This partnership between Traditional Owners, agencies and councils honours Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong knowledge, and seeks to inspire action to protect and celebrate Birrarung for future generations.
A guide to help those who work to support and restore the Birrarung river’s biodiversity and natural processes.
By respecting Wurundjeri knowledge that knows the river as a living entity, we work together to apply that thinking to care for Birrarung.
Councils, agencies and Traditional Owner corporations are working together to produce a map of Birrarung biodiversity.
This will identify canopy gaps, biodiversity hotspots and significant hollow bearing trees to better support Birrarung’s biodiversity.
Our project partners put on a fantastic selection of greening and habitat enhancement events at Riverfest 2025.
Attendees could monitor nestboxes, hunt for noctural animals, take part in planting led by Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung representatives and hear more about the work undertaken by their Narrap ranger unit.
Through these on-country workshops, the working group set themselves the challenge of three key deliverables to be completed by the end of 2025.
Bushland and biodiversity officers from councils and government agencies came together with Wurundjeri and Bunurong Corporation representatives. They workshopped opportunities to increase the collective impact of their vegetation works and contribute net gain to Birrarung.
The working group agreed to prioritise:
The group explored biodiversity maps of the Birrarung. They identified unloved sites and opportunities for collaborative initiatives to enhance riparian habitat, resulting in an extensive list of “shovel ready” projects to align our collective work for the benefit of Birrarung.
The proposed project activities were presented to the Wurundjeri Water Subcommittee on 30 May and the Elders were supportive of the proposal.
The group was privileged to hear from Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Dave Wandin, who shared his perspective on Birrarung as a living entity.
Participants toured Haining Farm’s revegetation sites, discussing techniques and insights on restoration practices. The day concluded with a presentation from Dr En Chee, from Melbourne University, who provided an overview of recent climate science and its implications for local vegetation management. The group explored practical ways to apply this knowledge.
In this session participants considered the Birrarung landscape and how individual management actions create ripple effects throughout the Birrarung corridor and beyond.
They also reflected on the past year and explored future direction for the Greening the Birrarung project working group and agreed to follow a Community of Practice model in 2026.
Melbourne Water respectfully acknowledges the Bunurong, Gunaikurnai,
Taungurung, Wadawurrung and Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional
Owners and Custodians of the land and water on which we rely and operate.
We
pay our deepest respects to their Elders - past, present and emerging.
