"Local plants for local places"
Information Papers
. Aboriginal Uses of Local Plants
. Site preparation and weed
control guidelines
. Chaim Court, Donvale
Gardiner's Creek Reserve
. Overview
. Bird list
. History
. Historical pictures
Talk presented at annual Workshop conducted by the Blackburn and District Tree Preservation Society, 30th July 2002
Introduction
Where is Gardiner's Creek Reserve?
Gardiner's Creek Reserve runs diagonally between Station
St, Box Hill South and the Burwood Highway, Burwood. The
area is bound on the north and east and southwest by
residential properties and, in other areas by Deakin
University.
As an open space/water-way, it links to Wattle Park in
the west. Upstream links run through the Box Hill Golf
Club and, eventually, Blackburn Creeklands and Blackburn
Lake. Downstream links run through various reserves in
the cities of Monash. Boroondara and Stonnington before
the Creek runs into the Yarra at Toorak.
To the east, the reserve links to Wurrundjeri Walk and,
not too far away, Damper Creek Reserve on Middleborough
Road.
Gardiner's Creek is identified in Andrew Lemon's "History
of Box Hill" under at least three other names:
Kooyongkoot (Kulin for "haunt of the water fowl"),
Main Creek and Damper Creek. The last of these names
seems to have been applied to several creeks in the area.
History
In 1838, Arundel Wrighte took up his initial pastoral run
at "Marionvale", sited approximately where
Canterbury Gardens on Canterbury Road is located today.
Wrighte assumed that his run covered the ground two or
three miles east of Marionvale and was not backward in
complaining to the authorities of the day concerning
interlopers cutting in on his patch of earth.
In 1841 he complained to Governor Latrobe about timber-cutters
on his land, including one Charles Mullins, who had taken
up operations near present-day Stott St, Box Hill South
This is the first reference that I can find concerning
the demise of Box Hill South's indigenous flora.
Let's skip forwards a bit to 1853. Elgar's survey
describes the land around the southern end of present-day
Gardiner's Creek as "black soil timbered with Box,
Gum and Stringybark". Elgar's map shows that many
settlers had taken up residence and that the landscape
was already changing.
By 1882, logging was well under-way in the Damper Creek
valley and by the time of the depression of the 1890s,
much of the area had been cleared, mainly for orchards.
Families that were finding the going tough, had to
venture further and further out to conduct their tree-felling,
often the only source of income during these hard times.
From this information, one can get the general idea that
the area around present-day Gardiner's Creek Reserve was
cleared very early in the piece.
The Artist Camp Connection
On 4 March 1885, Artist Tom Roberts departed England
aboard the S.S.Lusitania, and arrived in Melbourne on 25
April. He commenced work with the photographers, Barrie
& Brown, Bourke Street, Melbourne, and also produced
black-and-white work for The Bulletin and other
periodicals. He also produced drawings for The
Picturesque Atlas of Australasia and The Australasian
Sketcher.
He rented a studio with George Rossi Ashton and John
Mather at 95 Collins Street, Melbourne, and painted plein
air in the vicinity of Darebin Creek, Gardiner's Creek,
and along the Yarra River in Heidelberg, where his work 'Quiet
Stream, Heidelberg', c. 1885 was painted.
During the summer of 1885/1886, Roberts camped with
Frederick McCubbin and Louis Abrahams in the bush along
Gardiner's Creek in Box Hill. Here he produced 'The
Artists' Camp', 1886, and 'A
Summer Morning Tiff', 1886, which he discussed and
illustrated in a letter to his then girlfriend, Lillie
Williamson. Other paintings by Roberts during the period
include "Winter
Morning after Rain, The Old Bridge, Gardiner's Creek",
thought to be the bridge at what is now Burwood Highway.
On to the 20th Century
By the 1930's, Albers flower farm, supplying jonquils and
daffodils, had been established at the southern end of
the reserve near the Burwood Highway and fruit orchards
were well established throughout the area.
