Love and care for ‘rough diamond’ river

WHAT do you know about the habitat of elusive native water rat, the rakali, or noisy eastern banjo frogs, pobblebonks?

Alongside turtles, they live in the Yarrowee River, which moves through Magpie’s gully, along with the well-travelled Yarrowee Trail.

But Magpie resident, Nat Watchorn knows the waterway, traditionally named Yaramlok, is not at its best.

He’s coordinating a Clean-Up Australia Day event there this Sunday, 7 March from 10am to 12pm to improve the state of his “little patch of the Yarrowee,” and people’s attitudes.

“I’ve helped on Clean-Up Australia Day for most of my adult life, but the events are never in my home area, so I thought it’s appropriate to shift my focus here this year to an area which tends to be neglected,” he said.

“This much-appreciated area is popular with walkers, joggers, cyclists, geo-cachers and lovers of nature, but it is also home to special creatures.

“Sadly though, everyday discarded litter, like a packet of chips or cigarettes, finds its way into the waterway, or rubbish is carelessly dumped directly onto the site. But, we can make a difference to that, so it’s my time to contribute.”

Mr Watchorn has lived in Magpie, on and off, since 1969. Although he’s had five or 10-year periods making a home elsewhere, he is always drawn back to live by his “special place.”

He feels “spiritually and socially connected,” to the Yarrowee and retreats there to reflect.

“It’s adjacent to my family home where I grew up, which is being renovated back to what it was, and I think that’s our approach as a family; to improve things, so they can reach their potential,” he said.

“I just love the geography of the area, and its tens of thousands of years of human history. There’s the gold mining history with Ballarat’s early European settlers, but there’s also Wadawurrung campsites noted along the creek.

“I’m sure 200 years ago, the Yarrowee Creek was absolutely gorgeous, and there’s no reason it shouldn’t be again. This is one of Ballarat’s rough diamonds, so it’s time for us to give back, show our love and care.”

Currently the waterway, especially a section just north of Docwra Street affectionately known as the “rapids,” is packed with non-biodegradable plastic pollutants.

These are interrupting waterflow and the creatures calling the creek home, along with long-term layover damage from the 1850s gold rush.

“We’re aware of the damage litter causes, especially to marine ecology, but people tend to believe it’s only a coastal issue. It’s not,” Mr Watchorn said.

“It’s an inland issue as much as anything, causing damage on the way through, before it finds its way to the ocean. Some of it remains in creeks forever, and you only have to put a shovel into the soil to see that.

“We know micro-plastics are being found in the food chain. Plastics that take thousands of years to break down are ingested by animals; both land-mammals, like the rakali, and marine life like the native fish and turtles that use this area.”

However, Mr Watchorn said his Clean-Up campaign is not only about the cleaning up. He’s coordinating the Magpie sweep to raise awareness of each person’s responsibility to reduce their waste, and properly and respectfully dispose of their rubbish.

“When you flick your cigarette butt, it goes somewhere. It doesn’t matter what our background is, we all have a responsibility.”

Participants are to meet at the Docwra Street bridge carpark and register their details for COVID contact tracing, before moving north along the Yarrowee Trail.

Some rubbish bags and gloves will be provided, but if you have your own gloves, and sturdy rubbish or feed bags, Mr Watchorn encourages you to bring them along.

“We’ll be fillings bags for two hours, but if someone comes with their young family, lasts as long as their child’s attention span, and fills only one, that’s fantastic.

“Not only have they removed a bag of rubbish, they’ve set a really good example for their children,” he said.

Head to bit.ly/2OYbpU8 for more information.

Ten other official supervised Clean-Up Australia Day events are registered in Ballarat.

Sweeps are taking place at Ballarat East’s Barkly Square, the Black Hill Lookout, Wendouree’s Giot Drive, Geelong Road, the Yarrowee River at Golden Point, Redan and Sebastopol, Woowookarung Regional Park, Canadian’s Boyd Court, and Sparrow Ground Reserve.

Visit cleanupaustraliaday.org.au for further details on the events and their proximity to you.