Sunbury railway line
The Sunbury railway line is a suburban electric railway in Melbourne, Australia. It has 15 stations, in Myki ticketing Zones 1 and 2, it is the electrified section of the Bendigo railway within metropolitan Melbourne. Prior to the line extension to Sunbury, the line was known as the Sydenham railway line, prior to the extension of electrification to Sydenham, the line was known as the St Albans railway line; the Sunbury line traverses flat country and thus has no major earthworks, except on the west bank of the Maribyrnong River where it requires some moderately heavy earthworks. It has several bridges under or over roads; the line is quadrupled to South Kensington railway station is double track for the rest of the line, although from South Kensington to Footscray, it runs alongside the Werribee line extending the quadruple track to there. The line is paralleled by a double track goods line and the interstate standard gauge line, the latter being dual gauge with the goods line to West Footscray.
The goods line joins the Sunbury line at Sunshine, whilst the standard gauge line to Sydney continues to run alongside the suburban line to Albion, where it and a goods line head off in a north-easterly direction. The line is controlled by automatic block signalling throughout. Intermediate terminating facilities are provided at St Albans and Watergardens. Stabling facilities are provided at North Melbourne and Sunbury. Prior to the level crossing removal of the Main Road and Furlong Road level crossings at St. Albans and Ginifer, St Albans had a 3rd platform, as well as stabling yard which could hold 3 six car trains; these were removed as part of the Project. The Melbourne and Murray River Railway had been built out as far as Sunbury by February 1859. === 1897-1921 the sunshine line Electrification of the line to St Albans was done in October 1921, although electrification occurred to North Melbourne in May 1919 as part of the Essendon electrification and to Footscray in August 1920 as part of the Williamstown electrification.
North Melbourne to South Kensington was quadruplicated in 1924, South Kensington to Footscray in November 1976. Automatic block signalling was provided between South Kensington and Footscray in August 1927, from Footscray to West Footscray in October 1927, North Melbourne to South Kensington in June 1928, Sunshine to Albion in July 1929, West Footscray to Sunshine in October 1929, Albion to St Albans in February 1930, thus resulting in the entire electrified line being provided with this signalling. Electrification and automatic block signalling were extended to Sydenham, opening on 27 January 2002: as such the St Albans line was renamed the Sydenham line. A new station was built in northern St Albans, called Keilor Plains, as part of the electrification project as well as a newly revamped station at Sydenham, Watergardens. In early 2012, the Sydenham line was found to be one of Melbourne's five worst lines for overcrowding. On Sunday, 18 November 2012 the electrification of the line to Sunbury became operational.
Metro's electric train service now continues on from Watergardens station, first to Diggers Rest and to its new end terminus at Sunbury station, though many services continue to terminate at Watergardens. New passenger services were added on the same date across the whole line and weekly rail services for Sunbury in particular were boosted from 298 to 489; the $270 million electrification project was first proposed in the 1969 Victorian transport plan, but was opposed by some Sunbury and St Albans residents over concerns of less comfortable travel and added congestion at level crossings on the route as a result of increased services. The 11 billion dollar Melbourne Metro Rail Tunnel will connect the Sunbury and Pakenham/Cranbourne lines, creating an end to end reliable service and more boosting capacity; this is scheduled to be finished in January 2026. As of 2017 construction is underway. Statistics and detailed schematic map at the VicSig enthusiast website
Melbourne City Centre
Melbourne City Centre is an area of Melbourne, Australia. It is the area in which Melbourne was established in 1835, by John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner, its boundaries are defined by the Government of Victoria's Melbourne Planning Scheme. Today it comprises the two oldest areas of Melbourne, it is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne. It is the core central activities district of Melbourne's inner suburbs and the major central business district of Greater Melbourne's metropolitan area, is a major financial centre in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region; the Hoddle Grid in the City Centre is home to Melbourne's famed alleyways and arcades and is renowned for its distinct blend of contemporary and Victorian architecture as well as expansive parks and gardens which surround its edges. The City Centre is home to five of the six tallest buildings in Australia. In recent times, it has been placed alongside New York City and Berlin as one of the world's great street art meccas, designated a "City of Literature" by UNESCO in its Creative Cities Network.
