Go out along the Torquay Road, beyond the Black Rail-line
To contemplate some history.. I know you won't decline.
There is a track called Stewart's Lane which winds beside a stream
Where still the giant redgums stand above the herbs to dream.
Since ancient times to black men known, this place called Toolimbeal
A camping site to roving clans who loved warm earth to feel.
They rested on their journey west from Conniwarri Lake
To reach the Barwon River there, the running eels to take.
'Twas in this place on Armstrong's Creek, when all his folk were gone
An aged man, a Wudtaurung was feeling sad and lone
Invaded by a white mans ill, so weary and so weak
His mem'ry counted every time he'd camped beside this creek.
"King Billy" was his white man's name. He sighed, as in a dream.
He gazed about the camping place with dying eyes agleam.
His sire had named him differently, the morning of his birth.
Thus did the last Indigine prepare to leave this earth.
No more he'll see the pretty flowers which flourish by the stream
(He passes through the waving grass as silent as a dream)
No more he'll sing the mysteries of which old legends tell,
We pray that Billy's wandering soul may find a heaven to dwell.
Before the White Man Came
The aboriginal people who were part of the land in the part of Victoria around Waurn Ponds Creek, along the Barwon River and beyond are the Wathaurong People. The last of these full-blooded tribespeople was Billy Bunyip, a member of the Wudtaurung Clan. His name is linked in folk legend to the sighting by his Warra (Father) of a bunyip (a mystical monster) on the banks of Waurn Ponds Creek on the morning he was born.As with so many peoples, whose land was coveted by people from the Old World, disease brought by the new arrivals was a great killer. The difference in attitude towards relationship with surroundings (ownership as such was not a concept subscribed to by the Aborigines, although they did observe rights and priorities over use of resources) led to their exploitation and restriction from use of their former domain. This in turn led to feelings of reduced self-worth in the population and excessive use of alcoholic beverages, readily supplied by the newcomers to people with a low tolerance to this poisonous drug. Disease, despair and alcohol killed a large number of the native tribes-people. The other big killer was the gun, fired by the new "owners" to defend their recently acquired property.
The suggestion is that long term, small Wathaurong settlements may have existed on many of the bends along Waurn Ponds Creek making use of the permenant water in the ponds or waterholes which are a feature of the watercourse. This view is supported by the finding of many historical artifacts during excavations prior to development along the creek. These artifact are still being found, and some will be on display in the buildings being erected on the land where they were found.
Agricultural Land
With the coming of the white man and his medeaval attitudes to ownership and stewardship, including his belief that land can be bought and sold, the uses that the creek bank were put to did not take much note of the riparian degredation which such activities as grazing cattle can cause.With hindsight it is very easy to criticise the introduction of rabbits and such things, but at the time a country gentleman from the old world would have had no idea what havoc they could cause to riverbanks, or to the land as a whole. Tree clearing has been an acceptable practice anywhere where agriculture is practiced, dating back to earliest times. It is only now, when our water quality is put at risk by the huge pressure of human population and extravagant usage, enabled by reticulated supply, that we are looking with fresh eyes at watercourses, riverbanks, lakes and catchments.
Suburban Spread
Some of the earliest settlements in Victoria were established at Belmont and the township of Waurn PondsHowever even in the late 1980s, when the church building was moved into the Cobbin Farm complex, the aspect to the south of the creek across from the Highmont Drive playground was predominantly rural.
Moving in to Cobbin FarmRestoration and Preservation
Corangamite Catchment Management Authority commissioned Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Management through DNRE to conduct a fish survey in February 2002. While the number of aquatic animal species was much poorer than could be expected to occur in an un-degraded stream, three species were found which are deemed at risk globally. If the environment of and around the stream were improved numerous other native fish species could be expected to inhabit the creek.Flow rates in times of flood, naturally controlled by vegetation and debris filtration, are most inhospitable to aquatic life when not restricted but supplemented by flows from suburban stormwater drains.
The creek in floodTrevor Pescott produced a guide for replanting the creek. This guide was adopted by the City of Greater Geelong.
A public forum was held at Cobbin Farm to enlist public support for the creek rehabilitation through the Friends of Waurn Ponds Creek inc. Subsequently community groups have assisted in clearing of rubbish, removal of boxthorn and some other designated pest species with assistance from Conservation Volunteers Australia.
A submission by Nick Fenton, president of Barrabool Hills Landcare to envirofund for funds to weed, fence and plant in the upper reaches of the creek has been accepted.
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