BY Engelbert Schmidl
THE CREEK at the end of Geoff Mitchelmore’s street was a real mess a few years ago.
“It was too bloody dangerous to go down there,” Mr Mitchelmore said.
Burnt out cars and dumped garbage littered the section of lower Kororoit Creek that Mr Mitchelmore thought should have been a haven for local plant and animal life.
So in 2001 he got together with a group of like-minded locals and helped form the Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek (FOLKC).
“We’ve made one hell of a difference to the environment,” he said.
Last month, the group received another award in a line of honours to come their way in recent years.
The Victorian branch of the Keep Australia Beautiful organisation and Sustainability Victoria presented FOLKC with the 2007 biodiversity and conservation award.
Mr Mitchelmore, who moved to the area 40 years ago from Gippsland, said the award was not just recognition for the group’s efforts but also valuable publicity for the creek. A retired Gas and Fuel Corporation chief chemist, Mr Mitchelmore said theatre, another one of his passions, was an important factor in getting the message out about cleaning up the creek.
“I’ve used a lot of techniques from the theatre to gain publicity for the creek,” he said.
He estimated the group had planted 30,000 trees since beginning their campaign to conserve and beautify the waterway six years ago, including 8000 trees on the embankment below the Toyota site as part of the project that gained the group its most recent award.
Mr Mitchelmore said a partnership between the group, Toyota, Envirofund, the Commonwealth Government and Hobsons Bay City Council made the tree-planting project possible.
FOLKC has about 100 members now, with 30-40 active members.
Mr Mitchelmore said he was looking forward to the group’s next project and excited about the forthcoming National Tree Day planting.
“We had about 150 people help out last year and we want between 150 to 200 again this year,” he said.
Hobsons Bay mayor Leigh Hardinge presented the award to Mr Mitchelmore, who accepted it on behalf of the group, at a recent council meeting.
On National Tree Day, 29 July, the group will plant 1500 trees and shrubs around Kororoit Creek with support from Toyota.
Volunteers will meet at 10am at the Toyota No 7 carpark, off Grieve Parade. A free barbecue will follow at 1pm.
Everyone is welcome.