In April 1835, John Batman, a prominent grazier and a member of the Geelong and Dutigalla Association, sailed from Launceston on the island of Van Diemen's Land, aboard the schooner Rebecca, in search of fresh grazing land in the south-east of the Colony of New South Wales. He sailed across Bass Strait, into the bay of Port Phillip, arrived at the mouth of the Yarra River in May. After exploring the surrounding area, he met with the elders of the indigenous Aboriginal group, the Wurundjeri of the Kulin nation alliance, negotiated a transaction for 600,000 acres which became known as Batman's Treaty; the transaction, believed to have taken place on the bank of Merri Creek, consisted of an offering of: blankets, mirrors and other such items. The last sentence of Batman's journal entry on this day became famous as the founding charter of the settlement. So the boat went up the large river. And, I am glad to state about six miles up found the river all good water and deep; this will be the place for a village.
— Journal of John Batman. Upon returning to Van Diemen's Land, Batman's treaty was deemed invalid by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, under the Proclamation of Governor Bourke in August 1835, it was the belief of Governor Bourke, as well as the Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Sir George Arthur, that the Aboriginal people did not have any official claims to the lands of the Australian continent. The proclamation formally declared, under the doctrine of terra nullius, that The Crown owned the whole of the Australian continent and that only it alone could sell and distribute land, it therefore voided any contracts or treaties made without the consent of the government, declared any person attempting to rely on such a treaty to be trespassing. However, at the time the proclamation was being drawn up, a prominent businessman from Van Diemen's Land, John Pascoe Fawkner, had funded an expedition to the area. At the same time, the Port Phillip Association had funded a second expedition.
The settlement party aboard the Enterprize entered the Yarra River, anchored close to the site chosen by Batman, on 29 August. The party went ashore the following day and landed their stores and began to construct the settlement; the Association party aboard the Rebecca arrived in September after spending time at a temporary camp at Indented Head, where they encountered William Buckley – an escaped convict, believed dead, living for 32 years with the indigenous Aboriginal group, the Wathaurong of the Kulin nation alliance. Batman was dismayed to discover the settlers of the Enterprize had established a settlement in the area and informed the settlers that they were trespassing on the Association's land. However, according to the Proclamation of Governor Bourke, both the parties were in fact trespassing on Crown land; when Fawkner arrived in October, following tense arguments between the two parties, negotiation were made for land to be shared equally. As Fawkner had arrived after the two parties, he was aware of the Proclamation of Governor Bourke, which had gained approval from the Colonial Office in October.
He knew. Land was divided, the settlement existed peacefully, but without a formal system of governance, it was referred to by a number of names, including: "Batmania" and "Bearbrass" of which the latter was agreed upon by Batman and Fawkner. Fawkner assumed a leading role in the establishment of Bearbrass; the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Charles Grant, recognised the settlement's fait accompli that same year, authorised Governor Bourke to transfer Bearbrass to a Crown settlement. Batman and the Port Phillip Association were compensated £7,000 for the land. And, in March 1837, it was renamed "Melbourne" by Governor Bourke in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb; the City Centre is bordered by
Newport, Victoria
Newport is an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia, 7 km south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Newport had a population of 12,916 at the 2016 Census. Newport is 10 minutes by car from Melbourne via the West Gate Freeway or a 20-minute train journey from Flinders Street; the Yalukit-willam people of the Boon-wurrung Country are the traditional owners of land known as Newport, with a well researched connection to the area beyond 30,000 years. First contact came with European sealers and followed a pattern of violence typical across Australia at the time. In 1835 the arrival of John Batman saw a period of relative peace. However, despite this the plight of the Australian Aborigines was dire, as they were denied ownership and access to their lands. European settlement began in Newport at what was called Williamstown Junction around 1862, with a Telegraph Office and Post Office by 1869, it was renamed Newport in 1881. The Newport Railway Workshops played a key role in the development of the suburb the main workshops of the Victorian Railways.