An aerial photo taken of the northern half of the reserve
on 23rd December 1945, shows that the land was mainly
cleared with small areas of remnant adjacent to the
present-day Morton St and also at the junction of
Gardiner's Creek and Damper Creek, which flows in from
the south-eastern boundary of Wattle Park. Apparently
this was the site of a sizeable billabong.
The 15-year period following the second world war saw a
considerable amount of residential development in the
area and the establishment of many schools, colleges and
institutions including: The Princess Elizabeth Deaf
School, Burwood High, Burwood Tech, Wattle Park High and
Bennetswood Primary, to name a few.
Gardiner's Creek in Box Hill South remained pretty much a
no-man's land. There was a rubbish tip at the southern
end near the Burwood Highway and other activities, such
as the pony club near Glengarry Avenue, were established.
By the 1970's, the Reserve was earmarked as the site of
the Healesville Freeway.
By the early 1980's, the State Government had abandoned
plans for the Healesville Freeway. The former MMBW
commenced flood mitigation work, re-lining and realigning
the creek between Station Street and the Burwood Highway.
The City of Box Hill convened a (now disbanded) Committee
of Management to create Gardiner's Creek Reserve. Despite
a number of objections, the Reserve was created.
The creek was lined with rocks and a number of rock-weirs
were installed. A billabong and lake were formed at the
Station Street end. The junction with Damper Creek (from
Wattle Park) was straightened. For its part, the City of
Box Hill installed paths down both sides of the creek,
joining, wherever possible, existing mature Eucalypts (more
on that later!).
Vegetation
As stated, the Reserve was largely a "blank canvas"
in the early 1980's, apart from the tiny remnant adjacent
to Morton Street, a few Swamp Melaleucas lining the creek
and a small number of quite large remnant Eucalypts,
mainly E. viminalis, along the northern boundary.
According to the Draft Management Plan for the Reserve,
prepared in 1993, most of the topsoil in the Reserve had
been overlaid with landfill brought in from road
construction projects.
The Reserve, especially along the creek, was plagued with
weeds, including Gorse, Blackberries, Ash trees, Willows
and lots of other "nasties". The City of Box
Hill Parks and Gardens staff cleared vast amounts of
these weeds. "Native plants" were planted by a
variety of groups.
. The council organised planting days involving school
groups, cubs, scouts, various institutions, etc and as
one Council employee described it to me, as one group
were boarding their bus following a planting session,
another group was disembarking from the next bus.
. Members of what was to become Greenlink were actively
involved in early plantings which came from a variety of
sources including some "rescues" from a factory
site in King St, Blackburn.
. In earlier days, unfortunately, not all of the plants
were indigenous. They included Acacia decurrens,
Melaleuca stypheloides, Casuarina cunninghamiana (most
have now been removed). Early planting schemes even
supplemented the stock in the remnant with "native"
plants of doubtful origin.
As people became more aware of the need to plant
indigenous, more care was taken to select plants that
came from local stock.
In the early 1990's, following election of the Kennett
Government and subsequent Council amalgamations, the
amount of resources available for Council involvement in
development of the reserve diminished. Council projects
that were under-way were abandoned "overnight".
In 1996, Shirley and I joined Greenlink and we have been
involved with the Reserve since that time. A short while
late, Sue joined us.
It is worthwhile to pause here and acknowledge that most
of the groundwork in setting up the reserve, revegetating
it and making it what it is today, was undertaken by
employees of the former City of Box Hill and those
hundreds of volunteers who planted all of those trees
during the 80's and early 90's.
In particular, we would like to single out Peter Cockroft
who has planted a significant area of the Reserve.
Since we took over, most of the plants have been sourced
from local seed, including Wattle Park, Surrey Dive,
Greenlink's stock, "known" reliable plants
within the reserve - and "rescues" from the
site of the present Deakin University residences. Unlike
earlier planting efforts, our planting regime has always
included all storeys at once, from grasses and herbs
through to sedges, bushes and trees.
The Reserve as a Corridor
So, here's a reserve that is almost 100% artificial
garden. It's got little of its original soil structure.
