HEALTHY PLATYPUS POPULATIONS CALL THE LIVING MOORABOOL HOME

Eleven landholders have committed to restoring their sections of the Moorabool River through a combination of fencing to protect this important waterway and planting native trees and shrubs to help the recovery of the river. This partnership has protected and improved approximately 20 kilometres of the Moorabool River.

This work being conducted is part of The Living Moorabool Flagship Program. This project is being delivered through landholders on the Moorabool and both the Moorabool Catchment Landcare Group in the upper catchment above Meredith and the Geelong Landcare Network from Maude to Batesford.

Dominic Cook is a property owner on the Moorabool River near Gheringap. Dominic is protecting three kilometres of the Moorabool River frontage as part of the restoration project at this site.

The total restoration site is over seven hectares and involves weed management and planting of native vegetation along the river. Four thousand trees, shrubs and grasses have now been planted on this site.

Dominic Cook said, “Our whole family is very proud to be involved in this revegetation project”.

The Koala Clancy Foundation was engaged to help with the revegetation works, which were completed in August 2023. The selection of suitable feeding and habitat trees formed an essential part of the revegetation to improve the connections between habitat areas for this species in the Moorabool River Valley.

Staff and volunteers from the Koala Clancy Foundation were fortunate to spot at least two Platypus in the Moorabool River.

‘We spotted Platypus on several occasions while we were working here: at least one individual at Gheringhap, and another upstream at Russells Bridge,” said Janine Duffy, President of the Koala Clancy Foundation.

Local community volunteers were thrilled to catch brief sighting of the Platypus while they were planting trees. Koala Clancy Foundation have now added the records to the Atlas of Living Australia fauna records in the region.

Project Officer – Water Infrastructure Anthony Byrne said, "A remarkable aspect to these projects is the abundance and diversity of precious remnants that persist along the Moorabool River and are protected through this initiative, from towering ancient River Red Gums, culturally significant sites and stories, nationally significant geological features and iconic species such as the beloved Australian Platypus”.

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