The workshops are just south of the Newport railway station. The Newport Power Station is another feature of the suburb, the chimney of which remains one of the tallest towers in Melbourne at 183 metres; the original coal-fired generators were replaced in 1981 with a single 500MW gas-fired generator and operates during peak-load periods. Like many of Melbourne's inner suburbs, Newport is home to people of a diverse mix of ethnic and economic backgrounds, it has a Mosque, a Baptist church, Catholic schools, tattoo parlors and Italian restaurants, sports clubs, boutique wine bars and an RSL. It has 12 playgrounds within just 5 km2.'The Substation' Community Arts centre provides a hub for local live music performances, art exhibitions, community events and the monthly artists market. The Newport Folk Festival is held each year in June. Major natural features of the suburb include the Newport Lakes, Greenwich Bay and the Sandy Point Conservation area. Fishing, bike-riding, skate-boarding and boating are popular local activities.
Newport Lakes Park is a bushland oasis created from a former blustone quarry. The park is 33 hectares in size and has been extensively revegetated using native plants, with over 200 species of plants and 85 species of birds recorded here; the park has a picnic area, drinking taps and free electric barbecues. Dogs may be exercised in the Pavey's Park and Picnic Area, the north west area of the park and in the Arboretum. Paisley Park is the major sporting park in Hobsons Bay and includes a gymnasium & swimming pool, golf course, premier league soccer facility, bowling club, badminton centre, miniature railway and lacrosse fields, it is located on the corner of Mason Street and Mills Street and shares a boundary with Altona North. Greenwich Reserve and The Strand are Newport's connection to the Bay. Mansions and modest apartments compete for uninterrupted views of the Melbourne CBD along The Strand, while Greenwich Reserve offers access to the Yarra River and Port Phillip Bay via The Warmies Boat Ramp and includes a large picnic area, baseball field and the Sandy Point Conservation Area.
A sealed cycle track runs along the river front, a popular fishing spot. Bryan Martyn Oval is home to the Newport Digman Cricket Club, Newport Power junior football and netball club and includes the completed Bryan Martyn Pavilion. A children's playground is provided, it is located on Newport. Newport Park includes an athletics facility featuring an eight lane 400m running track, the Graham Morrish Pavilion with toilets and first aid rooms and the Newport Skate Park, the largest in Hobsons Bay and hosts regular'skate clinics'. A children's playground is provided, it is located on Newport. Loft Reserve has practice nets and a playground, it is located on Newport. Newport Bowls Club, located in Market Street, hosts both serious competition and barefoot bowling and bar. Digman Reserve is home to the Newport Digman Cricket Club and Gellibrand Cricket Club and is located on Hobson Street, Newport; the Newport Rams Baseball Club is based at the KC White Reserve in North Williamstown. Scouts Australia run the 2nd Newport Scout group from a historic wooden hall next door to the Newport RSL on Market Street, Newport.
Newport is home to 1 train station, Newport Station, serviced by trains on the Werribee and Williamstown Railway lines. Route 432: Newport to Yarraville Route 471: Williamstown to Sunshine Station Route 472: Williamstown to Moonee Ponds Route 944: City to Point Cook The Bay Trail, a shared cycle track runs along the Yarra River from the West Gate Bridge through Newport to Williamstown, Altona Beach and on to Altona Meadows in the west; the Punt, a foot ferry across the Yarra for pedestrians and bicycles, operates between Scienceworks and Port Melbourne, travelling under the West Gate Bridge. Federation Trail, a 25 km dedicated cycle track, runs from Brooklyn to Werribee and is 5 km north of Newport connected by the Bay Trail and the complete extension from Brooklyn to Melbourne Rd. Hobsons Bay Council operates two kindergartens in Newport, Home Road Kindergarten and Newport Gardens Early Years Centre http://ngeyc.org.au/ Schools include Newport Gardens Primary School, Newport lakes Primary School, Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School and Bayside Secondary
Electorates of the Australian states and territories
A State Electoral District is an electorate within the Lower House or Legislative Assembly of Australian states and territories. Most state electoral districts send a single member to a state or territory's parliament using the preferential method of voting; the area of a state electoral district is dependent upon the Electoral Acts in the various states and vary in area between them. At present, there are 409 state electoral districts in Australia. State electoral districts do not apply to the Upper House, or Legislative Council, in those states that have one. In New South Wales and South Australia, MLCs represent the entire state, in Tasmania they represent single-member districts, in Victoria and Western Australia they represent a region formed by grouping electoral districts together. There are five electorates for the Legislative Assembly, each with five members each, making up 25 members in total. There are 93 electoral districts in New South Wales. There are 25 single-member electoral divisions in the Northern Territory, 17 former divisions.
