Community Grants (River Health Incentives Program)

Promotional video describing the Community Grants program, with testimonials from past participants.

Speakers

Speaker 1 – S1 (Olivia Vincent, Voice Over)

Speaker 2 – S2 (Andrew Downing, Program Leader, North East Waterways Team, Melbourne Water)

Speaker 3 – S3 (Karen Garth, Grace Burn Project, Healesville Environment Watch Inc and Mt Toolebewong and District Landcare Group)

Speaker 4 – S4 (Riley, Healesville Primary School)

Speaker 5 – S5 (Simon Hogan, Vice President, Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek)

Speaker 6 – S6 (Len Towerzey, Photographer, Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek)

Speaker 7 – S7 (Geoff Mitchelmore, President, Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek)

Speaker 8 – S8 (Gerard Morel, Waterways and Land Officer, Melbourne Water)

Speaker 9 – S9 (Alex Artavilla, Principal, Sunshine Heights Primary School)

Speaker 10 – S10 (Sally Fowler, Teacher, Sunshine Heights Primary School)

Speaker 11 – S11 (Carmel, Sunshine Heights Primary School)

[White screen with Melbourne Water logo]

S1:OV ‘The River Health Incentives Program plays host to a number of grants to benefit various parts of the Melbourne community.’

Melbourne Water proudly celebrates years of growth, by supporting an array of various activities that enhance life and livability at many local waterways. Thanks to community participation in our River Health Incentives Programs

Part of which, is represented by our yearly Community Grants’

[White screen with Melbourne Water logo]

[On-screen text: Community Grants Program]

S1:OV ‘Community Grants run annually, and provide funding opportunities for groups and organisations to assist with on-ground works, administration, and education.’

[On-screen text: Andrew Downing, Program Leader, North East Waterways Team, Melbourne Water]

S2: AD ‘Here at Badger Creek, also known as Coranderk Creek, in Healesville, The Mount Tooloobuwong and District Landcare Group provides many great examples of what our Community Grants Program can help to achieve.

[On-screen text: Wirrup Yaluk waterway, Community Grant, Grace Burn Project, Healesville Environment Watch Inc and Mt Toolebewong and District Landcare Group]

S2: AD ‘With local champions like Karen Garth and Maureen Bond leading the way, the group has rehabilitated the upper reaches of Badger Creek and then progressed downstream. Complementing other waterways projects, and ultimately the condition of the Yarra River.’

[On-screen text: Karen Garth and Maureen Bond, Grace Burn Project, Healesville Environment Watch Inc and Mt Toolebewong and District Landcare Group]

S3: KG ‘So this part of the Wirrup Yaluk doesn’t look very exciting, it’s actually a very small part of the area, providing drainage for Queens Park, but it was the most wonderful thing a couple of years ago. When we were doing a Melbourne Water Grace Burn festival, there was a platypus here, scratching itself sitting up on the edge of this creek. How important, even a tiny little tributary, of one of the waterways draining this area, can be for our wonderful platypus.

So a number of the students that have helped us do the planting are from Healesville Primary School, and every year for a day, every Grade 3/4 student will come out to help us do at least 2000 plants. So they also use the BMX track and it just shows that we can in a township area, combine some recreational and quite active use of a parkland area with relieving or allowing part of that to be left for the animals to enjoy by revegetating it and protecting that waterway.’

[On-screen text: Riley, Healesville Primary School]

S4: R ‘The best part of my day planting trees, was helping the environment grow with trees around that stop the rubbish going into the creek.’

[On-screen text: Corridors of Green]

S3: KG '15 Years ago this site was quite degraded. We had very few mature eucalypts here in the area, and no understorey.’

[On-screen text: Before]

S3: KG ‘ Right behind me is a beautiful mature Eucalyptus camphora or Mountain Swamp Gum, which would have been all over this part of Healesville in these swampy parts of the township.’

