City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

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DAREBIN HERITAGE STUDY STAGE 2division of the Victorian Women’s Soccer Association. In 2000 the Club changed its name tothe Darebin Women’s Sports Club, due to a desire to offer more sports to members, and toreflect its geographic location more accurately. The Club now has Australian Rules football,soccer, cricket, eight ball and Gaelic football teams, and also a cricket team in the VictorianWomen’s Cricket Association’s B West competition. Darebin Women’s Sports Club is one ofthe strongest and best supported women’s sporting clubs in Victoria, and has its own purposebuilt venue at A.H. Capp Reserve in Preston (Darebin Historical Encyclopedia).Making musicBrass BandsA tradition of community music making is the brass band, which originated in industrialcentres in nineteenth century Britain as an expression of working class pride. Both Northcoteand Preston had bands, although Northcote seems to have lasted for a only few years in the1890s. They were present to welcome the Governor with a playing of the National Anthemwhen he came to proclaim the Town of Northcote in 1890 (Lemon 1983: 109). Preston hadbands associated with lodges such as the Foresters and the ANA and also the Salvation Army.There was also a Preston Citizens Band, which was a forerunner of the Preston MunicipalBand formed in 1934 with W.S May as musical director. The Band established a fine record incompetitions and also performed locally. In 1965 Preston Council provided a cream brickband room in Cramer Street. The Band is now called Darebin City Brass, and has a junior classready to provide continuity (Forster 1968: 118-9; www.darebincitybrass.com).The Reservoir District Band was also active in the 1960s, and performed at Edwardes Lake,where it requested a band rotunda. This does not appear to have been built, but a CommunityStage was provided in later years (Edwardes Lake 2002: 29).Preston Symphony OrchestraOf more recent origin is the Preston Symphony Orchestra, formed in 1950, although Forstersuggests it may have existed earlier, and re-formed in 1950. The first conductor was Bill May(possibly W.S. May mentioned above). The orchestra has traditionally performed at theMidwinter Festival of Schools Music in the Preston Town Hall, and have performed withvarious suburban choral societies (Forster 1968: 119).7.6 Appreciating and defending the environmentEnjoying the natural environmentDarebin has a many beauty spots that have been traditional places of recreation for locals. Inthe 1870s Sunday school excursions used to visit George James’ paddock on Rucker’s Hill andPender’s Grove. Arthur Howard remembers Alphington Scouts held camps on Darebin Creekin the 1930s (Howard A., 2007: pers comm).Edwardes Lake Park has long been a very popular destination for picnicking in a semi-naturalparkland and Bundoora Park has been popular ever since it opened to the public. Both theDarebin and Merri Creeks are important as places to enjoy the natural environment and thewalking tracks are well used.Preserving the natural environmentEarly colonist Richard Howitt regretted the destruction of the beauty of the native woodlandand its wildlife, but he knew that "we can't eat wood", and felt forced to proceed with thedestruction.The Northcote Health League was formed in 1880 to address the problem of air pollutionfrom the noxious industries, and managed to have the industries better regulated and cleanedup. A more recent body seeking to preserve the environment is the Warringal Conservation126
VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYSociety, formed in 1970, mostly active in the City of Banyule, but has been active in the LaTrobe University area.More recently still, some parks have resulted from campaigns to conserve areas of biodiversityat Central Creek Grassland Reserve (Merri Creek Management Committee, Friends of MerriCreek) and Gresswell Forest, Gresswell Hill.Re-creating the natural environmentBy 1960s, creeks were the unpleasant, unsafe and ugly backs to some lesser valued properties,but the potential for their rehabilitation began to be recognised. The Darebin ParklandsAssociation began work in the 1960s on revegetation of cleared areas. Programs to restoreMerri Creek began in the mid 1970s, with the investigations of the Monash University PublicInterest Research Group (PIRG) at the request of the Fitzroy Resident's Association.Community action and interest in linear parklands and habitat creation led to acquisitions ofparkland through purchase, negotiation and campaigning. Creeks became popular destinationsfor less formal recreation, particularly walking and cycling.The Merri Creek Coordination Committee was formed in 1976 as a forum for agencies andthe community to work together towards preserving the natural assets of the Merri and EdgarsCreeks. It set up the Merri Creek Management Committee in 1989 to employ specialist staff toprotect and restore the Merri Creek. The Darebin Creek Co-ordinating Committee wasformed in 1984, and in 2001 was amalgamated with the Darebin Parklands Committee ofManagement to create the Darebin Creek Management Committee. These groups haveaccelerated the pace of natural environmental restoration along the Creeks, and have acted asmodels for similar groups, such as the Moonee Ponds Creek Co-ordination Committee and theWerribee River Association.Figure 88Revegetation programs along the MerriCreek by Friends of Merri Creek,(image date unknown)[Merri Creek conservation worksimages on Google search enginehttp://images.google.com.au/imgres?i]Studying the natural environmentLa Trobe University has long had Departments of Botany and Zoology, actively involved instudying, and teaching the study of the natural environment. The Melbourne Wildlife Reserve(originally the La Trobe University Wildlife Reserve) was set up in 1967 as a project inrestoration and management of indigenous flora and fauna (www.latrobe.edu.au/wildlife). Itnow is the caretaker of four areas: The Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary at La Trobe University;the Gresswell Forest Nature Conservation Reserve; the Gresswell Habitat Link; and GresswellHill. The Melbourne Wildlife Sanctuary provides an indigenous natural environment forconservation, education and research activities that support the learning and teaching objectivesof La Trobe University (www.latrobe.edu.au/wildlife/vision).Bundoora Park runs environmental educational programs for schools etc at their wildlifereserve, farm dam and the nearby Darebin Creek. School groups are often taken on excursions127
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City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

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