There are 93 electoral districts in Queensland, for the Legislative Assembly of Queensland. Information about the QLD electoral districts for the 2006 elections can be obtained from the Electoral Commission of Queensland website. There are 47 single-member electoral districts in South Australia, for the South Australian House of Assembly. There are 15 electoral divisions in Tasmania for the upper house Legislative Council. In the lower house the five federal divisions are used, but electing 5 members each There are 88 electoral districts in Victoria, for the Victorian Legislative Assembly. There are 59 single-member electoral districts in Western Australia for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. 42 are in the Perth metropolitan area and 17 are in the rest of the state. Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives Local government in Australia Parliaments of the Australian states and territories
Postcodes in Australia
Postcodes are used in Australia to more efficiently sort and route mail within the Australian postal system. Postcodes in Australia are placed at the end of the Australian address. Postcodes were introduced in Australia in 1967 by the Postmaster-General's Department and are now managed by Australia Post, are published in booklets available from post offices or online from the Australia Post website. Australian envelopes and postcards have four square boxes printed in orange at the bottom right for the postcode; these are used. Postcodes were introduced in Australia in 1967 by the Postmaster-General's Department to replace earlier postal sorting systems, such as Melbourne's letter and number codes and a similar system used in rural and regional New South Wales; the introduction of the postcodes coincided with the introduction of a large-scale mechanical mail sorting system in Australia, starting with the Sydney GPO. By 1968, 75% of mail was using postcodes, in the same year post office preferred-size envelopes were introduced, which came to be referred to as “standard envelopes”.
Postcode squares were introduced in June 1990 to enable Australia Post to use optical character recognition software in its mail sorting machines to automatically and more sort mail by postcodes. Australian postcodes consist of four digits, are written after the name of the city, suburb, or town, the state or territory: Mr John Smith 100 Flushcombe Road BLACKTOWN NSW 2148When writing an address by hand, a row of four boxes is pre-printed on the lower right hand corner of an envelope, the postcode may be written in the boxes. If addressing a letter from outside Australia, the postcode is recorded before'Australia'. Australian postcodes are sorting information, they are linked with one area. Due to post code rationalisation, they can be quite complex in country areas; the south-western Victoria 3221 postcode of the Geelong Mail Centre includes twenty places around Geelong with few people. This means that mail for these places is not sorted until it gets to Geelong; some postcodes cover large populations, while other postcodes have much smaller populations in urban areas.
Australian postcodes range from 0200 for the Australian National University to 9944 for Cannonvale, Queensland. Some towns and suburbs have two postcodes — one for street deliveries and another for post office boxes. For example, a street address in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta would be written like this: Mr John Smith 99 George Street PARRAMATTA NSW 2150But mail sent to a PO Box in Parramatta would be addressed: Mr John Smith PO Box 99 PARRAMATTA NSW 2124Many large businesses, government departments and other institutions receiving high volumes of mail had their own postcode as a Large Volume Receiver, e.g. the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital has the postcode 4029, the Australian National University had the postcode 0200. More postcode ranges were made available for LVRs in the 1990s. Australia Post has been progressively discontinuing the LVR programme since 2006; the first one or two numbers show the state or territory that the postcode belongs to Sometimes near the state and territory borders, Australia Post finds it easier to send mail through a nearby post office, across the border: Some of the postcodes above may cover two or more states.
For example, postcode 2620 covers both a locality in NSW as well as a locality in the ACT, postcode 0872 covers a number of localities across WA, SA, NT and QLD. Three locations straddle the NSW-Queensland border. Jervis Bay Territory, once an exclave of the ACT but now a separate territory, is geographically located on the coast of NSW, it is just south of the towns of Huskisson, with which it shares a postcode. Mail to the Jervis Bay Territory is still addressed to the ACT; the numbers used to show the state on each radio callsign in Australia are the same number as the first number for postcodes in that state, e.g. 2xx in New South Wales, 3xx in Victoria, etc. Radio callsigns pre-date postcodes in Australia by more than forty years. Australia's external territories are included in Australia Post's postcode system. While these territories do not belong to any state, they are addressed as such for mail sorting: Three scientific bases in Antarctica operated by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions share a postcode with the isolated sub-Antarctic island of Macquarie Island: Each state's capital city ends with three zeroes, while territorial capital cities end with two zeroes.
