Obstacles

Time to get back on track and follow the Mullum Mullum Trail again. I left it across Quarry Road from the Yarran Dheran Reserve in Mitcham and now plan to follow the creek again.

My first attempt was a track along the west bank. Started off well, a wide path heading north but it narrowed and became an impassable mass of mud with the path beyond curving away from the water.

I backtracked, studied a map and still could not figure out where the trail began. Not a direction sign to be found anywhere.

There was a path leading to the right, I had assumed this was another way back to the road and my daughter who lives in the area thought this too. But it is not. It is the Mullum Mullum Trail as built by the City of Manningham, they must assume everyone who wants to use it is coming from the other direction and already knows where it is.

The path leads high above the creek, with a good view back to the EastLink Trail and of the creek flowing north.

But my day’s journey seemed doomed.

In just a few hundred metres the path was closed. Undaunted I used my map to find another track, close to the east bank of the creek. It was a bonus really as there were good water views, even if it is impossible to find a totally pristine shot.

After a while I headed back up to the main trail. I had missed views of backyards, one of which is obviously owned by devoted pet owners. And I discovered the reason for the trail closure. At some time a tree had come down, machinery was brought in to remove it, but the council is very slow to open things up again. I met a number of walkers and cyclists who told me this was not unusual and they mostly ignored the closures.

After following the boardwalk through beautiful bushland I wasn’t surprised to find the fence closing the trail at Heads Road had been opened and happily went through it leaving the forbidden section behind me.

Here at last a direction sign, but not one I wanted to see. The next section, to Park Road is marked (to be constructed). Another obstacle on my quest to follow the Mullum Mullum Creek all the way to the Yarra.

Portal to Portal

This stage of my Mullum Mullum Creek trek includes a long but important diversion.

Last time I finished just over Deep Creek Road. Now I am backtracking a little and starting on the north side of the freeway, just below the Loughnan Road bridge. As you will recall this is the same road, just a different suburb so different name.

Right in the centre of the photo, glimpsed through the gap between the bridge pier and noise barrier is the ventilation stack of the Melba Tunnel entry. This is where I am headed, but not following the traffic down into the tunnel, instead there is a part of the EastLink Trail that goes over the top of the entry.

When the EastLink Freeway was planned there was a huge outcry over the extension of the Eastern Freeway into the creek environment. Fortunately the protesters and environmentalists were heard and two 1.6 km tunnels were dug for the road at a cost of $400 million. They go down to 53m below the surface at the lowest point.

The valley’s value, ironically, lies precisely in its preservation on a designated corridor for the road, because the State let it revert to near natural condition around the creek running through it. Its retention now is a prime example of the “law of unintended consequences” in human affairs, with strong passions raised around the idea of concreting over it. 
Eastlink: Melbourne’s Motorway Masterpiece, World Highways magazine, undated

My reason for starting at the tunnel goes back to June 2008 when I walked through the tunnels and back again on the public open day before the freeway was opened to traffic. Now I am going to walk the route that was saved from destruction.

Up on top of the Eastern Portal there is a large garden area. This was redeveloped in 2019 following a student competition. The winners were Angus Houghton and Janette Wilson, landscape design students from Swinburne University. Their design and plantings can be found in this 2018 EastLink Sustainability Report.

The viewing platform overlooks the Mullum Mullum Creek, trail and parkland near Schwerkolt Cottage. There are steps, path and bridge leading down to join the trail, not far from where I left it last time.

The creek bubbles through the Chaim Court Bushland and on into the Yarran Dheran Reserve. Here you can continue on the shared walking/cycle trail, or take the quieter Schwerkolt Track through to Quarry Road.

Formerly a quarry and then a tip, Yarran Dheran Reserve is 7.4 hectares of original indigenous bushland and reconstructed bushland. It was declared a reserve in 1963 and named in 1970, taking the Wurundjeri name meaning Wattle Gully. Ponds were created in the upper area and a waterfall takes any overflow down through several stages to the creek. Pathways zig zag up the escarpment and through the bush.