Its most common plant is Kikuyu. It is, in the opinion of
many, the "busiest park in the City of Whitehorse".
Unlike most parks in the City, Gardiner's Creek reserve
has little remnant indigenous vegetation and was created
from scratch...
Why are we wasting our time on a gardening project?
1. Proof that it is a corridor
Local long-term resident and bird enthusiast, John Peter,
has been keeping excellent records of bird sightings over
the past thirteen years. During this period, John has
documented sightings of at least 119 different species of
birds. This is in addition to records of bats, reptiles
and amphibians.
2. Corridors are fast disappearing
The election of the Kennett Government in 1992 brought
about a number of changes in the way that residential
land is used. One of these was the introduction of Vic-code,
which made it far easier for establishment of multiple-occupancy
of building sites that had formerly contained a single
dwelling. What's the most expendable part of a house-block
when you want to add a mock Georgian home unit or two?
The garden. It would be hard to estimate how much open
space in gardens has been lost in the area since multiple-occupancy
but one could image that it is significant
Another action of the Kennett Government involved the
closing down and redevelopment of a number of schools in
the area, including (in the immediate vicinity) Burwood
High, Wattle Park High, Bennetswood Primary, Burwood
Primary and Burwood Tech (the last was closed before 1992).
One walker in the reserve a few years back estimated that,
at that time, 28 parcels of land of a size equal to or
larger than a football field, had been lost in the
previous 10 years. Of course, these schools contained, in
many cases, areas of remnant vegetation in addition to
open space.
Other institutions have sold and moved on. The Royal
Victorian Institute for the Blind sold a major part of
its land at the corner of Station St and the Burwood
Highway. The Princess Elizabeth Deaf School sold its
Elgar Road property to Deakin University in the late 1990's,
adding to the University's acquisition of Allambie next
door, giving the University a significantly large Elgar
Road frontage. I will look at the effect of the Deaf
School and RVIB sales later.
Some other significant open spaces that seem certain to
disappear in the next few years include land owned by the
Franciscan Monks at St Pascal's, near Sparks Reserve and
the former St Leo's College, both of these sites upstream
on Gardiner's Creek.
As shown in the maps displayed at the start of this talk,
Gardiner's Creek Reserve is a vital link within the
Eastern suburbs.
For further information, refer to the recent ARCUE study
that found that the City of Whitehorse contains the 6th
lowest amount of public open space per head of population.
The number of links in the chain is fast decreasing.
Every bit is precious. That's why we are putting so much
of our time into Gardiner's Creek Reserve.
Threats
There are a number of threats to the viability of
Gardiner's Creek Reserve that need to be addressed if it
is to remain an effective corridor.
I will outline each type of threat:
. Park Users
. Development
. Park Design
. Succession
. Confusion of responsibilities
. FUD
Park Users
. As previously stated, the Reserve is thought to be the
busiest reserve in the City of Whitehorse. One of the
reasons for this popularity is the Reserve's "off
leash" status for dogs. According to the City's CEO,
there are 19,000 dogs registered with the Council, one
for every 7.3 residents! Unfortunately, dogs don't
understand that the garden beds were planted for a reason
- to provide food and shelter. A good proportion of dog-owners
are responsible, however dogs are allowed to roam through
planted areas to cause considerable damage. Some areas
have been planted 3 or 4 times over to compensate for the
damage. What's worse is when the owner follows the dog
through the garden - as we often observe!
. Despite the Council's widely-publicised "conditions
for off leash parks", some owners allow their dogs
to chase the birds, in particular the water-birds in the
lake, undoubtedly causing stress to the birds and
negating the effect of the Reserve as a corridor.
. A couple of years ago, in partnership with Birds
Australia, we designed a poster that discourages park-users
from feeding the ducks, pointing out the dangers. This
poster is on display in the Park and is available, in
electronic form, to anyone who wants it - gratis. The
most common response when we discuss this matter with
Park Users is "but the kiddies love it".
Obviously this is an education issue right throughout the
City - perhaps the Council could look at this problem as
it is widespread - Heyington Wetlands, Blackburn Lake and
Surrey Dive are some other areas where we've observed
this practice.
