Gum Scrub Creek
For thousands of years the Kulin Nation inhabited the area now known as Gum Scrub Creek. The rich biodiversity was cleared and directed into an agricultural drain to sustain farming.
Melbourne’s urban growth requires a new response and Gum Scrub Creek is now a vast built ecology that far exceeds best practice for constructed waterways. More than an effort to regenerate and repair, Gum Scrub Creek connects people across suburbs and histories across time.
After five years of planning and design, Outlines provided design lead and ensured collaboration across all stakeholders – enabling effective land management through good communication. Our work entailed:
• Facilitating the execution of the maintenance agreement between Cardinia Shire Council and Melbourne Water.
• Coordinating the collection of 5kg of indigenous seeds from the site and propagation in six locally based nurseries.
• Acting as Superintendent and executing the construction contract by Australian Ecosystems.
• Overseeing a committed team dedicated to the planting and maintenance of 400,000 plants through extreme heat, rain, mud, wind and cold – it was great.
Incorporating a meandering low-flow system, bio-filtration, lateral fingers, habitat ponds and public open space, Gum Scrub Creek:
• regenerates endangered flora and fauna
• fulfils future urban growth needs
• provides great educational opportunities
• physically connects suburbs
• socially connects people
These are the waterways that Melbourne needs – designed with nature, connected to the past and built for the future.
