The voice of the river

The Birrarung Council (the independent voice for the river established under the Yarra River Protection Act 2017) presented its second Annual Report on the implementation of Burndap Birrarung burndap umarkoo.

Overall the Council was pleased to see progress on actions relating to waterway management and the increase in activities on the management of parklands.

They made the following recommendations:

• recognition and decision-making supporting the Birrarung’s status as a living entity be enhanced,
• organisational commitment to the principles of the act be enhanced and embedded in daily practices and decision-making, and
• both the extent and quality of Traditional Owner partnerships, and collaborative planning across partners be improved to achieve greater and shared outcomes for the river.

Meet the people involved: Rob Molloy

Rob Molloy is the Implementation Lead for the Burndap Birrarung burndap Umarkoo – Yarra Strategic Plan.

Last month Rob met up with members of the Upper Yarra Sustainable Development Alliance (UYSDA) to better understand development being proposed through the Warburton Urban Design Framework (WUDF).

Rob presented to 200 community members who wanted to hear more about how the Plan aims to protects Birrarung from inappropriate development.

Photo credit: Nicol Fisher

Project corner: Bringing the Billabongs back to life

Yarra Flats billabong complex project, led by Melbourne Water and Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation’s Narrap team, is trialling watering of the billabongs and the design of a long-term solution for an onsite stormwater treatment wetlands to supply water to the billabongs.

The work that has been done has allowed the billabong to reconnect, which may provide a cue for short finned eels to start their journey north.

The Narrap team and Melbourne University are monitoring the ecology of the site, while on ground assessments are carried out to investigate wetland reconnection.