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.
This workshop changed that, by creating a rare moment of connection for the people who help track the health of waterways across the Merri Creek, Darebin Creek and Plenty River catchments.
WaterWatch is a statewide river-health education and monitoring program that empowers schools, community groups and individuals to collect, interpret and discuss water-quality data. In the Merri Creek catchment, MCMC supports more than 50 volunteer WaterWatch monitors with training, equipment and opportunities to participate in data analysis. Together, these volunteers contribute to the long-term record of waterway health that underpins environmental advocacy and policy direction.
As MCMC’s Coordinator Citizen Science and Waterway Education, Julia Cirillo has seen how valuable such collaboration can be.
“We know that volunteers want to see that their contribution is making a difference,” says Julia. “And we wanted to give volunteers a platform to communicate their findings and discuss recommendations; to share their challenges and to add to their knowledge of subjects like climate change and weather impacts on water quality.”
WaterWatch volunteers test for indicators such as salinity, water clarity, nutrients, acidity and dissolved oxygen, using methods aligned with water-quality monitoring standards across Victoria and Australia. The data they collect is uploaded to a publicly available portal and collated into reports (available on our website), which provide a picture of waterway health over time.
Those reports help MCMC and partner organisations to raise community awareness, and with planning and advocacy efforts: highlighting trends, identifying problem areas and determining which stakeholders need to be involved in solutions. In highly urbanised areas like the lower Merri, where land use includes retail, residential and light industry, this long-term monitoring is particularly important in understanding the impacts of stormwater pollution, litter, detergents and oils entering the creek after rainfall.
The November workshop reflected this connection between local observations and broader scientific understanding, and speakers brought knowledge from a range of scientific fields. Meteorologist Joanna Hewes took volunteers on a deep dive into interpreting weather maps, how forecasts are made, and the challenges of predicting local conditions. Participants then tested their new knowledge by analysing weather scenarios.
Joanna enjoyed the two-way exchange of information and ideas. and acknowledged the passion of the participants in supporting the health and future of our waterways.
“We talked about how rivers, mountains and forests influence weather around Naarm/Melbourne, about expectations of a changing climate, and about the latest information on flash flooding.”
Next, Dr Lisa De Kleyn and Tyler King from La Trobe University’s Climate Change Adaptation Lab introduced an upcoming research project in which they will partner with WaterWatch and Estuary Watch. Through site visits, observation, photography, interviews and workshops, the research will explore how climate change is impacting waterways and the citizen science programs that monitor them, and how volunteer organisations can remain resilient, adaptive and sustainable in the face of increasing pressures.
Those pressures include climate change, ongoing urbanisation and pollution, all of which shape the conditions volunteers are observing on the ground.
The scientific expertise was complemented by the immediate, repeated and local observations characteristic of the WaterWatch and Citizen Science approach: Patrizio Effendy from the Darebin Creek Darlings presented a year’s worth of data from CT Barling Reserve in Reservoir, while Denise Ryan and Kirsten Macleod from the Friends of Merri Creek Stream Team shared insights into the waterbugs they’ve been documenting for more than 20 years in Fitzroy North.
Participants later told us they valued the community connection, the chance to hear directly from other monitoring groups, and the deeper understanding they gained of climate influences on waterway health.
“I’m more aware of the subtle indicators of waterway health and more motivated to contribute to their protection and monitoring,” said one volunteer.”
Click here if you’d like to know more about how you can help protect the long-term health of the Merri Creek – become a WaterWatch volunteer today.
Thank you to Melbourne Water for funding the workshop and supporting our WaterWatch volunteers. Watch this space for our 2026 WaterWatch workshop.
MCMC would like to thank Joanna Hewes, Dr Lisa De Kleyn, Tyler King, Patrizio Effendy, Denise Ryan and Kirsten Macleod.
Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people understand the September and October months as Porneet season on Country. This time has many warmer and sunnier days which plants and animals respond to. In Porneet this year, MCMC’s community activities have focussed on birds and we’ve seen them fluttering around to mate and foraging for nest building materials, and noted that nests range from leafy, twiggy constructions, to mud lined with feathers, or woven with horsehair!
Merri Creek Primary School students enjoyed spying on three nests by the Merri and saw the arrival of Pacific Black Ducks, Australian Wood Ducks, Chestnut Teals and one Northern Mallard. The children could easily identify these birds by using the Friends of Merri Creek’s brochure: Merri Birds.
During vacation program in Hawkstowe Recreation Reserve in Plenty Gorge Parklands, we observed Australian Wood Ducks searching for food with 11 fluffy chicks, and drew Sacred Kingfishers and learnt about their long journey and special habits.
