Branching out - life at The Leigh

After the recent posts on the local bushrangers, I figured it was time to visit some of the places mentioned in their travels and in particular, the little town of Shelford came to mind. Located on the Leigh River about 17km upstream of the confluence with the Barwon, it was originally known as The Leigh.

The Leigh River, Shelford

The area first saw European settlement when George Russell for the Clyde Company, established Golf Hill nearby in 1839. By 1842, Russell had purchased the homestead and when the Clyde Company was dissolved in 1857-1858 he purchased the central Golf Hill freehold.

Golf Hill, copyright The Australian Heritage Photographic Library

Over the years, the homestead grew from a timber shack to a small brick cottage built in 1846 and designed by local surveyor and architect Alexander John Skene. By 1867 at the time of Russell's wife's death a weatherboard drawing room extension was in the process of construction. This part of the building remains today, however the brick cottage was demolished to allow the construction of the current two-storey bluestone mansion in 1876.
Russell eventually expanded the property to an area of about 28,000 acres - around two fifths of the original holding. He died at Golf Hill in 1888 and it passed to his bachelor son who ran the property with the aid of his youngest sister, Janet. After the death of her brother, Janet, along with her husband John Biddlecombe, took over the estate and established one of the best Hereford studs in the country, channelling much of the profit from the business into acts of philanthropy - not unlike another widow - Elizabeth Austin - whose pioneering husband established his property Barwon Park not too far away at Winchelsea.
The majority of the Golf Hill land was eventually sold for subdivision into soldier settlement blocks following the Second World War.

Plaque showing the original subdivision of Golf Hill and the nearby
Shelford Estate into solder settlement blocks

Amongst the contributions to the township made by George Russell was the Presbyterian church, which opened on the 8th December, 1859 and was built on Russell's land, not far from the front gate of his property on the Leigh Road (now the Shelford-Bannockburn Road). Its spire is still clearly visible today from the banks of the Leigh.

Shelford Presbyterian Church established with the assistance of George Russell.
Reproduction rights held by the State Library of Victoria

By this time, Shelford not only served the local district but formed part of the chain of staging points for the mail coach running from Portland to Geelong - the same held up by Owen Suffolk and his band in 1851.
It was also in this year that a bridge was first built to cross the Leigh. This earliest bridge was a timber construction which was replaced in 1873/1874 by a wrought iron box girder bridge which still stands today. It is one of only a small number of this style of bridge surviving in Victoria.

The newly-built bridge over the Leigh River at Shelford. George Russell's
Presbyterian Church can be seen to the right behind the bridge. Reproduction
rights held by the State Library of Victoria

In more recent years, a modern concrete bridge was built alongside and now carries all vehicular traffic whilst a section of the old bridge is open to foot traffic only.

The Shelford bridge of 1874 in July, 2013

Highway Robbery!

Whilst I'm on the subject of bushrangers - and in particular Owen Suffolk - his autobiography describes one other story of derring-do which falls within the broader auspices of this blog. Like the exploits of the previous post (BAIL UP!) this escapade involved horse-theft and robbery at gunpoint however if the author is to be believed, it also involved a police chase and a daring escape.
And that, at the moment, is the problem. I can find no mention of the affair - at least as described by Suffolk - in the local papers or indeed from any source other than Suffolk's autobiography (Owen Suffolk: days of crime and years of punishment).

The face of a bushranger: Owen Suffolk, 1829

The tale begins a short time before the Portland Mail Coach hold up when Suffolk and his two compatriots (Christie Farrell and Harry Dowling) were teaching themselves the "bushranger's trade". According to Suffolk, he and Dowling were both well educated and of a somewhat romantic bent, so the mystique of a bushranger's life appealed to them as much as the pecuniary potential.
Rather than paraphrase, I will give Suffolk's version of their first foray into highway robbery:

Before parting that night, Christy, Dowling and I had agreed to meet in three days, each armed with a pair of pistols, and properly mounted at a place called the Back Creek, distant some dozen miles from Geelong. I had sufficient money by me to purchase the pistols. Disguised as an old man, wearing false grey whiskers and large goggle-spectacles, I made a purchase at a gunsmith's shop in Geelong for "that dear boy of mine who would go to California."
The mayor of Geelong's stable furnished me with a saddle and bridle, and a grazing paddock near Bates' Ford provided me with a tolerable steed.
I was first at the rendezvous; but I had not long to wait, for very soon Harry and Christy, splendidly mounted, galloped up.
They had been more thoughtful than myself, and had brought with then a flask of brandy, a couple of cold fowls, &c. I left them to the brandy, but I appropriated a whole fowl by way of a set-off.
We were not long inactive, for shortly after we had finished the fowls and their concomitants, a gig, driven tandem fashion, taking an up-country direction, passed by us. We were soon in pursuit, the gig was quickly overtaken, our pistols were presented in the true Turpin style and with a courtesy worthy of Macaire the gentlemen were requested to resign their valuables into our safe keeping. They had the good sense to comply without giving trouble; but unfortunately they travelled with very little cash in their possession and their watches were silver and antiquated. Politely returning to them their cheque-books, and promising to keep their watches by way of memento, we permitted them to proceed upon their journey. After this valorous exploit we separated, agreeing to meet in Geelong the next day.
It so happened, however, that I was very far from being satisfied with such a poor commencement, and I formed the resolution of doing something singlehanded before returning to town. Towards the evening I stopped a horseman and obtained from him about thirty-three pounds in notes. I hadscarcely finished searching his clothes (for I had made him take off his outer garments) when up rode two mounted police. They were not more than one hundred yards distant when I first saw them, as a bend in the road had prevented me from seeing them before. I was in my saddle in a minute, galloping swiftly across the plains. The police followed, and the "swell" whom I had robbed joined in the pursuit. I looked back every now and then, but the horses seemed well-matched. If I could not leave my pursuers behind, neither did they seem to gain upon me. Once they fired at me with their carbines, but ineffectually. After about an hour's gallop I came full upon the Moorabool River. It was a perfect torrent; and the bridge had been swept away by the fury of the stream. My horse was beginning to flag; and I saw at a glance that if I attempted to follow the course of the river my pursuers would be able to cut me off. Cross the stream I must. The bank was quite precipitous, and about six feet above the level of the stream. My horse at this made a dead stop, and then, maddened by severe spurring, plunged with a bound into the seething waters. We were carried rapidly down the river, and before I had reached the middle of it, the police, too frightened to follow, were firing upon me. Night by this time had well set in, and it was the darkness tat proved my safety. With daylight they could not have missed me as often as they did, for as I was at least a quarter of an hour in reaching the opposite bank, they each fired several shots - the exact number I could not tell. As it was, both myself and my horse escaped unhurt. On reaching the opposite bank I waved my hat, gave a shout of defiance, and galloped off with the full assurance that they would not risk crossing the river. Before daylight I made my way into Geelong, and was snug in bed while the Geelong police were riding all over the country after me. I met my two brother knights the evening after this adventure, and for some time Harry Dowling and myself amused the public and tantalized the police by writing letters and verse to the papers, assuring the former that they would find us zealously industrious, and inviting the latter to catch us if they could.

Police officers on the Ballarat goldfields making an arrest

A grand tale indeed, but one which may owe more to Suffolk's oratory skills than to fact. Having read his version of events, I naturally went looking for corroborative evidence. I hit my first stumbling block when I could find no sign of a Back Creek within the general vicinity of Geelong. There is a creek of that name however, about 12 miles from Ballarat, near the town of Scotsburn on the Midland Highway. Maybe he got his towns muddled.
Next, I searched the newspapers of the day for any reports of highway robbery which fitted the description given by Suffolk. Nothing. Nor was there mention of the mayor (at that time, Dr Alexander Thomson, resident at Kardinia House on the south bank of the Barwon in Geelong) having lost a saddle and bridle or of a horse stolen from Batesford (quite a distance to carry that much equipment before acquiring a horse on which to place them!).
My third approach was to check for reports of a flood at about this time - the Moorabool was, he claimed, "a seething torrent" and the bridge had been "carried away by the fury of the stream". Which bridge? None that I could find were reported as flood-damaged. In fact the papers claimed that two periods of rain in early and mid-March had saved the district from a severe drought, there was certainly no discussion of a flood.

Russell's Bridge over the Moorabool River possibly during the 19th century,
a bridge at this point dates to the early 1850s.