Capital city postcodes were the lowest postcodes in their state or territory range, before new ranges for LVRs and PO Boxes were made available. The last number can be changed from "0" to "1" to get the postcode for General Post Office boxes in any capital city: While the first number of a postcode shows the state or territory, the second number shows a region within the state. However, postcodes with the same second number are not always next to each other; as an example, postcodes in the range 2200–2299 are split between the southern suburbs of Sydney and the Central Coast of New South Wales. Postcodes with a second number of "0" or "1" are always located within the metropolitan area of the state's capital city. Postcodes with higher secon
Census in Australia
The census in Australia, or the Census of Population and Housing, collects key characteristic data on every person in Australia, the place they are staying in, on a particular night. The census is the largest statistical collection compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and is held every five years. Participation in the census is compulsory; the Australian Bureau of Statistics is legislated to collect and disseminate census data under the Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975, the Census and Statistics Act 1905. The first Australian census was held in 1911, on the night of 2 April and subsequent censuses were held in 1921, 1933, 1947, 1954 and 1961. In 1961 the five-year period was introduced. Censuses are held on the second Tuesday of August; the most recent was held on 9 August 2016 at a cost of $440 million. The census counts all people who are located within Australia and its external and internal territories, with the exception of foreign diplomats and their families, on census night.
For the first time, in 2016 Norfolk Island was included in the Australian census rather than being conducted by the Norfolk Island Government. The census examines data such as age, incomes, dwelling types and occupancy, transportation modes, languages spoken, religion; the census is collected and published against geographic areas defined by the Australian Standard Geographical Classification. The ASGC provides a set of geographic classifications for the dissemination of all ABS statistics. In 2007 the ABS published; the primary aim of mesh blocks is to provide a building block for constructing alternative and more relevant geographies. Only data on total persons and total dwellings is released at the mesh block level. Mesh blocks will form the basis of a new statistical geography, the Australian Statistical Geography Standard; the traditional concept of a Collection District is that it was the area that one census collector can cover in about a ten-day period. In the 2001 census, collectors may be allocated more than one urban collection district because of their size.
In urban areas collection districts average about 220 dwellings. In rural areas the number of dwellings per collection district reduces as population densities decrease. For the 2016 census there were 358,122'mesh blocks' and 57,523 spatial Statistical Area Level 1 regions defined throughout Australia; the Census and Statistics Act 1905 and Privacy Act 1988 guarantee that no personally-identifiable information is released from the ABS to other government organisations, or the public. However the ABS makes confidential census data available to researchers, who must make various legal commitments before being given access. In the 1970s there was public debate about the census. In 1979 the Law Reform Commission reported on the Census. One of the key elements under question was the inclusion of names, it was found. On 18 December 2015, the ABS announced that it will retain name and address data collected in the 2016 census for up to four years; this was an increase from 18 months in the 2011 censuses.
From 1971 to 1996 the ABS had a policy of destruction of the original census forms and their electronic representations, as well as field records. Prior to that it appears there was no explicit policy of destruction, but most material had been destroyed because of lack of storage facilities; however the 2001 census offered, for the first time, an option to have personal data archived by the National Archives of Australia and released to the public 99 years and in 2001 54% of Australians agreed to do so. Indigenous Australians in contact with the colonists were enumerated at many of the colonial censuses; when the Federation of Australia occurred in 1901, the new Constitution contained a provision, which said: "In reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a State or other part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives shall not be counted." In 1967, a referendum was held which approved two amendments to the Australian constitution relating to indigenous Australians. The second of the two amendments deleted Section 127 from the Constitution.
It was believed at the time of the referendum, is still said, that Section 127 meant that aboriginal people were not counted in Commonwealth censuses before 1967. In fact section 127 related to calculating the population of the states and territories for the purpose of allocating seats in Parliament and per capita Commonwealth grants, its purpose was to prevent Queensland and Western Australia using their large aboriginal populations to gain extra seats or extra funds. Thus the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics interpreted Section 127 as meaning that they may enumerate "aboriginal natives" but that they must be excluded from published tabulations of population. Aboriginal people living in settled areas were counted to a greater or lesser extent in all censuses before 1967; the first Commonwealth Statistician, George Handley Knibbs, obtained a legal opinion that "persons of the half blood" or less are not "aboriginal natives" for the purposes of the Constitution. At the first Australian census in 1911 only those "aboriginal natives" living near white settlements were enumerated, the main population tables included only those of half or less aboriginal descent.
