On Sunday 1st July Pinkerton Landcare and Environment Group (PLEG) invited the community to help them plant at Pinkerton Flat on the Werribee River, beside Western Water Treatment Plant, situated within the Werribee River Volcanic Gorge. A few days prior to planting, several volunteers met by the river to assemble the treeguards. We had decided to use a taller, more rigid type of guard to deter wallabies from grazing on the plants. As these require more time to assemble we decided to do this prior to the actual planting event, to avoid wasting time assembling guards on the day, hence allowing us to spend the volunteers time more effectively in planting.

We were delighted to welcome 21 people on the day. We planted almost 400 River Bottlebrush and Woolly Teatrees, as well as numerous Redleg and Poa grasses, before heavy rain halted proceedings. Members of Melton Bushwalkers were welcome participants. The grasses were planted on the flat floodplain while the bottlebrush and teatrees were planted beside the river. The teatrees and bottlebrushes were grown by Pinkerton Landcare and Environment Group member Irene Cook.

The planting day is part of the Ecological Restoration of the Werribee River Volcanic Gorge Project. This ambitious project is a partnership between Pinkerton Landcare and Environment Group, Vision for Werribee Plains, Western Water and Melbourne Water; to restore the natural environment in this spectacular gorge. It is a weed removal program along the Werribee River Volcanic Gorge adjacent to Western Water treatment plant at Surbiton Park.

Environmental restoration work here has been funded by Vision for Werribee Plains, Western Water and Melbourne Water; and is being undertaken at one of the most dramatic scenic sites on the river, with steep rocky escarpments dropping down to the river. Despite the steep nature of the gorge vehicle access was fairly easy via the gravel track down to the river. The river floodplain itself is quite flat and walking here could be done in a leisurely manner. Much of this river flat was many years ago a market garden, bounded by stone walls.

We provided morning tea midway through the morning. The billy was boiled over a campfire to provide hot drinks. Recently cut boxthorns provided a ready supply of firewood. The problem of spreading hard butter onto fresh buns on a cold misty morning was overcome by placing the butter in a thermos cap, placed in turn within a larger thermos cap filled with recently boiled water from the billy. Despite the cold drizzly morning a pleasant picnic atmosphere was achieved before beginning work again.
Everyone had an enjoyable day out in the bush and we achieved our objective of planting a large number of plants beside the river. Most planting days are uninterrupted by rain.

The weekend planting was Pinkerton Landcare and Environment Group’s major 'in kind’ contribution to the project, which includes the seed collection, the propagation and potting on of the local indigenous riverside plants.

Pinkerton Landcare and Environment Group always welcomes members of the community to join us in restoring our local natural environment.


The following Friday Western Water provided a Corporate Planting Day, also at Pinkerton and Blue Box Flats, where the remaining 400 plants were planted. Western Water personnel and 2 people from Central Land Management participated.

Western Water later provided a BBQ lunch after the planting was finished.