News from Darebin Creek March 2012

The Friends of Darebin Creek was formed in 1995 to protect, restore and conserve the Darebin Creek and it’s adjacent parklands as a natural environment for the enjoyment of the community.

1)Darebin Community and Kite Festival 2012

Sunday, 19 February 2012
All Nations Park, Northcote

Friends of Darebin Creek had set up our stall and as you can see below the environmental bingo was a big hit with the kids. A number of new friends put their name down to receive information about our events and there was also music, free activities and kite flying plus a parade with lots of colourful figures.

The Festival has gathered a large following in recent years and attracts kite flyers and festival goers from all of Darebin as well as from other parts of Melbourne, hundreds of colourful kites were flying to a backdrop of live music from across the globe.

2) ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

THURSDAY 23rd FEBRUARY 2012 –DCMC Environment Centre

Sean from Snakehandlers presented his snake and reptile awareness program. We learnt all about the snakes and reptiles in the local area and got to handle some of the harmless ones.Other animals included a water dragon, a brown snake, a python and even a turtle. The main purpose of the talk was to make us realise that snakes see us as a threat – often because we are so much bigger and will not strike unless strongly provoked.

Snacks and refreshments were then provided.

The AGM itself started at around 9pm and we reviewed the year’s events, financials and further ideas for this year. A bike ride was proposed (see later) plus a few other events.

3) CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY EVENT

SUNDAY 4th March - Cnr Liberty Pde and Dougherty’s Rd Heidelberg West.

A large crowd of people helped to clean up Dougherty’s drain leading into the creek – which was particularly messy after the recent floods, which have swept so much refuse into our beautiful local areas. It was very disappointing to see the large amount of tyres and junk that had been dumped into the drain. With the help of everyone we managed to clean up the tyres, a fridge, trolleys and many bags of general waste. Thanks to everyone, it was a great effort.

4) BIKE RIDE UP DAREBIN CREEK
- Sunday March 25th

The first bike ride we have done as a group showed up only four hardy adventurers – myself, Sheryl, Adrian and Alex so we made a fairly rapid pace north from Darebin Parklands to look at some of our endeavours over the past few years.

The first site was in Green Street where a number of us had helped the local residents to clean up a weed-infested bank. The site showed considerable improvement but had been impacted severely by the floods earlier in the year. Then up a bit further along the track the other photo is the Northland area where we did a clean up a few years ago.

Moving along – we biked leisurely along the lovely path until we came to Dougherty’s drain scene of a big weeding late last year and then further along up into Kingsbury and close to Dunne Street, site of a big planting a year and a half ago – which has grown beautifully, plus up to Gronn St our national tree planting initiative site – which is also doing very well considering it was only planted only about 9 months ago.

Finally we headed back to the environment centre for a nice drink and a look at our trip on Adrian’s GPS!! . All in all it had been a wonderful ride showcasing the groups extensive activities over the years and giving us all some great exercise.

Question – are members interested in this type of event, being a bike ride specifically, as we did expect a much better turn out? Please let us know. We only want to plan events that our members are interested in!!!
Friends Photos

This edition’s Friends photo comes from Helen Walker Cook who has a very friendly possum in her backyard with an interesting white tail – but it is apparently a brushtail possum….

Get Involved in Darebin Creek Events in 2012 

-April event TBA

- Sunday 27th May – weeding Electric Spur

- June 24th event – TBA

- July 29- National Tree Day – Gronn Street.

SNAKE HANDLER

One of our members Karen Lee is an accredited snake handler – so if you have any persistent snakes that you need safely and carefully removed – please give her a call. Mobile: 0406371924.

Got anything to say? Contributions to the FODC newsletter always welcome. Please forward to or

Contact Numbers

Water Pollution? (quote drain sign’s number) / 9695 2777
Convenor/ Membership Officer / Sheryl Sibbison / 9467 1370 (h) / Melb Wildlife Sanctuary & Indigenous Nursery / 9479 1206
Shopping Trolley Hotline / 1800 245 022
Adrian Hotchin / Events / 0409 133 049 / Litter Report Hotline / 1800 352 555
Phillip Orth / Newsletter / 0419376244 / Wildlife Rescue Hotline / 0500 540 000
Darebin Creek Management Committee / 9499 4454 / Vic Police Motorcycle Squad / 9380 7283

NOTE: The Friends of Darebin Creek Membership Brochure comes complete with map and information in seven languages. Call Sheryl (tel no above) for copies to distribute to neighbours, schools and clubs, and other centres.

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