By Tyler Wright
After a two-year hiatus, Platypus Festival will return to Belgrave Park, with up to 200 people expected to visit on Saturday 8 October to celebrate our webbed-footed friends of the water.
In partnership with Yarra Ranges Council and Melbourne Water, the Southern Dandenong’s Landcare Group is looking to bring awareness to the vulnerable species, due to the mammal’s presence in Monbulk Creek, which flows into Belgrave Lake Park.
“They used to be detected in places like Ferny Creek, where Ferny Creek and Monbulk Creek meet further downstream, and even down into Dandenong Creek,” Eliza Lamb, Southern Dandenong’s Land Group committee member said.
“I’ve never seen one in the wild, I would love to see one…it would just be such an amazing experience…because they are just magical creatures,” Ms Lamb said.
Feeding on macroinvertebrates in waterways and helping to cycle aquatic nutrients by digging up sediment, Ms Lamb said the absence of platypus from waterways they used to find their home in is “concerning”.
“They build their burrows in bends of streams… in coarse woody debris, and that’s really important for them.”
“There was a time when waterways were cleared for recreation, so people could move through them easily and coarse woody debris, logs and branches were cleared out of the waterway, and the platypus rely on those for their habitat.”
According to Vinnie Aulich, Environmental Volunteer and Project Support Officer at Yarra Ranges Council, platypus are a “species in decline,” with their habitat shrinking by at least 22 per cent in the last 30 years.
“They are a cryptic species and not easily observed however they are present in a number or creeks and rivers within the Yarra Ranges including Monbulk Creek,” Mr Aulich said.
Through the upcoming Platypus Festival, these bodies will seek to educate and engage families and young children on the challenges faced by the species and the need for their protection, given they are now largely missing from local waterways.
Ms Lamb said Melbourne Water will undertake eDNA sampling at this year’s Platypus Festival, wildlife education business Blacksnake Productions will be holding a wildlife display and Friends of Belgrave Lake Park will be holding a stall.
“[Melbourne Water] will have some samples water bugs in trays that children can get up close and personal with the magnifying glass and have a look,” Ms Lamb said.
“Water bugs tell us so much about water quality, we have certain species that are more sensitive to chemicals and pollution in water and so you’ll find certain species are present in some water environments, but not others.
These are the next generations coming up and it gives them a good platform to learn about the environment and then take action themselves.”
Belgrave Lake Park is located at 35 Park Drive, Belgrave, and the Platypus Festival will run from 11am to 3pm on Saturday 8 October.
For more information, visit https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Experience/Events/Platypus-Festival
