The lands and waters of the wallan wallan Regional Parkland: Friends of Merri Creek Bus Tour, 2026

Save the Date: Sunday 15 November 2026, 8.30am - 5.00pm

Join us for an investigative journey from Wallan to Woodstock, showing the Merri Creek, but not as you know it. We will see Merri Creek and its tributaries, and remnants of the vast Herne's Swamp. We'll see how the ancient basalt lava flows, also known as stoney rises, created the current features of the creeks and wetlands 800,000 years ago.

These places will form the eastern half of the wallan wallan Regional Parkland.

The creeks and the swamp have survived 190 years of white settlement. In some places, the Merri has been turned into a linear agricultural channel, to literally drain the swamp. In other places, land managers have protected parts of the wetlands and the Merri Gorge, which still have remnant sections of native vegetation. We can see how the creek looked when the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung were the sole carers for Country.

The tour will be led by Michael Longmore, Ecological Restoration Manager at Merri Creek Management Committee, and by Paul Macgregor, ecological historian and President of BEAM Mitchell Environment Group.

Michael will talk about the ecological communities along the Upper Merri, including the rare seasonal herbaceous wetland. Michael has been managing MCMC's conservation efforts on some of the public and privately owned lands in the Upper Catchment. Paul has been researching how land use changes in the last two centuries have led to the current state of the landscapes and waterways. Together, Michael and Paul will show how changes in land management approaches can lead to expanded protection and restoration.

The link to book will be in the October Merri Growler.

 

Image credit: Wallara Waters Wetland, photo by Paul McGregor, BEAM Mitchell Environment Group.