your help, our team will gather long-term data, allowing trends across seasons to be recognised. This takes time and money.

“It’s fantastic that the frogs are breeding, but we can’t assume they’ll stay,” he told me. “The frogs are tolerating the contaminants that are an unavoidable part of stormwater treatment wetlands – but for how much longer?”

The time to act is now.

“I really don’t know how the frogs will cope when the hotter, dryer weather patterns of El Nino eventually arrive,” Michael says.

“We can’t afford to wait and see.”

Along with Chytrid fungus, a devastating fungus that has contributed to the loss of frog populations across the globe, continued urban development is perhaps the frog’s biggest killer along the Merri Creek.

“I remember some marshlands around Gowrie Station where I used to see all sorts of frogs as a kid,” says Dr Brendan Casey. “Somebody built a factory on it.”

I worry that the future could look bleak for this unique frog. But there are plenty of reasons to hope – and the biggest reason is you. In 2023 our donors raised over $20,000 for the Growling Grass Frog. This generosity allowed us to record the deep, slow growl of the Growling Grass Frog.

Now we’re asking for your support again – and this time we’re aiming much higher. We need to raise $90,000 by 30 June. Will you help us?

Your donation will help us answer Michael’s urgent questions.

Here’s what your generous support will allow us to do:

• Carry out a 5-year program of Growling Grass Frog monitoring at Moomba Park Wetlands and three new wetland sites.
• Improve foraging habitat in the vicinity of the Moomba Park Wetland.
• Expand citizen science water-quality monitoring to engage with residents in established and new suburbs north of the Ring Road.
• Protect the Growling Grass Frog from Chytrid fungus by developing protocols and hygiene kits for citizen scientists, to reduce the spread of this devastating fungus.

I’m asking you to join us in our vision for the Growling Grass Frog – help us ensure children playing by the Merri Creek in the future can delight in hearing the remarkable call, just like Dr Brendan Casey did as a child.

Donate by 30 June to ensure we reach our target of $90,000 to protect the Growling Grass Frog before it’s too late.

I look forward to your support.

Bernadette Thomas
Executive Officer, Merri Creek Management Committee

 At first, it’s a gentle, deep sound, which expands into the night as it grows. Then another frog might join the slow, melancholic chorus in a different key – and a moody, musical performance begins among the reeds at the edge of the Merri Creek. Our ecologist Michael Longmore is there to hear it.

But if, like Michael, you’ve heard this call recently, you’re remarkably lucky. The Growling Grass Frog, listed as vulnerable at both national and state levels, is holding on against the odds. Populations have declined across Australia since the 1970s, including those along the Merri Creek.

The good news is that with your help, Michael and the team at Merri Creek Management Committee will work to protect the southern populations of Growling Grass Frogs along the Merri Creek and you can help. Find out more about our plans below. 

Michael is one of the lucky people who’ve heard the call of the Growling Grass Frog. Earlier this year, we were able to send members of our Ecological Restoration team to the location where frogs had been heard in 2019 for the first time in years. The surveys Michael and his teammates completed were possible thanks to our wonderful supporters, who donated to fund our Growling Grass Frog campaign in 2023 – thank you. But Michael wants to keep hearing that call for many years to come.

That’s why we’re asking for your support again.

 And this time, we’re aiming much higher. We need to raise $90,000 by 30 June. Here’s how we’ll use your generous support:

• Carry out a 5-year program of Growling Grass Frog monitoring at Moomba Park Wetlands as well as three new wetland sites, north of the Western Ring Road.
• Improve foraging habitat for Growling Grass Frog in the vicinity of the Moomba Park Wetland. 
• Expand citizen science water-quality monitoring to engage with residents in established and new suburbs north of the Ring Road, where awareness of the importance of biodiversity needs to grow.
• Help to protect the Growling Grass Frog from its second biggest threat, chytrid fungus, by developing protocols and hygiene kits for citizen scientists, to reduce the accidental spread of chytrid fungus into monitored wetlands.

Join us in our vision for the Growling Grass Frog – help us ensure that the beautiful and melancholy calls of this precious frog do not fall silent.