As for a six foot leap into the Moorabool, well that was possible, the riverbanks are quite steep in places. Taking 15 minutes to cross the stream, coming out in one piece and still in control of his mount? That I'm not so sure about. Granted, the Moorabool had not at that time been dammed and may have flowed more strongly than today, but it is not a big river.
A little more rifling and I finally came across a report of robbery on a public highway leading from "Mr Yuille's property" (the vicinity of Lake Wendouree in Ballarat) and Buninyong on 28th March, 1851, in which Mr Michael Cavenagh was held up at gunpoint by two assailants and relieved of his horse, its tack and his other valuables. One of his assailants it later transpired, was Suffolk.
 I also found an article in the Geelong Advertiser published after his trial for the mail coach robbery which, in part, included a letter written by him (but not named as such) in which he boasted about robbing Cavenagh, much as he described in his book. The Advertiser it seems had not deemed the content worthy of publication until Suffolk's notoriety had been revealed.
So, was this robbery the basis of Suffolk's writings? It is the only likely event I can find on record but there is no mention of an escape from the law or a daring river-crossing. Dramatic licence? Perhaps. Or maybe the second hold up and subsequent chase didn't come to the attention of the press, however if it was anywhere near as dramatic as Suffolk describes then that seems unlikely.
Assuming for a moment that such a chase did take place after the robbery near Ballarat and that Suffolk as he claimed, galloped for an hour before coming upon the Moorabool, he must have been riding either south or south west towards Geelong (his eventual destination).
But where was the missing bridge? In 1851 there were significantly fewer bridges across the Moorabool than there are today. In fact within about 30 miles of Buninyong there were only one or two bridges which I can tentatively identify. One, described as a "hand bridge" over the Moorabool near Lal Lal Falls on the way to Corduroy Bridge (Clarendon) was reported as swept away in 1855. Another was Sharps Bridge on the road of the same name a few miles past Meredith.

The current version of Sharp's Bridge

Either way, this would still have left a relatively lengthy ride (25 miles or more) back to Geelong before dawn with a rather tired horse. Not impossible I guess.
Well at this point I have to admit defeat. I have tried everything I can think of but am still not convinced that the events described above occurred at least in some form. I will continue searching, but for now, this blog needs to be posted.
Either way you have to admit that the Convict Poet spins a darn good yarn!

BAIL UP!

Last year I posted about an escape from the Old Geelong Gaol (Jail Break!) by career criminals Christie Farrell and Josh Clarke in 1889. I also made passing reference to an incident much earlier in Christie's career: the robbery under arms of the Portland Mail.
This sensational hold up had everything. It featured a dashing but disguised bushranger with a criminal record and a flair for poetry, wielding handguns whilst shouting phrases such as "Bail Up!" and threatening to blow peoples' brains out. It also took place not too far from Bruce's Creek.
The following is my interpretation of events, taken mostly from the newspapers of the day (The Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer and The Argus) and from Owen Suffolk's autobiography written during his final stint in an Australian jail in 1866.
The fateful event took place on the 19th May, 1851. The mail coach, its passengers and driver had stopped at the Leigh (now Shelford) to collect the mail and presumably to change horses. From there it followed its usual route towards Bruce's Creek (Bannockburn) and was travelling slowly, about a mile past the creek on the road to Geelong when Suffolk and his two accomplices struck.

The current (Pilloud's) Bridge across Bruce's Creek at Bannockburn

Whilst Farrell remained hidden, Suffolk and the third member of their little gang - Harry Dowling - intercepted the coach. Suffolk leapt to take the horses' heads, ordering the driver to "stand" and threatening to kill him if he did not. He also threatened to "shoot the first man who moved a finger" whilst Dowling ordered the passengers to raise their hands and get down from the coach. It was Suffolk who then bound their hands with their own kerchiefs (and in the case of the driver, with a belt taken from the driver of the Melbourne coach during an earlier hold up, to whom it was suggested he return it) before ordering them to re-embark and himself driving the coach about half a mile into the bush. The passengers were once again offloaded then tied to trees, at which point Dowling unhitched the horses and saddled one using a passenger's saddle and tack whilst Suffolk proceeded to rifle through the mailbags looking for cash, cheques and other valuables. That done, he also ordered the passengers to empty out their pockets.

