Speakers

Speaker 1 – S1 (Marita Tripp, Education Program Lead, Melbourne Water)
Speaker 2 – S2 (Dr Claudette Kellar, Aquatic Ecologist, RMIT University)
Speaker 3 – S3 (Tanveer Alvi, Interpretation Officer, Melbourne Water)
Speaker 4 – S4 (Cameron Smith, Year 6 Teacher, Bayswater West Primary School)
Speaker 5 – S5 (student)
Speaker 6 – S6 (student)
Speaker 7 – S7 (student)

[music] [on-screen text: Marita Tripp, Education Program Lead, Melbourne Water]

S1: Enhancing Our Dandenong Creek is an initiative by Melbourne Water to reduce the amount of pollution in Dandenong Creek, improve biodiversity and green the environment. 

S1: The Creek Project is a really fun and exciting way for young people to get involved in their local creek. It’s a really great opportunity for them to work with a scientist and to investigate the health of their waterway.

[on-screen text: Dr Claudette Kellar, Aquatic Ecologist, RMIT University]

S2: By doing that on ground work is also to teach the students where this pollution is coming from and what they can do about it to try and stop the pollution from getting into the creek.

S2: What we’ve tried to do is give them a range of approaches to try and assess the water. So I’ve tried to get them to have a visual look, so looking at the waterway, then we are looking at the water qualities, and finally we’ve looked at the bugs in the water. So use these three things together and you can get an idea of how healthy the creek is.

[on-screen text: Tanveer Alvi, Interpretation Officer, Melbourne Water]

S3: And again, they’ll also learn about the importance of this creek, the habitat and the ecosystem that this creek supports. And they’ll understand that, you know, biodiversity is important not just for this, for flora or fauna, but also for our own survival.

S3: And also the cultural importance of this creek, mainly for the Bunurong and Wurundjeri people that have been using these resources for many years and they have been looking after this place, they learn about their special connection with this land.

S4: They’ve gained an understanding of the impact that they can have on the environment around them. They probably didn’t know that living things went beyond animals and birds.

[on-screen text: Cameron Smith, Year 6 Teacher, Bayswater West Primary School]

S4: Right now they’re investigating some little creatures and bugs and just learning about the healthy environment around them and how they can help improve that. They’ve learned words such as biodiversity and some of them know it, but it’s just improved their awareness of the area around them.

S5: We’ve been testing the water and finding bugs. They show how healthy it is because some can put up with pollution and some can’t.

S6: If there’s lots of bugs, that means that the water is healthy and more bugs want to be here. If there’s not enough bugs that means the water is unhealthy.

S7: There’s lots of different kinds of bugs as well. We found a few spiders, a leech, there was a lot of worms and snails as well.

S4: To do a research project that’s to our local community is important to us. It feels more real and relevant rather than researching something that they might not ever experience.

S4: They can come back here tonight and ride their bikes and talk about it and pass it on to their friends outside of school. So it’s real life learning, and they’ve been really excited to be a part of it.

S4: Through the help of Melbourne Water I’ve gained the confidence to be able to continue this program with students in the future.

S7: I think it’s everyone’s responsibility to look after the creeks like with watching their litter and what they dump.

[on-screen text: The Creek Project is a water education program for primary and secondary students in the Dandenong Creek Middle Sub-Catchment, and is part of Melbourne Water's Enhancing our Dandenong Creek program.] [Enhancing Our Dandenong Creek logo]

[on-screen text: To find out more or to register your interest in taking part, visit yoursay.melbournewater.com.au/enhancing-our-dandenong-creek/the-creek-project or email [email protected]] [Melbourne Water logo]