Advisory Committee

The Blackburn Creeklands Advisory Committee (BCAC) has been running since the 1980s helping to look after our park on behalf of the community and our indigenous fauna and flora.

Our advisory committee is appointed by Council from interested residents who volunteer their time to provide practical assistance and advice to Council on the use, care and management of the Park including its forward planning and improvements.  Normally, Committees are appointed for three year terms – though the current committee has been running considerably longer.

Please click here for the BCAC Terms of Reference which define the membership, role, scope, responsibilities and administration requirements of the committee and which also delineate council responsibilities.  There are additional attachments as follows:

Attachment 1:  Land description

Attachment 2:  Meeting procedures for Parkland Advisory Committees 

Attachment 3:  Procedures for keeping of accounts

Attachment 4:  Register of Volunteers template

Attachment 5:  Promotional material guidelines

Attachment 6:  Insurance – Volunteer Public Liability and Accident Insurance

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Committee Meetings

Ordinary Committee Meetings

Committee meetings are held at 7:30 PM on the 4^th Tuesday of each month excluding December.  Visitors are most welcome!  

Annual General Meeting

Every Advisory Committee needs to hold an Annual General Meeting early in the new Financial Year. All volunteers and the local community are invited.

The main business of the AGM is to receive reports on the operation of the Advisory Committee during the preceding financial year, including financial statements.

This year’s AGM will precede the August Ordinary Committee meeting at 7.30 pm on Tuesday, 26 August, 2025.

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Meeting Venue

Our usual venue,  Kalang Oval Pavilion, Kalang Street, Blackburn is located here:

• Car and bicycle parking is usually available at the pavilion.

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Please use the form below to submit an enquiry to the Committee via e-mail:

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History of the Committee

The time-line below shows key events in the history of the Committee – with particular emphasis on the early years:

• April, 1981 BCCG formed

  

  The community discovered that the MMBW planned to sell “excess” land along Gardiners (KooyongKoot) Creek. The Blackburn Creek Conservation Group (BCCG) was formed in response by the community – with the objective of using the land to integrate local parkland instead.

  Local residents were formally notified by the MMBW in March, 1981.

• 1983: MMBW sells land to the Council

  

  The BCCG “Up the Creek” campaign was successful – with the then Nunawading Council buying the excess land from the MMBW so that Blacks Walk, Kalang Park and Furness Park could be consolidated into a “linear park” following the creek.

• May, 1984: Committee forms

  

  Nunawading Council formed The Linear Park Committee of Management at a Council meeting on the 28th May, 1984 to manage the new park. The original Committee was composed of 11 members of the community (including a Bowls Club rep), Cr Helen MacFarlane and Council Officer John Brandenburg who was Director of Parks.

  Our photo shows 7 of the original members. Standing (L-R) are Brian Crouch, Richard Elvins and Hilda Zappe.  Seated are Helen MacFarlane, Geoff Lodge, Thelma Osborn and Megan Short.  Sadly, Mr Elvins, Mrs Zappe and Mrs Osborn have since passed away.

  Several members of the BCCG action group became community reps on the Committee of Management.

• June/July, 1984: Informal meetings

  Early meetings were chaired by Cr Helen MacFarlane – no doubt to get organised – but, importantly, to discuss the best location and layout for the proposed Bowls Club Car Park and the future of the MMBW house at 62 Main Street on the southwest bank of the creek. The new Committee was put straight to work !

  The MMBW house was demolished in 1984. The Bowls Club car park was reconstructed in 1985-86 based on a design by Committee member Thelma Osborn.

• September, 1984: Appointment of Office Bearers

  On the 6th September, the first formal meeting of the Committee occurred with John Brandenburg explaining roles and procedures which included the election of Office Bearers.

  Megan Short was elected Chairperson.  That name may seem familiar – the very same Megan Short is our current Chair ! 

  

  The Committee voted to change the name of the integrated park to the “Blackburn Creeklands” and the name of the committee to the Blackburn Creeklands Committee of Management.

• 1980s: Community Working Bees commence

  Improving the park and its corridor as a bushland reserve is one of the main reasons we exist.