Farrell it seems remained out of sight during the whole affair whilst Suffolk and Dowling were heavily disguised. By his own account, Suffolk was attired thus:

I had on three loosely fitting blue shirts or jumpers over a complete suit of clothes...my legs were encased in a pair of large gaiters which reached up to my hips. My head was placed inside the network of a rainbow comforter, which was secured against falling off by being fastened with a ribbon round my neck - one end of it hanging far down my back like a Chinaman's tail. A large sou'wester on my head, and a pair of light blucher boots, the soles of which were ornamented with as sort of scroll done with copper tacks, completed my costume.

This description which was not dissimilar to that later given by the witnesses in court is however somewhat at odds with a later illustration of the event by GD Bruny. Suffolk himself was somewhat bemused by media reports at the time which described him and "Farrell" variously as:
"a tall raw-boned Irishman [he was English] ill-becoming a suit of black" and "as two beardless boys of gentlemanly appearance, whom no one would have suspected of such crimes."
An account of the affair published some 48 years later by George E Boxall in his book "History of the Australian Bushranger" makes interesting reading when compared to Suffolk's own account and the reports from the media of the day.*


Depiction of Suffolk and "Farrell" waiting to bail up a coach, although from
the evidence of the witnesses and Suffolk's own description they were neither
mounted nor dressed in such fashion at the time of the hold up near Bruce's
Creek whilst Harry Dowling rather than Christie Farrell assisted Suffolk
to rob the coach.

All of this served to highlight Suffolk's own contention that witnesses could easily be misled by casual similarities and a few preconceived ideas. He argued that the bulkiness of his clothing and the concealment of both his and his accomplice's faces during the hold up meant that the witnesses could not have made an accurate identification of their assailants.

This fact later had serious consequences for Farrell, despite his remaining unseen throughout. In any case, the job was complete and the trio returned to Geelong, Farrell on foot and the other two riding the horses taken from the mail coach, which they then turned loose outside of town.
The following evening, in true dashing style, Suffolk decided to attend a performance at the Theatre Royal. However, having muddied his own boots en route, rather than return home to change, he elected to purchase another pair from an establishment he called "the famous Yellow Slipper". [My research shows that this was actually the Red Boot shoe shop in Moorabool Street, located opposite the Market Square.]

View of Geelong in 1861, taken from the corner of Kardinia and Malop Streets
looking south west. Malop Street crosses the bottom of the picture, Moorabool
Street runs to the left with the corner of the Market Square before it. The
Red Boot shoe shop, still in business some ten years later is the second store
from the left on Moorabool Street

At the store, he was surprised to be served by a former compatriot from Cockatoo Island. Knowing his history, this now reformed character was immediately suspicious of Suffolk's apparent affluence. Without letting on their previous acquaintance, the shopman (George Percy Simmons), along with his boss and the mailman from the hold up who recognised Suffolk's distinctive boots, informed the police and headed for the theatre. Suffolk saw them and quickly slipped out but Simmons also recognised Farrell as an associate of Suffolk and assuming he was the other assailant from the hold up, the three tried unsuccessfully to corner him before giving up and leaving it for the police.
The following day, Farrell and Dowling decided to distance themselves from the scene of the crime by taking the steamer to Melbourne. Suffolk advised against this as he claimed it would be watched by the authorities and chose to remain at the lodging house where they had been staying.
In the event, he was proven correct and Farrell, having been identified by Simmons, was arrested at the dock as he attempted to leave for Melbourne. Dowling, who of course was unknown to the storeman and happened to be carrying Farrell's share of the spoils remained undetected and made his escape.

Corio Bay, 1850 from Western Beach showing a steamer moored at the Steam
Packet Wharf

