City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORYMerri Creek and the upper part of Darebin Creek would have carried Stream Bank Shrubland(Oates & Taranto, 2001), with a sparse over-storey of Red Gums, possibly with the occasionalManna Gum or Swamp Gum. But shrubs were dominant with Tea-trees and River Bottlebrushamongst the rocks on the stream bed and Sweet Bursaria, Tree Violet, Shiny Cassinia and HopGoodenia on the stream banks 7 .South of La Trobe University, the vegetation of Darebin Creek graded into Red Gumwoodland over an understorey of Common Tussock-Grass, sometimes with Swamp Paperbark 8thickets in the dampest spots. On the higher escarpments surrounding the Creek there was ashrubland with Drooping Sheoak, wattles, Cassinias, Tree Violets, Tree Everlasting andBurgan commonly occurring 9 (Oates & Taranto, 2001).Edgars Creek and other small tributaries such as Strathallan Creek draining La TrobeUniversity were lined by grassy woodland again dominated by Red Gums but with a scatteredshrub layer and a ground layer dense with Common tussock Grass and Tall Sedge amongstother species. 10 . On Strathallan Creek a patch of grassy wetland occurred near the La TrobeUniversity Wildlife Reserve 11 (Oates & Taranto, 2001).1.4 FaunaEastern Grey Kangaroos were plentiful in the grassy spaces in the woodlands, and in theshrubbier thickets along the creeks Swamp Wallabies were also present. Dependent on thedense grassy habitat were Tasmanian Bettongs - miniature Kangaroos. Wombats and Echidnaswere common (Museum of Victoria Bioinformatics website).Platypus and the beaver-like Rakali (also known as the native Water Rat) were plentiful in bothMerri and Darebin creeks, which also teemed with fish, and seasonally eels. Tortoises sunnedthemselves on rocks and fallen timber in the creeks, submerging to forage for tadpoles, fish andinvertebrates. The Short-necked Tortoise and the Common Long-necked Tortoise occurred inthe study area (McMahon & Schulz, 2003). Eight species of frogs bred in the creeks andwetlands and roamed across the study area hunting for insects.In grassland areas the Eastern Barred Bandicoot nested during the day, coming out at night todig for insects, tubers and fungi, and in the woodlands the Long-nosed Bandicoot occurred.Dingoes roamed wild and were the domesticated companions of the Aborigines, helping themhunt.The Quolls (or “Native Cats”) hunted at night for the smaller mammals, birds and reptiles aswell as insects. They were common around the rocky escarpments of the creeks and in areaswith good tree hollows or fallen hollow timber. Both the Eastern and Spot-tailed Quollsoccurred in study area.In the trees there were Koalas, but also the night-loving ringtail and brushtail possums, as wellas Sugar Gliders, Squirrel-Gliders, the Brush-tailed Phascogale and the tiny Feathertail Glider.Living in burrows or hollows were a range of native rats, including in the grasslands the SwampRat, .and in shrubbier understoreys the Bush Rat. Marsupial mice - probably the AgileAntechinus, Dusky Antechinus and Fat-tailed Dunnart hunted amongst the fallen logs androcks and leaf litter for insects, spiders and cockroaches.Around 10 species of bat sheltered during the day in tree hollows or in crevices in cliff-faces tocome out at night and catch flying insects.7 EVC 851 Stream-bank Shrubland8 EVC's 928 Riparian Woodland/Stream-bank Shrubland Mosaic and 641 Riparian Woodland9 EVC 895 Escarpment Shrubland10 EVC 68 Creekline Grassy Woodland11 EVC 125 Plains Grassy Wetland13