In Merri-bek, children queued up to have local birds painted on their hands as part of a festival in Coburg. This led to wonderful exchanges about indigenous biodiversity, and to noticing the pinkishness of Kookaburra’s beaks and the bluishness of wing feathers, the importance of healthy feet and places to perch, the different shapes of beaks, the long flights for migrating Sacred Kingfishers to visit Merri Creek.
Email admin@mcmc.org if you’d like support to focus on Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung seasons and local plants and animals.
A small but enthusiastic group of Year 12 Geography students from Whittlesea Secondary College joined MCMC at Merri Creek in Donnybrook to conduct WaterWatch physical chemical testing of parameters such as salinity (EC), pH, turbidity, temperature and nutrients (phosphate and ammonium).
This testing site is downstream of new housing developments and just upstream of the confluence of Kalkallo Creek. Both creeks and nearby dams and wetlands support an important population of endangered Growling Grass Frogs (Litoria raniformis). The students were studying the ecological impacts of urban development on waterways.
This site on Merri Creek has been monitored a number of times in the last few years by MCMC WaterWatch and some patterns are emerging. Salinity varies from 700-1200 EC, relatively high for an average outer urban stream but not uncharacteristic for Merri Creek. Turbidity (muddiness) is often high (over 30 NTUs) and the water has looked muddy on each visit. Creek flow has been slow on each of the sampling occasions. Dissolved oxygen has only been measured on the most recent occasion but it’s something we want to keep an eye on in the future because of its importance for aquatic life. Slow flow and warm temperatures in summer may lead to depleted levels levels of oxygen. Phosphate results have been over 0.05 mg/L and are usually higher when turbidity is higher.
These results and other Merri Creek site results can be viewed on the WaterWatch data portal.
Teacher, Erin Waller, reported that: “The students had an amazing time and could only say great things about you [Julia] and the creek, other than it was freezing cold! They were a bit disheartened but not surprised by the [possible] impact of the construction on the health of the creek. They also loved using their chemistry skills to test the water and making those connections, gave them inspiration for future possible careers! Which is very exciting!”
Thank you to teacher, Erin Waller, for organising this event and to the City of Whittlesea for funding the MCMC WaterWatch program.
Meet the new Merri Birdies WaterWatch group! This keen group of lovely locals will be monitoring the water quality of the Merri Creek in Coburg on a monthly basis. They plan to include other activities, such as litter clean-ups and waterbug sampling and monitoring. Their site is an important site for the monitoring of habitat and food sources for platypus, so good luck to the group on their water quality journey of discovery!! Thank you to #melbournewater and #cityofmerribek for supporting this group and the MCMC WaterWatch program. To join them, contact JuliaCirillo@mcmc.org.au
2023 is a big year for EstuaryWatch (EW) and WaterWatch (WW) Victoria.
For 30 years WaterWatch has been helping people get in touch with nature and make a difference for their local waterway.
It’s hard to believe that WaterWatch (WW) has been around for 30 years, it all began in 1993. Even more amazing that some of the WaterWatch monitoring groups in the Merri Creek and Darebin Creek catchments have been continuously monthly monitoring for over 15 years! Huge appreciation and congratulations must go to all the hard working volunteers consistently collecting and testing our local waterways to keep a close eye on their ecological health, as well as educating the community and advocating for change for our already stressed urban waterways.
On Friday 24 March, North Central Catchment Management Authority (CMA) held an afternoon awards event to congratulate and thank WW & EW volunteers from all around the State of Victoria. It was amazing to hear that some groups have been monitoring their local waterway for over 25 years! This easily accessible water quality data helps everyone to understand trends in seasons and parameters, as well as track the impacts of climate change.
3 WW groups from MCMC WW were awarded outstanding service awards. They are:
- Friends of Merri Creek Stream Team
- Reservoir Frogs WW group
- Westgate Park WW group
Two members from each group were able to join the WW Coordinator Julia Cirillo at the awards ceremony. Pictured are (from left) Denise Ryan, Amy Dobie, Jonathan Bones, Melissa Laing, Julia Cirillo and Teresa Aquino.
Two groups were able to stay for the evening awards ceremony and hear from guest speakers involved in citizen science monitoring projects from around the State.
Big thanks to the Victorian Government for making it possible for our WW volunteers to attend this event (including hotel stays and buffet breakfast!) and to North Central CMA for hosting this event at the beautiful St Anne’s vineyard in Bendigo.
MCMC Waterwatch was invited to deliver a one day Waterwatch workshop to the Narrap Team in early December 2021. The Narrap Team (Narrap means Country in Woi Wurrung) will be monitoring the outcomes of environmental water received in the past two years into billabongs and wetlands on the floodplain of the middle Birrarung (Yarra River), particularly the Bolin Bolin and Banyule Billabong. Their data will be shared with stakeholders as well as uploaded onto the Waterwatch data portal.