[On-screen text: After]

S3: KG ‘Since we’ve done our revegetation, we’ve now got the understorey has come back. And also amazingly, we’ve got now the offspring of these Eucalyptus camphora naturally regenerating within what we call our billabong area.’

[On-screen text: Simon Hogan, Vice President, Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek]

S5: SH ‘I’m standing here on the northern border of Toyotas manufacturing plant in Altona North. Through here is a green oasis. We see the future as being to allow Mother Nature to take over the sites, with the assistance of Melbourne Water through their Community Grants, we can do things such as putting in these rabbit-proof fences.’

[On-screen text: Len Towerzey, Photographer, Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek]

S6: LT ‘Since joining the group about 7 years ago, my natural interest has been wildlife, which has been attracted because of all the plantings. When we first started there was about 50 species of birds, now we’re up to 120 different species, and our aim is to take photos of as many species as we can. And this has been done in the list kept over the last 5 years of the species that we’ve seen.’

S5: SH Our major priorities when we started the Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek were to green the creek corridor, and to have a shared trail connecting the bay trail with the Kororoit Creek Trail. With the assistance of our major partners, being Melbourne Water, Toyota, and local councils, we’ve achieved the greening of the creek corridor and we’ve commenced work on the construction of the shared path. We’re proud of our achievements to date and we think it will be great in the future.

[On-screen text: Geoff Mitchelmore, President, Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek]

S7: GM ‘This site that I’m standing on is an old landfill site, and has been built up and was planted last year. You can see the sheoaks and the golden wattle that are only 12 months, 14 months old, but contrasted with what’s across the creek. With this magnificent forest of green from 10 years ago.

[On-screen text: Gerard Morel, Waterways and Land Officer, Melbourne Water]

S8: GM2 ‘Over the past 15 years, Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek, supported by Community Grants from Melbourne Water, in kind assistance from Melbourne Water, and much more assistance from Federal and State government, the Hobsons Bay City Council and local industry, have transformed this section of creek by planting tens of thousands of indigenous trees, and bushes, and ground covers, and turned it from a weedy disregarded drain, into a Riparian forest.

[On-screen text: Kororoit Creek, Community Grant, Sunshine Heights Primary School]

S8: GM2 ‘Over the years Kororoit Creek in this area, has been absolutely transformed with the work of council, Melbourne Water and Community Groups. Tens of thousands of trees planted, but what’s missing is the understorey as we call it, that used to be here. All the grasses and native wildflowers. Before the Primary School started their project here, this area was just mown grass with very limited habitat for native fauna.

[On-screen text: Alex Artavilla, Principal, Sunshine Heights Primary School]

S9: AA ‘The best part about being part of the community planning projects, in terms of adopting an area of Kororoit Creek, was this idea that students feel this sense that they do have some responsibilities, not only inside their home, but also outside in their community. So thinking a lot about what things could grow there, to support the native animals as well.’

[On-screen text: Sally Fowler, Teacher, Sunshine Heights Primary School]

S10: SF ‘In creating, or in planning our grounds for the future, we wanted to create a strong connection to place. So we wanted to create a strong link between our school and the work we’re doing at the creek, and we really wanted to bring in that local, native, indigenous West flora and fauna, for kids to learn in and play in and create an outdoor classroom’

[On-screen text: Carmel, Sunshine Heights Primary School]

S11: C ‘The Kororoit Creek has inspired me in the future to come here and water plants and make sure the animals have got a safe home.

[On-screen text: Community Grants Program: growth from 1996-2016]

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S1: OV ‘Efforts like this contribute to ongoing weed control, vegetation management, and the planting of over 3 million plants, all of which greatly contributes to protecting and improving the health of our waterways and the environment. Melbourne Water is proud of the projects to date, and we look forward to collaborating with you on future healthy waterways projects.’

[On-screen text: Community Grants Program: growth from 1996-2016]

[White screen with Melbourne Water logo and contact details]

[On-screen text: For further information and to see if you are eligible for the program call or visit 131 722, melbournewater.com.au]