Merri Creek

Merri Creek
The Merri Creek passing through Fairfield and Clifton Hill with Melbourne city skyline in the distance.
Location
Country	Australia
State	Victoria
Physical characteristics
Length	70 km (43 mi)
Basin size	Unknown

37°45′35″S 144°58′53″E / 37.759756°S 144.981482°E / -37.759756; 144.981482 The Merri Creek is a waterway in southern parts of Victoria, Australia which flows through the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It begins near Wallan and flows south for 70 km until joining the Yarra River at Dights Falls. The area where the creek meets the river was traditionally the location for large gatherings of the Wurundjeri people and is suspected to have been the location for one of the earliest land treaties in Australia between Indigenous Australians and European settlers.

The creek was the site of heavy industrial use throughout much of the 20th century, being home to quarries, landfills and accepting waste runoff from neighbouring factories. This has degraded the riparian ecology of the creek leaving behind pollutants such as heavy metals and various greases. Recent decades have seen some regenerative planting and the foundation of several community groups dedicated to protecting and regenerating the creek's ecology.