Back on the EastLink Trail and aproaching the Quarry Road bridge traces of quarrying can the seen on the northern side of the creek.

Once over the road the trail enters Hillcrest Forestway and a new local government area. We are now in Manningham, a council that has recently completed the trail along the remainder of Mullum Mullum Creek. Fortunately someone has annotated the core flute so you can figure out where you are. It is rather confusing with all the pathways as you will discover in my next post.

But for now I am going to continue following the road tunnel which is far below.

Looking back to the road bridge this is the last sight of the creek for now.

The trail is paved the whole way with strict keep left and walkers have to be on a constant look out for cyclists whizzing by. The bush slopes done to a small tributary of Mullum Mullum Creek. Houses that back on to the Forestway take advantage of the view and there are very few fences.

At the Mullum tunnel entry the trail climbs up above road level and is protected by sound barriers. After crossing Park Road, the trail is on both sides of the Freeway. There is a lovely reserve with a remnant orchard but the trail that continues beside the Eastern Freeway to the city is probably more attractive to cyclists than walkers.

At Mitcham Road I turned back, this time walking on the Donvale side. It was here I came across one of EastLink’s environmental initiatives.

This good looking herd of goats is used to manage woody and noxious weeds in areas where it is too difficult or steep and rocky to use machinery. They were clearing the blackberry between the sound wall and the boundaries of private properties near Park Road.

From the Park Road Bridge there is a clear view of the Western Portal.

This is actually the Eastern Portal during construction, but they are pretty much the same. The ventilation stacks are 47m tall and the only exits for fumes or smoke from the tunnels. All sorts of clever engineering make this work in order to have no impact on the bushland above. The cladding and landscaping soften the entry.

On my return trip I stopped off to see what was happening on the top of the Western Portal.

The design is much more formal, lots of circular beds and stepped paved areas. There is a good view down onto a small wetland next to the trail.

I much prefer the overland route and I am very glad the cars and trucks go underground.

Captured

The Mullum Mullum Creek Trail as developed by Maroondah City Council ends here. The complex interchange where the Bypass meets Eastlink lies ahead. A simple marker denotes the new trail name. From this point you can go all the way to the City, or Frankston if you take the other path.

The easiest way to understand what happens the Mullum Mullum Creek, and also the trail is an aerial view .

The City is to the top left, Ringwood to the right and Eastlink heads down south. Mullum Mullum Creek does an almost 90 degree turn here too. That is a curious feature that goes way back in time. Up to this point the creek I have been following was actually part of a tributary of the Dandenong Creek, heading south and here it would have gone down the valley occupied by Eastlink. That was the Heatherdale Creek. The following information comes from the Friends of Mullum Mullum Valley.

River Capture or River Piracy happens when the head of an actively eroding stream, which has deeply entrenched itself, has cut back so far that the bed of a stream lying at a higher elevation is intercepted.

The water above the point of capture is diverted into the capturing stream. The head of the capturing stream is now at the head of the captured stream, and the drainage system is radically altered. The additional water accelarates the erosion process, and so the stream rapidly carves a deeper course.

The deeper valley is quiet obvious as I continue my journey, but first the path goes under the roads, the lowest of four levels of traffic.

It is really noisy down here.

Fortunately only for a short distance and once again there is a rather lovely valley.

The rocks here are natural, part of the Mullum Mullum Gorge and in the past the site of one of several quarries. Here the creek was also known as Deep Creek. Specks of gold were found in gravels somewhere near here too.

Deep Creek Road comes up from Whitehorse Road in Mitcham and becomes Loughnan Road once it crosses the creek into Ringwood. In the early 1900s it was a rudimentary track, now it is a high flyover above both creek and freeway.

Across the road is Schwerkolt Cottage and Museum. Built from locally quarried stone and felled timbers by German immigrants who purchased 63 acres in 1861. It was rescued from imminent ruin by Whitehorse Council in 1965. It is now a popular historic site, unfortunately closed at the time of my visit.