Development
I touched on development before but I will outline two
actual examples of development and how they have directly
affected the Reserve as a corridor.
1. In the late 1990's Deakin University purchased the
Princess Elizabeth Deaf School on Elgar Rd. This large
site contained Several hectares of weeds (watsonia,
blackberries, gorse etc) but also Themeda, Davesia, Poa
morissii, Danthonia, Veronica, Lomandra and other remnant
plants. It was mown about once per year. During 1998,
Deakin cleared the land and constructed student
residences at the eastern end.
John Peter's comments "Many species of small birds
have disappeared with the destruction of the swamp/blackberries/grassland.
These include: White-browed Scrubwren (which survived for
exactly 1 week after the bulldozers went in); Golden-headed
Cisticola (which actually disappeared before the
bulldozers went in; two grass-slashing episodes a few
weeks apart finished them off); Superb Fairy-wren (again,
disappeared earlier, after a bout of 'tidying up'). My
only record of a Richard's Pipit was in the grassland a
week before it was bulldozed"
2. The Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind owned a
huge site at the corner of Station Street and Burwood
Highway. They sold off a large chunk of this site during
the 90's and a retirement village and substantial office
block were built on this land. ...
Of this, John Peter comments: "The trees at the
Blind Institute were chopped down, and the following day
there were dozens of displaced Miners sitting on the
ground along Gardiner's Creek"... "The number
of White-plumed Honeyeaters has declined alarmingly over
the past few years"... "This decline is matched
(though I haven't done the stats on it) an increase in
the numbers of Noisy Miners in the park".
Park Design
. The park is linear, ranging in width between about 50
metres and 300 metres. The planted areas are narrow, most
between 5 and 10 metres in depth, forming narrow strips
that provide limited protection for small birds and
animals.
. The path was laid in a similar manner to many other
linear parks - joining the mature remnant Eucalypts. I
remember attending a meeting concerning dangerous trees
at Blackburn Creeklands a few years ago. This meeting was
called because an arborist had declared many of the
Creeklands' trees to be unsafe as they were nearing the
end of their natural lives and this had been exacerbated
by compaction. This situation is fast approaching at
Gardiner's Creek Reserve.
To address these threats, we have been developing wider
garden beds including some in areas that are not
frequented by park users, such as the boundary at the
eastern end of the Deakin University Student Residences
and undertaking plantings in fenced-off areas, such as
the area that we refer to as "the forest" in
the centre of the Reserve. Unfortunately the Council has
been removing fences, or failing to repair them when they
are broken. The effect of this is that our "segregated
plots" are being used and plants are being trampled.
The Council has to take more responsibility for
safeguarding this aspect of the Reserve.
We have experimented with borders and conclude that long
large logs (50-60 cm in diameter) seem to be the best
protection against all but the larger dogs.
We have also taken to developing planted areas outside,
but bordering the reserve, for instance, at the junction
of Gardiner's and Damper Creeks, on land owned by Deakin
University. We hope that the University will include
provision for corridor planting, particularly along the
path of Damper Creek, in future building projects - we
aren't holding our breath!
Succession
. There are just three regular volunteers that look after
the Reserve. On the "up" side, it means that we
can organise/reschedule a working bee at very short
notice, however the "down" side is that there
is no-one to take over if we are unable to continue
maintaining the Reserve.
. The most important task at present is restoring the
Remnant Patch. This patch is fast degrading, with weeds
running out of control. Kids from neighbouring houses are
using the Remnant as a play area, causing the loss of
many plants and the over-story trees are starting to die
out. We aren't sure how to deal with this one, given our
limited resources, but the Remnant is in real danger of
disappearing altogether.
. Succession of plants is also of concern. Approximately
100 years elapsed between the clearing of Damper (Gardiner's)
Creek and the establishment of this Reserve. As
previously stated, older trees are dying off and the new
replacements are, at maximum 20 years old. Hollows and
perching trees are at a premium.
