Video: Hadfield Park naturalisation - Wallan Creek

Watch students from Wallan Secondary College roll up their sleeves to help us plant native trees and shrubs at Hadfield Park in Wallan – the final stage of our upgrade to the watercourse running through the park. In all, there will be 40,000 native plants to improve water quality and provide habitat for local fauna including birds, reptiles, insects, frogs, and macroinvertebrates.

Before the upgrade, Melbourne Water, with the help of the community, identified that by removing a centrally located concrete pipe we could naturalise the watercourse, turning it into a local waterway for the whole community to enjoy for decades to come.

17 May 2022

Duration

01:23

Audio described version

Transcript

Speakers

Speaker 1 - S1 (Rod Clifford, Manager Waterways & Land Program Development, Melbourne Water)

Speaker 2 - S2 (Vivian Halley, Rural Land Officer, Melbourne Water)

Speaker 3 - S3 (Elyse Kelly, Environmental Programs Co-ordinator, Mitchell Shire Council)

Speakers 4, 5, 6 & 7 - S4, S5, S6, S7 (Students from Wallan Secondary College)

Speaker 8 - S8 (Cr Rob Eldridge, Mitchell Shire Council)

[music] [on-screen text: Melbourne Water upgrades Wallan Creek in Hadfield Park]

[on-screen text: Rod Clifford, Manager Waterways & Land Program Development, Melbourne Water]

S1: It's a beautiful park, but previously the watercourse was locked away. You couldn't see it. It was underground in a concrete pipe.

S1: Today is the start of the revegetation phase where we're bringing the community in, we’re bringing the students in from Wallan Secondary College. We've been able to work with the community and actually put a natural watercourse back.

S1: With the help of you today, we're starting the first of putting in the 40,000 plants, grasses and shrubs and trees. It will leave a really beautiful park and legacy for your community for years to come.

S2: We're creating a habitat for a range of species, birds, frogs, insects. Our aim is also to improve the water quality here.

S3: So there's a few different plants. They're all small grasses and small shrubs.

S4: It feels pretty good to, you know, help improve the environment. It's gonna make it look a lot better, a lot cleaner.

S5: It’s gonna look better, like once we've finished.

S6: Yeah, it'll be better for like more animals.

S7: The green open space makes people more active and want to go out more.

[on-screen text: Cr Rob Eldridge, Mitchell Shire Council]

S8: We're very lucky in our town to have a central park. And what this brings to it is a natural element that was missing, and it helps connect the community to nature. Visually, it's a great outcome and just increases the livability and ambience of the area.

[Melbourne Water logo] [on-screen text: melbournewater.com.au]