I could see a little of the museum collection in the outside enclosure. An interesting terracotta pot making machine and some pipes from the Australian Tessellated Tile Company of Mitcham. As well as stone, clay was dug in the area.

Controlled

The Mullum Mullum Creek enters the tunnel under Ringwood Street as a totally controlled flow moving placidly towards the light.

Things can only get better.

The banks are looking a lot more natural, there is room for the creek to spread a little and the path bends away a little through the vegetation. A pair of Dusky Moorhen are happy to potter about on the edge of the water.

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In 1971 the creek here was a neglected area, an open space between housing on the north and south side. Now there is the feeder road to a freeway on the north and mid height apartment blocks are going up in the south side. Fortunately the needs of the creek and its environment has been given consideration in the way things are developed.

When the road was being built as part of the Eastlink project from 2005 to 2008 various strategies were used to protect the waterway. For example; jute mat stabilisation for erosion control and a sediment fence to capture sediment and prevent it getting into the creek as shown in this EPA photograph. A big change in attitude in the 20 years from when the Bypass was built.

Continuing along the trail, the view is dominated by a large steel pedestrian ramp that takes you over the road, should you choose to go that way. It also gives a good view of what has been done to protect the creek from the increased run off from the road.

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Between the road and the creek are these settling ponds which I assume clean the water before it enters the creek.

The creek has also presented problems to the development of the commercial centre.

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In 1931 floodwaters destroyed the bridge at Adelaide Street (now absorbed by Eastland) and it was never replaced. The later photo shows the remnants continued to be used for foot traffic.

With all the building that is now going up along Nelson Street, Maroondah City Council has undertaken a huge flood mitigation project to protect against any future flood. This includes strategies to prevent rapid runoff from roads and a requirement for green areas and trees around low rise buildings. All this is celebrated in this charming sculpture of Mullum Mullum the Owl by William Eicholtz.

The creek is obviously doing quite well, as I followed the trail out of Maroondah and into Whitehorse there were plenty of pretty vistas.

Perhaps a road and a creek valley can share the same space.

Contained

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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.

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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.

Place of big birds

You may be wondering about the origin of the name of the creek I have been following from its source. Mullum Mullum is thought to derive from the Woiworung language and mean place of many big birds. These may be eagles, powerful owls or yellow tail black cockatoos.

In the section of the Mullum Mullum trail near the sporting oval of the same name there is a Cultural Heritage Trail with interpretative markers. This was created following a recommendation by local environmentalist Helen Moss for a Koori Plants Trail. In the forward of the paper she prepared for council she makes a powerful argument for the inclusion of an educative space for those interested in indigenous plants and their use.

Some academics suggest that we are now nearing the end of the only century in the history of human kind when there has been a net loss of knowledge. This loss is the sad result of the dispossession or assimilation into ‘western’ society of indigenous peoples throughout the world. During their more than 40,000 year (perhaps more than 100,000 year) occupation of Australia, at least 2,000 generations of Aborigines have refined their use of the country’s flora to an amazing degree. Everyone can potentially benefit from this accumulated knowledge, but only if it is perpetuated.

The markers are now in poor condition, this was the best I could find. This is a shame because their purpose is as relevant now as it was twenty years ago. Those who want to know more and can read despite damage will discover that the original inhabitants of the Mullum Mullum Valley and beyond are the Wurrundjeri-william clan, one of the five Woiworung language tribe. The Woiworung language tribe occupied the Yarra and Maribyrnong catchment areas and was included in a confederacy known as ‘Kulin’ (human being), occupying a significant area of Victoria around Melbourne.

As I travel further along I will pass through a number of areas of significance to these people. The creek however has been dramatically altered from its natural form and course.

This storm water drain leading from an estate on the hill between Mullum Mullum Road and the creek would once have been the small tributary I have seen on early survey maps.

