Toolern Creek History
Toolern Creek (originally named Pennyroyal Creek in the 1830s) is a tributary of the Werribee River and is in the Shire of Melton, Victoria, Australia.
Toolern Creek starts its journey in the hills at Toolern Vale about 15km north of Melton Township. It passes through the volcanic plains on the west of the volcanic cone of Mt Kororit. It runs along the eastern edge of Melton Central and Melton South. Eventually joining the Werribee River near Exford 5km from Melton South.
Along the Toolern Creek are many river red gums and features such the Melton Valley Golf Club, Hannah Watts Park, sporting reserves, Town Centre Park and the The Willows (1855) historic homestead. A walking and bike track runs along much of the creek from the Golf course to Blamey Drive in Melton South.
Prior to European settlement the Toolern Creek area was inhabited by the aboriginal people known as Wurundjeri. Their spoken dialect was Woiwurung. The Kurung-jang-balluk clan of the Wurundjeri tribe were hunting and roaming the plains near Toolern Creek and Werribee River at the time of first European settlement. A number of historical recordings by people such as Hume and Hovell (1824) and John Batman (1835) record aborignal activity, plant and animal life on the plains west of what was to become Melbourne. The Pyke Brothers settled on the banks of Pennyroyal Creek in 1839. For more information see a Brief History of Melton.
Various groups and the Shire of Melton have worked to improve the Toolern Creek environment through revegetation initiatives such as tree planting to improve habit, water quality and combat soil erosion.
You can read the free e-book "Journey of Discovery to Port Phillip Bay" by Hume and Hovell in text format to find interesting insights from their diaries of their journey from Sydney to Corio Bay.
John Bentley (2006)