The lower Birrarung floodplain is important for cultural, ecological and liveability values. Its billabongs are a highly significant landscape for Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung, the Traditional Owners of the area. Delivering water to the billabongs can rejuvenate the ecological functions of the landscape. Participation of Traditional Owners in the planning, delivery and monitoring of water to this landscape, and sharing the story of its history, enhances the cultural value of environmental watering activities and the landscape more generally.
The Narrap Team members proved to be very enthusiastic and interested in the water testing, particularly collecting samples to test for pH & turbidity and testing for nutrients, ammonium and phosphate. We will continue to work with the Narrap Team in 2022 to help interpret the results which will inform management decisions for the billabongs and wetlands.
Thank you to the City of Banyule Environmental Operations Coordinator, John Milkins, for involving MCMC Waterwatch in this important and interesting Project.
The Narrap Team Lower Birrarung Billabongs – On Country connection Water Quality project is funded by the City of Banyule and Melbourne Water.
During 2018 Newlands Primary School, West Preston, enhanced indigenous biodiversity in its grounds with a Landcare Grant. Funding from this grant also enabled Merri Creek Management Committee staff to provide two professional development sessions in March and May 2019, where teachers learned how to use their school grounds to teach about indigenous plants and pollinators. Botanic drawing and plant identification were included in the sessions.
If your school is interested in professional development sessions on indigenous biodiversity, please contact our Special Engagement Programs Coordinator, Angela Foley angelafoley@mcmc.org.au or phone 9380-8199. If your school is located in the Cities of Yarra, Darebin or Whittlesea, we may be able to provide subsidised pd sessions. Alternatively, we can provide these sessions on a fee-for-service basis.
For the first time in over 100 years, local traditional owners have made a single sheet bark canoe at a site nearby the Merri catchment (October 2012) . MCMC worked with many partners to support this project.
Traditional Wurundjeri skills and knowledge were revived and re-developed over two years (including stone tool-making workshops) and combined with modern methods. The eucalypt was carefully selected, considering its age and the trunk’s shape for suitability. Then a sheet of bark 3 x 1 metres was removed over four hours and slowly dried over a fire.
This was a strong culture building event for Wurundjeri, who had three generations involved in the October canoe-making day. The next steps are to make paddles, shape the dried canoe, and float it.
The educational benefits of indigenous gardens in school grounds include:
| VELS Strands | A few ways to use Learning Grounds for VELS |
|---|---|
|
Physical, personal and social learning through community engagement and initiative |
|
|
Discipline-based learning (Geography, history, intercultural knowledge, language and number awareness, scientific concepts and practices.) |
|
|
Interdisciplinary learning |
|
Epping Secondary College
Epping Secondary College connected roof guttering to a down pipe to allow it to flow into a newly planted – increasing its water efficiency at the same time as providing a lesson in practical sustainablity. Additional funding assisted with the purchase of indigenous plants.
How to establish an indigenous garden at your school
Ensure the success of your school’s planting project! There are a number of steps to follow before starting to dig holes and remove newly purchased plants from their pots.
This garden at Brunswick Community College was prepared by students who redesigned the area to include a paved and sheltered section. They did the paving preparation and paving themselves, and prepared the garden beds and later mulched, planted and laid the timber boarders. The mulch and plants were purchased through funds obtained with a Landcare Grant application prepared by their teacher with assistance from MCMC. A visit from Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Cooperative (VINC) advised them about suitable plants.
How long does it take to establish a garden? (How long is a piece of string?)
One of the best ways to get started is to visit some other schools and see how they got started and how things are looking.
If it’s the right time of year and you’ve got a very good plan, permissions, an appropriate plant list, equipment, enough money and available people to help – you can achieve your goal in about 6 weeks. However, it may take two years before a garden is properly established.
Suppliers of Indigenous Plants in Melbourne’s Northern suburbs
Victorian Indigenous Nurseries Co-op Ltd. (VINC)
Yarra Bend Road Fairfield, 3078.
Ph (03)9482 1710.
http://www.vinc.net.au/
Keelbundoora Indigenous Nursery
Wildlife Reserves, LaTrobe University, 3068.
Ph (03)9479 2871.
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/wildlife/nursery/flora
Metropolitan Tree Growers
For small orders of mature trees.
John Fitzgibbon (M) 0411 710 946.
Email: metrotrees@decl.com.au
Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association
http://www.iffa.org.au/indig_nurseries
WEB SITE LINKS GRANTS
Apply for funds to develop your indigenous garden planting projects.
Landcare Grants
http://www.landcareonline.com/funding_opportunity_details.asp?fo_id=6
