Yarran Dheran Nature Reserve
Gay Gallagher and Glenys Grant.
Yarran Dheran Nature Reserve is 7.4 hectare of indigenous bushland in the north eastern corner of the City of Whitehorse, only 20 km from the CBD.
It is situated on the southern bank of the Mullum Mullum Creek, a rarity among urban creeks, in that it remains almost totally at ground level. The reserve forms part of the environmentally significant Mullum Mullum Valley and is well known for its real Australian bush, including wattles, tall trees, diverse vegetation and as one of the last areas of dry sclerophyll forest in urban Melbourne.
The creek and valley together provide a significant wildlife corridor from Croydon to Templestowe. It has a reliable source of water, together with diversity of flora, providing habitat for a variety of birds and other wildlife not usually found in an urban reserve.
Gay Gallagher is a passionate advocate for the reserve. ‘Yarran Dheran is one of only three sites in Whitehorse where Superb Fairywrens are still found. Sometimes we see Swamp wallabies, Eastern Grey kangaroos, echidnas and both Tiger and Eastern Lowland Copperhead snakes. In the creek and wetlands the habitat encourages Short-finned eels, a healthy frog population and the elusive Rakali, or water-rat. A very recent sighting has been of a platypus, not seen here since the 1970s’
Gay is the Honorary Secretary of the Yarran Dheran Advisory Committee and has held that position since 2002. The Advisory Committee assists Whitehorse Council in providing a quality bushland environment and preserving its environmental, recreational, social, educational, aesthetic, spiritual and cultural values of benefit to the community.
She spoke of the committee’s work in providing the Council with advice and practical assistance on the use, care, maintenance, forward planning and improvement of the reserve. Its Friends Group undertakes regular working bees to care for the bushland and it encourages community participation and custodianship through activities such as National Tree Day.
‘Our other significant role is to foster a knowledge of, and an appreciation for, the Australian bush. We conduct monthly bird surveys, quarterly frog surveys and facilitate an annual calendar of events which include presentations and guided walks focusing on the rich environmental values of Yarran Dheran, as well as supporting the more formal environmental education programs offered by the City of Whitehorse’
The valley and reserve have always been strongly supported by the local community. In 1970 the City of Nunawading accepted the advice of the Blackburn and District Tree Preservation Society to develop it as a nature reserve, with the designated name of Yarran Dheran Reserve, thought to mean ‘Wattle Gully’.
Plans for destruction of the valley for Eastlink in the 1990s provoked widespread community opposition, which recognised the high ecological and landscape value of the Mullum Mullum Valley and the need to preserve and protect it.
Community pressure resulted in the building of two underground tunnels under the Mullum Mullum Valley to enable vehicles to pass under the valley without affecting the sensitive landscape above.
Gay pointed to how the community, Yarran Dheran Advisory Committee, and respective City Councils have always worked together to protect the Mullum Mullum Valley. Current strategies include encouraging the return of Powerful Owls, removing carp from the creek, and improving creek-side vegetation, hoping to facilitate the return of the platypus and an increase of the population of rakali. There is work yet to be done – and we invite you all to visit and support this beautiful unspoilt environment so close to Melbourne.