By Megan Bridger-Darling
With the sheer volume of ‘hidden gems’ in Melbourne’s west, it’s a pleasant yet constant surprise to hear of another one. Behold, Kororoit Creek has opened.
While it still takes a brave soul to test if the creek “still tasted of the salt tides”, the importance of the creek is still evident. Long after the canoes were carved from the red gum trees, the natural forming barrier cleaved the land between what we know now as Hobsons Bay and path to the goldfields of Ballarat and beyond. Further upstream, the water is fresh and has played important roles in the lives of Indigenous cultures and European pastoralists.
The creek artery, through the work of hundreds of volunteers, community members and local organisations – led by Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek – helps bring closer the completion of the entire lower section of the Kororoit Creek trail.
Cr Sandra Wilson of Hobsons Bay City Council says that the trail has now “been transformed into a bushland oasis right on our doorstep that is home to a vast array of rare birds and wildlife.” How lucky are we to have the Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek!
The 2.5km stretch of trail running and cycling connection terrain was opened on July 30th, from Grieve Parade right down to Barnes Road in Altona North, and is named ‘Toyota Way’. It is along this section that Geoffrey Ricardo’s sculptures walk through the land.
Local artist Ricardo was commissioned to produce 3-metre high public art installations, created to move through the landscape, each representing a spirit of time and place, a symbol, a metaphor; a profound sense of space.
Coinciding with National Tree Day, 2300 trees were planted along the artery, helping to house the plethora of wildlife returning to our heartland.
