We look forward to seeing you at our next working bee at Slatey Creek Black Gum Reserve on the 28 April 2024. Also, Piper Creek Landcare are hosting a Seed Ball making workshop this Saturday morning (20 April). Please RSVP to piperscreeklandcare@gmail.com if you would like to attend.
Woodend Landcare had a small but enthusiastic turn out for our Clean up Australia working bee on Sunday 3 March 2024. We had five new volunteers attend for the clean up and twelve in total. We achieved some weeding and cleared baby oaks. Importantly, we collected two bags of rubbish between the Children’s Park and Bowen St – preventing it from washing down Five Mile Creek. Below you can read our End of Clean Up Report.
We were super impressed by the Woodend Girl Guides who cleaned up around the Woodend Children’s Park and the Macedon-Woodend Cubs who focused on the area along the creek behind the Information Centre and around Gordan Gilbert Oval. From all reports they collected HEAPS of rubbish.
Our next working bee is on Sunday 24 March 2024 along Five Mile Creek near Ruby Mackenzie Park. More details coming soon. Hope to see you there!
Clean Up Australia Day occurs annually on the first Sunday in March. Get involved and take positive, practical action with Woodend Landcare along Five Mile Creek.
Woodend Landcare members past and present are grateful and proud to have been awarded the MRSC Community Awards 2024 – Healthy People and Environment Award.
Woodend Landcare, and its predecessor ‘Friends of Five Mile Creek’, has been active in Woodend for nearly 30 years. Run and organised by volunteers, the group has done an enormous amount of work on public land along Five Mile Creek and its tributaries within and around Woodend, such as Slatey Creek Reserve and various railway reserves. Woodend Landcare conducts about ten Sunday morning working bees every year and the ‘Thursday Crew’ works every week when weather permits. These are open for anyone to attend and the group is always happy for non-Landcare members to join in and join up (see woodendlandcare.org).
As well as along Five Mile Creek, Woodend Landcare provides advice and guidance on request to local groups and private landholders. Woodend Landcare is a member of the Upper Campaspe Landcare Network, and works closely with the Macedon Ranges Shire Council (MRSC), North Central Catchment Management Authority (NCCMA) and local community groups and schools.
The aim of Woodend Landcare has always been to restore areas which have been degraded by introduced weeds, and to preserve and enhance areas of indigenous vegetation. In all, our volunteers have planted over 30,000 native plants. One particular focus has been ensuring the survival of Woodend’s unique threatened tree, the Black Gum (Eucalyptus aggregata).
Woodend Landcare also supports the Indian Myna trapping project (MRIMAG) and one committee member performs ‘Waterwatch’ in collaboration with NCCMA, to monitor water quality in Five Mile Creek. We have provided numerous letters of support and auspiced projects run by other groups and private landholders that align with our ‘caring for the land’ values.
In 2022 we partnered with Council to develop the Woodend Five Mile Creek Master Plan – to guide habitat restoration projects, support grant applications and inform infrastructure needs to improve accessibility to the creek for a broad range of recreational activities. Check out the Master Plan here.
In 2023 Woodend Landcare also oversaw the construction of a new pedestrian bridge over Five Mile Creek, thanks to a bequest from Woodend Landcare’s ex-President, Jo Clancy. This, together with all the work undertaken by Woodend Landcare volunteers, is for the benefit of all Woodenders to enjoy.
Looking back – Woodend Landcare in action over the years:
![20210207_110011[1]](https://i0.wp.com/woodendlandcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/20210207_1100111.jpg?w=203&h=152&ssl=1 "20210207_110011[1]")
Read more about the award here:
Our working bee calendar has been updated through to December 2024. We always welcome new volunteers keen to help nature in Woodend.
Download a copy of the Landcare Calendar Jan-Dec 2024 here
The next working bee is on Sunday 3 March in tandem with Clean Up Australia Day. See you there!
After a pretty quiet couple of years, we are looking forward to resuming our working bees in February 2022. There is lots to be done and new helping hands are always very welcome. Check our calendar for dates here.
In the meantime, the Thursday Crew continue their impressive work around town. Thursday Crew working bees are held every Thursday morning at different venues around Woodend during most of the year. Please contact Dave on 0405 910 176 or email dvbower65@gmail.com if you are interested in being involved.
Woodend Landcare thanks everyone who has responded to our survey about File Mile Creek. We have had a tremendous response so far.
We will soon collate the information to pass onto the landscape designers who will begin working on the master plan in the new year. We will be sure to share the draft for comment when it is ready.
The survey closes at the end of November. Click here to tell us your five wishes for Five Mile Creek.
One thing we have learnt from the community survey so far is that the biggest use of the Five Mile Creek corridor is for exercise and one of the biggest concerns about the creek is rubbish.
So, let us introduce you to something new and exciting taking Europe by storm – plogging! Plogging is the combination of two words ‒ ‘jogging’ and the Swedish phrase for pick up, ‘plocka upp’. It means picking up litter while you get fitter! You get your exercise and make a difference for the environment at the same time.
Plogging can be as simple as heading out on your normal exercise route, collecting rubbish as you go (sort and dispose at home). Or it might be a springboard for you to plan and involve friends or family, your business, or sporting club.
Clean Up Australia has a great guide to safe plogging if you’d like to learn more: https://www.cleanup.org.au/plogging-guide. Everyone’s contribution adds up.
We would love to hear about your plogging efforts. Email us at or share your photos on our Facebook page.
Orders are now closed for next year’s Box of Habitat program. The take-up has been fantastic: 40 residents have ordered 78 boxes of habitat. Importantly, many of the orders are going to storm affected sites. It is really inspiring to see the effort people are putting in to restoring habitat on their properties.
Remember that different species of wildlife need different habitats ‒ so a property with a greater variety of habitat features is likely to support more native animal species. Characteristics of a healthy habitat include:
Woodend Landcare 