Two ovals have been formed on the slope above the creek, pushing into a bend in the waterway. In a hilly area it is a challenge to make sporting spaces, but the cost is not just money.

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The aerial photo on the left is from 1962 and the image on the right is the current satellite view shown in in grey tones so it easier to see the change in vegetation. The ovals are centre top – treed land in 1962. While there has been a loss of trees along the creek and around Ringwood Lake (in the centre), much vegetation has been retained. This is despite the full residential development that happened between the two photographs and probably partly due to the “Why Ringbark Ringwood” campaign of the 1960’s and an ongoing policy to preserve trees, particularly on ridge lines.

Also of interest in the photos is the Ringwood Bypass roaring through the middle (more on that later) and Eastland in the bottom left, where there was once the Ringwood Cricket Ground.

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Paths lead from the oval to the creek reserve on both side. Here there are two substantial bridges connecting to the main trail and streets beyond. The bank formed by the creation of the lower oval is a mess of weed plants and trees. Obviously the dumped clay was never properly planted.

It is however a pleasant and popular part of the trail, frequented by families and foot and cycle commuters preferring this way to get into the town centre over the highway. Near the creek it is easy to see the way it flows along the edge of the rise up to the ridge at Wonga Road. Many of the bordering properties forego the privacy of a paling fence for the borrowed view and open space.

A pair of maned ducks look like they quite like living here too.

Oliver Street is the only one that crosses Mullum Mullum Creek between Oban and Warrandyte-Ringwood Roads. You can see it in the earlier aerial photo, the white dog-legged street. It didn’t have a bridge then. It was built in 1963 in a pretty brutal manner and it is not looking any better now.

Note: All historical photos are from the Ringwood and District Historical Society Collection.

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The path from here to the beginning of the commercial district is along the fence line of houses and units on the south side of the creek. I don’t know why I looked up. But I did.

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High in the tree were two Tawny Frogmouths. So I had found some big birds and it made my day.

Wriggle room

After walking 2.5 km from home I again meet the Mullum Mullum Creek as it goes under Kalinda Road.

It is narrow, choked with weeds and the sides have been reinforced with stones. The reserve leading to Oban Road is also narrow, with fences on both sides and just enough space beside the creek for a path.

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Despite this, as I stood on the bridge leading to Peter Vergers Reserve small groups of King Parrots flew among the trees, following the creek. These tiny bush corridors are really important.

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After an undignified passage under Oban Road, the creek is given plenty of space to stretch.

This is busy road leading down to Maroondah Highway to the left. South of the creek is now all light industry.

The wide reserve space puzzled me so I looked up old survey maps at the State Library. The Mullum Mullum Creek forms the boundary between the County of Evelyn and the County of Mornington. For the stretch I had walked so far a mere 20 links had been reserved for the creek. This is about four metres. But from Oban Road for about a kilometre the reserve granted is 243 links wide. I wonder if this was because the creek really wriggles around at this point and so the course was difficult to pinpoint.

This 1916 plan showing the creation of Mullum Mullum Road is the section I am about to walk. These lots would have all been orchards I think.

A big revegetation project in this area has restored many of the indigenous species, preserved older trees and protected the waterway which is vulnerable to erosion.

There is a path on both sides of the creek for part of the trail. On the south side however you are very close to the car yards that line the Highway.

Having walked as far as Leonard Street I am now over 5 km from home this is as far as I can go by foot.

For the next stage I will have to drive to my starting point, the Mullum Mullum Reserve.

Small beginning

In a depression, not far from where the big screen of the Croydon Drive-in once stood is the beginning of the Mullum Mullum Creek. This is not too far from my home. When the house was first built, before trees grew, you could see the flicker of the screen from the upstairs balcony.

On the other side of the fence is Yarra Valley Grammar School, one of several private schools that border the creek.