Suffolk's downfall came soon after as when questioned, Farrell gave the address at which he had been staying and so it was a simple matter to corner Suffolk at Guise's Lodging House (in James Street) the following morning and make the arrest.
Seeing the officers approaching through a window and hoping to hide evidence, Suffolk placed a watch stolen from the mailman under a pillow in Farrell's room after which he was duly arrested.
Until their case came to court a few days later, Suffolk and Farrell were lodged in what was then the Geelong Gaol, known to history as the South Geelong Gaol and located back from the banks of the Barwon at the corner of Balliang and Yarra Streets. Their first appearance to face the charges saw them brought before none other than police magistrate Captain Foster Fyans along with C N Thorne JP and Leiut Addis.
Then, on 21st June they faced a jury and the resident judge of the Geelong Circuit Court. In a noble attempt, in keeping with the theme of dashing gallantry, Suffolk quickly admitted his own guilt and made an eloquent argument in defence of Farrell's innocence . He admitted to hiding the watch and brought the young daughter of the house to the stand where she gave evidence that she had moved the handguns used by Suffolk to the drawer of Farrell's room as there was no available drawer in Suffolk's. When cross-questioning the storeman Simmons, Suffolk made a fair attempt to discredit the witness by quizzing him as to the length of their acquaintance and to their joint tenure on Cockatoo Island.
His efforts however, were all to no avail as the jury found both men guilty, sentencing them to ten years "on the roads", the first three to be served in irons. And so, despite having remained hidden and taken no active part in the holdup itself (assuming we can trust Suffolk's assertion that he was assisted by Dowling not Farrell), Farrell was convicted whilst Dowling escaped justice.
No doubt further confirming Suffolk's opinions as to witness veracity, one of the passengers indicated that he recognised "Farrell" by his voice.

A mail coach which I am guessing would have been similar to that travelling
the Portland to Geelong Route

*Below is an extract from George E Boxall's History of the Australian Bushrangers, 1899.

On June 23rd the mail coach was bailed up at Bruce's Creek, between Portland and Geelong. The coach, with three passengers on board, was going down hill to the crossing-place, when two men stepped from behind gum trees, presented their pistols, and cried "Bail up." The driver, William Freere, instead of complying, began to flog his horses, but before they could respond thir heads were seized by one of the bushrangers, while the other put his pistol to Freere's head; and threatened to blow his brains out. The coach was taken some distance off the road, and its occupants were tied to trees. The robbers went very leisurely through te letters, and when all that was of value had been abstracted one of the bushrangers took a saddle and bridle belonging to one of the passengers (Mr. Thomas Gibson) and set it aside with the remark, "Ah, this is just what I wanted." This bushranger was dressed "in a black suit of fashionable cut, and wore black kid gloves." He was afterwards identified as Owen Suffolk, while his companion was Christopher Farrell. Suffolk took one of the coach-horses, put the saddle and bridle on, and mounted. Farrell jumped on the other horse barebacked. The tied men begged hard to be let loose, offering to swear that they would not give information to the police, or move from the spot until their captors were away, but their supplications were only laughed at. The road was at that time but little frequented, and the next mail, which might possibly be the first vehicle to pass, would not come for a week. Moreover, they were out of sight of the road. The struggle to get free was therefore a struggle for life, and it was a severe one. Mr. Gibson was the first to get one hand loose. After this the rest was comparatively easy. In less than an hour they were all free, and they walked straight to the township at Bruce's Creek to tell the police. The robbers were caught in Geelong a day or two later. Suffolk was strolling along the beach near the wharf, and Farrell was found in a boardinghouse not far away. They were sentenced to ten years' penal servitude, the first three in irons.

It is easy to see how legends arise and misconceptions develop over the years. In his own version of events, Suffolk explicitly states that:

After securing all that seemed worth securing, I untied the mailman, and then, having released him from the tree, I fastened his hands behind him in a peculiar fashion, telling him that as soon as I knew we were out of sight he could set to work to undo one of the others, a task which I knew would take him some little time to perform with his own hands tied as they were. 

Hardly the life and death struggle described by Boxall, however it does not precisely tally with the version of events given by the mailman who made no mention of Suffolk telling him he could free himself once the robbers were out of sight.
In true Robin Hood style however, Suffolk also claimed to have returned via mail a sum of £5 to one of the passengers from whom he had taken two sovereigns. The man had pleaded poverty and a gravely ill wife when confronted by Suffolk who, on making later inquiries, discovered this to be the case. It probably would not do to dwell on how the extra £3 were obtained, but perhaps not surprisingly, according to Suffolk, this witness refused to testify at his subsequent trial.

