This is where we were at the end of my last post about the Mullum Mullum Creek, looking upstream. While it may seem natural, the photo on the right is from 1986, before all the rocks were placed to reduce erosion and slow the flow during heavy rain.
The downstream view tells quite a different story and it is the subject of this post.
Ringwood is now a busy commercial area designated a Principal Activity Centre and Transit City in the vision for future Melbourne. At the beginning of the last century it looked like this.
The 1923 brochure advertises a new housing estate, right above where we are now. The creek valley is easy to see and to the left just out of the photo is Warrandyte Road, where we are heading. In the intervening years all the orchards have gone, replaced by the commercial centre and the valley is now shared with the Ringwood Bypass road. Built to divert through traffic away from the business area.
Instead of following the creek into the culvert, the walking trail has its own tunnel under the road. It even has a memorial plaque of sorts.
Emerging blinking into the bright sun we are now in a network of streets with units and small plots. Fortunately there is a sign with lots of options.
There is also a little park including a “dry stream” in the landscaping. A bit ironic as there is no sign of the creek. The trail is beside the bypass. When it was built in 1996 there were lots of complaints about the “Pink Berlin Wall”.
The years have softened the colour as promised and the trees and other plantings pretty good. But there is no getting away from the noise, it would be much worse without the wall and there are no fumes.
Walking one more block and there is the first view of Eastland, the huge shopping centre on Warrandyte Road. Still no creek.
A rather impressive Manna Gum at the end of Bardia Street.
And so on to Warrandyte Road. It has been an important crossing point from the early days of Ringwood. There is a significant dip in the road at the creek, easily seen in the 1908 photograph on the left. By 1921 the road has been raised over the creek, and the road continued to be raised and widened over the next 80 years until there was no bridge at all.
This is Mullum Mullum Creek emerging from under Warrandyte Road. It took me a while to work out where it had been. I checked the north side of the Bypass and it was not there. Then I realised that it was trapped under the road.
The only thing flowing up here is the traffic, and the photo from 1995 shows what happened to the Mullum Mullum Creek when the Ringwood Bypass was built.
Allowed to flow freely again it hasn’t very much room. The road it hard up on the north side and Eastland has been expanded almost all the way to its southern edge. What was once a Myer store with a few other shops is now home to all the major retailers.
The landscaping and muted colours of the carpark at least make the journey pleasant for walkers and cyclists.
And so we reach Ringwood Street. Another bridge and tunnel, this time we go with the creek. On the other side it is a completely different story. And that is because of a road too.
skippingstitches 
This is interesting reading, knowing the area around the major shopping centre, I didn’t realise the terrain of the creek.
I haven’t been to Eastland for years. It was only a Myer and a few other shops then.
Seeing the historical photos is very interesting. I suppose we should be glad that any of the creek has survived, but you have to wonder how much of the original ecosystem has been destroyed along the way.