Our 2023 Annual General Meeting

Our 2023 AGM, held at the end of November, was an opportunity to meet some of our members and discuss the year's activities and plans for 2024 and beyond. It is also election night for the committee - listed below. Our thanks to all for the time, thought and effort they contribute to working for Merri Creek.

Our speaker, Jodie Valpied, founder and president of the Bacchus Marsh Platypus Alliance is passionate about protecting our precious waterways, and the special fauna and flora that rely on these waterways. Jodie, a PhD in psychology, works as a research academic and consultant in environmental psychology, personality, and health-related areas.

The Werribee community is very fortunate to have a Platypus population to protect. Formed in 2019, the Bacchus Marsh Platypus Alliance (BMPA) is a non-profit, community association which aims to protect, advocate for and raise awareness of platypus in the Bacchus Marsh area, including in the Werribee River that flows through the Bacchus Marsh township.

Jodie spoke on the work undertaken to get the group established and their ongoing efforts to reduce litter and waste in and around the waterways, and drawing the community to their project with opportunities to get involved in protecting the Platypus of Bacchus Marsh.

Our thanks to Jodie for coming to speak to us, for us all to learn from their experience, as the Merri Paddle works to return the Platypus to Merri Creek.

Jodie Valpied, Bacchus Marsh Platypus Alliance, speaker at our 2023 AGM, photograph, FoMC

Friends of Merri Creek Committee 2024

President: Nick Williams
Vice-President: Ann McGregor
Secretary: David Gifford
Treasurer: Nicole Lowe
Membership Secretary: Monica Williamson
General Committee Members:
   Jane Miller
   Claire Weekley
   Kate Hill
   Peter Ewer
   Laziza Hawkins
   Jake Duyvestyn
   Philip Sinclair

FoMC Reps to Merri Creek Management Committee:
   Ann McGregor
   Nicole Lowe
   Philip Sinclair
   Peter Ewer
   Judy Shrever
   Kate Jost