John Peter said of one old tree "Although there are
a few cormorants around at the moment, their numbers
declined quickly after one of the Gums in which they
always roosted fell over". We have very few "old
trees" left in the Reserve.
Perhaps wider usage of nesting boxes will need to be
investigated but also the routing of paths beneath
existing large Eucalypts should be re-examined - not just
at Gardiner's Creek but perhaps other reserves in the
Corridor.
Responsibilities
We are told that the creek itself, and a border of 10
metres (?) up the bank is the responsibility of Melbourne
Water. Because of this, Council staff refuses to be
involved in clearing of debris or weed control within a
certain distance of the water. A Melbourne Water
representative might drop by and do a bit of slashing
along the creek bank once every six months or so in a
good year - less often in a bad year. Several large
infestations of Wandering Tradescantia have established
themselves along the creek banks and these are working
their way steadily into the reserve.
The Council has been unable to get Melbourne Water to
address the "weeds" issue along the creek.
Melbourne Water has insufficient funds to tackle the
issue. I am aware that the creek is far worse further
downstream at Glen Iris, where Vicroads has allowed the
creek to regress to a weed patch, after having put
considerable resources into revegetating the area.
Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any "Friends'
Group" to tackle the worst weeds in this area.
FUD = "Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt"
Deakin University owns large parcels of land on both
sides of the Reserve. To the east, most of the land has
been developed, with a few areas earmarked for future
development. The west consists of a number of old
buildings from Allambie, the Princess Elizabeth Deaf
school, the newly built student residences and a large
parcel of vacant land, acquired from the Deaf School.
Deakin University has generated more publicity for
Gardiner's Creek Reserve that any other organisation. A
very effective group of park users and local residents
has formed with the intention of blocking some of the
development of the Deakin University sites that they see
as inappropriate. The group is media-aware and certainly
has proven that it has the measure of both the Council
and the State Government.
Accordingly, Deakin University, which has had some of its
plans rejected by various authorities, including the
State Planning Minister just before the last Federal
Election, has started playing its cards close its chest.
As stated, the University intends to start expanding on
its land located on the western side of the Creek. Apart
from developing buildings, there are questions being
raised as to how staff and students will move between
east and west. Will a bridge be built? Deakin says "no"
but common sense says "yes". What effect will
this expansion have on the park? Deakin says minimal but
common sense says otherwise. Will there be vehicular
traffic between east and west? Deakin says no but we can't
see how they can get by without it. The most obvious path
for inter-site access is across the junction of Damper
and Gardiner's Creeks - which leaves us feeling most
uneasy.
All of this has the potential for a disastrous effect on
the future of Gardiner's Creek Reserve as a Corridor. We
already have an example of neither Council nor University
being able to confront the problem head-on when the
bridge linking Stott St to Glengarry Avenue came up for
replacement. The obvious choice was to erect the
replacement bridge at the entrance to the student
residences, due to the significant change in foot-traffic
in the area. Both parties, sensing some adverse reaction
took the easier, and less sensible, option and merely
replaced the existing bridge in situ. They even got the
Mayor to unveil a "memorial rock" at the site
of the "new" bridge with appropriate pomp and
ceremony. Vast numbers of students, unwilling to walk the
extra 200 metres to the bridge, now risk personal safety
by crossing the creek at the rocks nearby to the student
residences. The bank at this point is badly eroded.
How do we get around all this senseless FUD? Deakin
University needs to publish its future intentions. The
resident group needs look for compromise. The Council
needs to be a little firmer in its dealings with
complainants.
If not, the big losers will be the birds, animals,
insects, reptiles, etc that can't speak for themselves
but will suffer the greatest amount.
Acknowledgements:
. John Peter - historical and fauna information
. Ros Crompton & Sue Betheras - constructive
criticism and suggestions
. "Box Hill" by Andrew Lemon (1978)
. Peter Creak, Stephanie Finn, Sally-Ann Henderson -
"Draft Management Plan" compiled as part of
assessment toward Park & Reserve Management, Deakin
University, Rusden Campus (1993)