The willows are a legacy from the orchards and farms that were established in the Croydon North area. Squatters had been in the Stringybark Forest area prior to the 1850s when the land was first selected. Later the forests were cleared for timber and firewood and crown land progressively sold.

The area between Maroondah Highway and the creek is now occupied by a large retirement village. The pathway passes through a parklike setting with some new indigenous plantings. Closer to Kalinda Road there are backyards on both sides, the creek is a little deeper and the planting more dense.

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There has been a lot of housing development over the last 40 years, meaning more runoff into the creek and greater pressure on this tiny waterway, although at last there is an awareness of how vulnerable it is.

It was here at the beginning of May that I decided to walk the entire length of the creek, all the way to the Yarra River. But not in one day.

to be continued …

A pictorial guide

to multishaft weaving

It is a joy to weave on a well prepared floor loom, but there are a lot of steps involved on the way to that blissful state. Just like the children’s encyclopaedia of yore, here are all the steps – in pictures.

Before starting, full planning including the weave structure, width, length and colours to be used must be finalised. There is no designing on the fly although there can be some changes to the weft (the thread that goes from side to side).

The warp is wound following the guide string and the colour order. Keeping an even tension is important at this stage and the cross that keeps individual threads in their correct place is vital.

Once tied and chained the warp can be stored away for future use,

Spreading the warp through the raddle. One end is threaded on to the back apron rod and lease sticks go through the cross.

The warp is now the planned width and is rolled onto the back roller, paper keeps the layers separate and the warp is kept taught by regular pulling of the chain from the front.

Threading through the heddles, the cross has kept the threads in the correct order. Once through they are bundled to prevent them slipping out.

The reed keeps the threads at the correct width now that the raddle is finished with. Finally the ends are tied to the front apron rod. They are all the same length because they were wound at an even tension right at the start.

Under the loom the upper and lower lams are connected to the treadles in the sequence determined by the weave structure. On the left the lower lams of shafts one, three, and five are connected to one treadle, so they will lift when the treadle is pressed, and shafts two, four and six will sink.

Finally weaving can start, it is rolled around the front roller as the work progresses.

When finished, the lease sticks go back in because the work is going to be cut off and a new threading will need those threads kept in order.

Two scarves, cut apart and the ends twisted.

It is only after wet finishing that the final design is revealed – exactly as planned.

Fungi time 3

This is the last of my posts about the fungi I have found on walks in all different directions from my home. This means they are all within about a 5 km radius, pretty amazing eh?

This pretty bracket fungi is Stereum ostrea. Spotted on a log fallen across my local creek in what is a very shady and damp area. The vivid orange of the young growth really stands out, making this common fungi easy to find.

Another bracket, this time on a hakea. It is Trametes versicolor an obvious name given its rainbow of stripes. It grows on dead wood but the tree did not look dead to me.

This very old specimen is on a large eucalyptus tree in front of a property in my street. It has been slowly dying and became covered in Laetiporus portentous. These have now aged and most have fallen off. You can see the remains of one in the photo.

In complete contrast these are tiny. They are on a log next to the creek in a very dark, damp spot. This photo is looking down on the troops of brackets, the largest about 20mm across. I could not even see the connecting stipe with the naked eye.

When I visited a second time after the rain had stopped and I learned a bit about them, I was able to turn around a loose piece of wood to see the underside.

It took a few attempt but I finally had some in focus and could zoom in and see the large pores that identify Panellus pusillus, commonly called the Little Ping-pong Bat. These are bioluminescent fungi although I haven’t checked at night.

A large fungi found in gravel at the side of a rural road in South Warrandyte. At first I though someone had dropped a cauliflower. I am not sure of the exact species but think this is a Ramaria capitate, one of the coral fungi.

Common in this area, so common that I have quite a few in my garden, are Earth Balls or Puff Balls. I have not been able to identify them any better than being Scleroderma sp.

I have been waiting for the round one to erupt, but no action as yet.

Two dozen documented fungi, quite a collection and now that I know what to look for and where to look I am sure to find more.