  

  From the very early days, Committee organised community working bees to clean up the creek, remove old fencing and begin the regeneration process.

• 1986-1987: Project Regeneration

  

  Young committee member, Geoff Lodge, ran a project to plant using indigenous stock in our park. The culmination of the project was a planting day in October, 1986 followed by a second day in September, 1987. On the first day, about 300 people planted 3,000 plants – and, on the second, 200 people planted 2,000!
  In the photo, Geoff is addressing a public meeting concerning the project.

• 1987: Waratah Wetland

  

  The BCAC Committee received a Bicentennial Grant to restore the wetland habitat below Waratah Crescent and a Land Protection Incentives Scheme Grant for its revegetation.

• 1994: The City of Nunawading was no more!

  

  The Cities of Box Hill and Nunawading merged on 3rd November, 1994 to form Whitehorse City Council.

  This was a Kennett era merger designed to make Councils larger and able to deliver services more efficiently.

  We are not sure, but the 1989 Local Govt Act incorporated the “Advisory Committee” concept and our Committee would have become the Blackburn Creeklands Advisory Committee at about this time.

• 1999: Noticeboard Installed

  Community representation, advocacy, engagement and education are others of the main reasons we exist.

  Our Noticeboard was installed in 1999 with funds provided by Council. It had been on our project list to self-fund since 1996. Anthea Swann, who currently manages the Noticeboard, has been involved with it since its inception when a sub-committee was formed to manage the project.

  Our photo shows former Committee member Jim Lambert who led a project to replace the Noticeboard’s roof in 2012. It hasn’t leaked since!

  The first display featured aerial photos taken in 1951 and 1999 for fascinating comparison.

  

• 2000: Newsletter launched

  

  “New Year, New Century, New Newsletter” – the Blackburn Creeklands & Blackburn Lake Sanctuary Advisory Committees teamed together to publish a quarterly newsletter covering park plans/events, neighbourhood news and articles about local fauna and flora.

  Like a “Green Guide” to the local parks and corridor, the newsletter was hand delivered by volunteers until late 2014 when Internet technology made it easier to deliver the news electronically – and more frequently while avoiding printing and shoe leather costs.

• 2010: Web-site Created

  Megan Short and her son Chris (an IT guy) kicked off the BCAC web-site using WordPress technology and hosting.

  The site has gradually grown and has since subsumed the newsletter function and the Friends Group – which now numbers more than 300 individuals and families.

  We are very fortunate that several local photographers and other contributors (eg of local history and articles on nature) are more than willing to share their work with us.

  

• 2011: Weekly Maintenance Working Bees started

  

  Mary Crouch and Alan Lodge started regular maintenance bees in the park after a long history of ad-hoc work in the park as individuals and also working together with locals at Community Working Bees.

  These became Monday working bees, then Mondays and Thursdays, back to Mondays before settling on today’s weekly Thursday events.

  Mary moved away from Blackburn in 2018. Sadly, Alan passed away in November, 2020 – attending a working bee as late as July that year.

  The inspiration and legacies of their work live on!

  

• 2012: Bird Walks Commenced

  Variously named Bird Walks, Bird Surveys and Bird Counts, these events have run from 2012 in Spring and Autumn – led by Pat Bingham (Birdlife Australia) and Ian Moodie (formerly of Whitehorse Council – still going strong in his retirement).

  

  Prior to 2012, birdwatchers on Committee contributed to lists for the Creeklands. John Humphreys drew up the original list in 1986 after recording sightings in the Creeklands over a significant period. 

  His work was later revised by Dr David Grounds and published as a leaflet called Birds of the Blackburn Creeklands in 2002.

• 2024: 40th Anniversary !

  May, 2024 sees the 40th Anniversary of the Blackburn Creeklands Advisory Committee

• 2025: More Community Education Events Debut

  Our first Possum Prowl was conducted in May. 2025 and our first Eucalypt Identification Walk ran in July, 2025. Both were very successful events which helps guarantee their future in the Blackburn Creeklands.