Details of "half-caste" (but not "ful
Moonee Ponds Creek
The Moonee Ponds Creek is a creek and major tributary of the Yarra River running through urban Melbourne, Australia from northern to inner suburbs. In 2004 a reporter for the Age newspaper described it as "arguably the most abused tributary of the Yarra River, part of the true underside of Melbourne", it is rural in its upper sections near Greenvale, passing across basalt plains around Woodlands Historic Park, just north of Melbourne Airport. Towards its mouth it is hemmed in by the Cenozoic caps of Essendon and Royal Park before joining the Yarra River. Through the urbanised areas it flows through it is best characterised as a concrete stormwater drain, it winds its way through the suburbs of Westmeadows, Meadow Heights, Broadmeadows, Glenroy, Strathmore Heights, Oak Park, Pascoe Vale, Pascoe Vale South, Brunswick West, Moonee Ponds, Ascot Vale, Parkville, North Melbourne before joining the Yarra River at Melbourne Docklands. Before European settlement, the Moonee Ponds Creek was the home of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin nation.
Though there are no written records it is probable that the creek takes its name from an indigenous inhabitant Moonee Moonee, along with Tullamareena, burnt down and escaped from the first Melbourne gaol in 1838. The Port Phillip area was first settled by Europeans in 1835; the first land sales in the area of Strathmore on Moonee Ponds Creek were made in 1843 and 1845. The creek formed a series of marshy ponds on the floodplain, with extensive salt water marshes near its entry to the Yarra river known as Batman's lagoon. With rapid development of Melbourne due to the Victorian gold rush in the 1850s, the swamp became a receptacle for waste waters from Flemington, North Melbourne and Parkville. In 1879 Batman lagoon was drained and filled to make way for the North Melbourne railway yards at its northern end. At its southern area, the filled in marshes were called Dudley Flats, where impoverished people scrounged building material from the land-fill tip to build shelters and huts during the 1930s depression.
In the 1890s the lower Moonee Ponds Creek was used as a canal for barges carrying coal to the North Melbourne Locomotive Depot. In 1950s and 1960s the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works realigned and concreted the creek from Strathmore to Flemington Road, in an attempt to stop periodic flooding; the modifications were part of extensive urban development of the lower floodplain. For much of its length through the northern suburbs it is now characterised as a concrete stormwater drain that parallels the Tullamarine Freeway. In 1998 the Moonee Ponds Creek Co-ordination Committee Inc was founded to oversee planning, restoration and development of guidelines and policies aimed at protecting and enhancing the Creek and its tributaries; the MPCCC members are each of the four councils and the Friends of Moonee Ponds Creek. MPCCC has excellent working relationships with Melbourne Water, Parks Victoria, Department of Sustainability, Department of Primary Industries and Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority.
In 2002 the downstream end of the creek was realigned, to accommodate development of Victoria Dock at the Port of Melbourne. Moving the confluence with the Yarra River about 600 metres upstream, the creek mouth once located at the east end of Appleton Dock was removed, with a new watercourse dug leading directly south parallel with the Bolte Bridge approach spans; the realignment created a buffer zone between the port and the Melbourne Docklands residential and commercial areas. While realigning waterways is not a preferred option for Melbourne Water, the work was permitted as previous modifications had left the creek lacking a "true remaining'natural' alignment" in the area. In recent years some improvement work has focused on enhancing habitat and stabilising and replanting the banks of the creek. In 2005 the water quality, aquatic life and flow were all rated as poor. During 2004 a major stormwater improvement program was embarked upon in the creek's catchment area, wetlands at Jacana and litter traps have been built.
Recent habitat conservation work has resulted in some wildlife returning to the creek, including the pobblebonk frog around the Strathmore Secondary College, nankeen night heron in the upper catchment. Along the entire length of the Moonee Ponds Creek, starting at Melbourne Docklands and continuing to Woodlands Homestead within Woodlands Historic Park, a shared pathway the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail provides a recreational path for cyclists and walkers, connecting many reserves and sporting grounds along the creek. Friends of Moonee Ponds Creek Melbourne Water
