We are often asked what this area was like before white settlement. We know that significant change has been made to the Creek since the 1840’s due to gold mining, planting of exotic trees (now considered weeds), alteration to the Creek for flood mitigation and the encroachment of a township that reached a population over 6,000 in the 1860’s.
Clunes is located on the edge of the Basalt Plains, in a valley surrounded by rounded volcanic cones. The surrounding area would have been predominantly grassland plains with river red gums growing along the creeks and waterways. Remnant forest of this type can be found in Merin Merin Swamp to the north of Clunes. Early settlers considered the river flats to be fertile agricultural land.
It’s likely that close to the Creek there would have been scrub to 8 metres tall on alluvial deposits with high nutrient and water availability. Soils vary from organic loams to fine silts and peats which were inundated during the wetter months of the year and dominated by Woolly Tea-tree, Leptospermun lanigerum, which often forms a dense impenetrable thicket, outcompeting other species. Emergent trees such as Swamp Gum, Eucalyptus ovata, may have been present. Where light penetrated to ground level a moss/lichen/liverwort herbaceous ground cover may have been present. Other species that may have been present are Scented Paperbark, Melaleuca squarrosa and Blackwood, Acacia melanoxylon.
Other understorey species that were most likely present are:
Slender Knotweed – Persicaria decipiens
Running Marsh-flower – Villarsia reniformis
Showy Willow-herb – Epilobium pallidiflorum
Wing Pennywort – Hydrocotyle pterocarpa
Australian Lilaeopsis – Lilaeopsis polyantha
Mossy Pennywort – Hydrocotyle muscosa
Matted Pratia – Lobelia pedunculata s.l.
Swamp Crassula – Crassula helmsii
Tall Rush – Juncus procerus
Tall Saw-sedge – Gahnia clarkei
Reed Bent-grass – Deyeuxia quadriseta
Dark Swamp Wallaby-grass – Amphibromus recurvatus
Leafy Bog-sedge – Schoenus maschalinus
Wetland Blown-grass – Lachnagrostis filiformis
Broad-leaf Rush – Juncus planifolius
When selecting plants to include in the Creek walk planting we are mindful of including species that will not become invasive, provide habitat for local wildlife and assist with flood mitigation.
For more information about how you can become a valued volunteer contact us at cluneslandcare@gmail.com
We acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung as the traditional
custodians of these lands and waterways.
Clunes Landcare and Waterways Group 