Branching out - Bruce's Creek

All rivers have tributaries and the Barwon is no exception. Bruce's Creek is a tributary of the Barwon which rises to the north west of the township of Lethbridge and "flows" across the basalt plain, through Lethbridge and then Bannockburn and empties into the Barwon a little to the east of Murgheboluc. (NB Whilst it does have areas which contain water, it does not have a continuous flow.)
This little creek like much of the district through which it runs has seen quite a bit of history. Prior to European settlement, the area through which Bruce's Creek runs formed part of the land belonging to the Wathaurong, who used the stream bed as pathway to guide them to the Barwon.

Bruce's Creek where it crosses the Hamilton Highway and "flows" west before
joining the Barwon River near Murgheboluc

With the arrival of European settlers, the surrounding land was opened up to grazing and then farming. The creek derives its name from the settler James Bruce who occupied land in the area from 1840 and claimed descent from the famous Robert The Bruce of Scotland who defeated the English in the Battle of Bannockburn. In a nod to the famous battle, this name was eventually given to the township which was established on the creek's banks.
Bruce was the second European to occupy the land, the first having been George Russell who held the land in the name of the Clyde company as part of his Golf Hill Station, but resided some distance away at Shelford (then known as Leigh) on the Leigh River.
Prior to the town's development the area was known either as Leigh Road (the name given to the railway station which opened there on the Geelong-Ballarat railway line in 1863) or simply as Bruce's Creek. In these earliest days, there was no bridge, just a collection of the readily-available basalt rocks piled across the creek to form a fording point. The ford still exists and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Database, but with little additional information, I am unsure if this was a public vehicle crossing point however, early maps do not seem to indicate that it was ever part of the route of the Lower Leigh Road of the 1850s between Bannockburn and the Leigh.

Historic crossing on Bruce's Creek near Bannockburn

Bruce's Creek ford

The ford and track leading over the hill towards Bannockburn

On the contrary, an 1855 surveyor's map of the "township and suburbs of Bannockburn" shows a bridge at the point where today's Pilloud's Bridge stands, located about 2km downstream from the ford. I am unsure of the age of the modern bridge, but it appears to be a newer structure supported by older bluestone piers.

Pilloud's Bridge across Bruce's Creek, Bannockburn

The other township to spring up on the banks of the creek was Lethbridge, originally known as Muddy Water Holes for a chain of ponds which ran along Bruce's Creek at that point. Gazetted in 1854, the town originally centred around the Ballarat Road (Midland Highway) and catered to the traffic passing to the newly discovered goldfields of Ballarat. From 1858 when the railway came, Lethbridge thrived as local bluestone was quarried to build the line, however as in Bannockburn, the centre of business eventually drifted away from the highway to the railway line with businesses either closing or relocating to survive. This left only the Lethbridge Primary School and the Catholic Church on the road to Ballarat, however in an ironic reversal, the school and church have now both closed, but a significant increase in housing has occurred along the highway.
As with much of the country, European settlement caused significant change to the immediate environment of Bruce's Creek. The area through which the creek runs is part of the Victorian volcanic plain region, categorised today as lying within the Leigh Landscape Zone. This particular area is flat and rocky and before European arrival, would have been a lightly-wooded, grassy plain. Since then, significant clearing of the ever-present rocks and trees to enable grazing and farming, has given much of the landscape surrounding the creek quite a barren look and in many places there are few or no trees along the creek at all.
The other significant factor influencing the appearance of the creek was the construction from 1858 of the Geelong-Ballarat railway line. In order to provide access for vehicles carrying bluestone from the quarry at Lethbridge to the railway works, a small bridge - also of bluestone - was built across Bruce's Creek on Russell Street in the township.

Bridge over Bruce's Creek, Russell St, Lethbridge

The Victorian Railways created a reservoir along the course of the creek some few hundred metres from the Lethbridge station along with a 90,000 litre tank and a pump which supplied water for the steam trains as they made the long uphill haul from Geelong to Ballarat.
In the 1970s when diesel had replaced steam, the council purchased the reservoir which was developed into a lake and picnic area and is now home to a variety of birdlife.
As mentioned in an earlier post - Walking the line - the railways built a second bridge across Bruce's Creek, between Lethbridge and Bannockburn, known to locals as the Lower Camp Bridge after the workers who camped at that point as they worked on the line.


The "Lower Camp Bridge"

Today, in addition to the bluestone bridges built by the railway, the ford at Bannockburn and no doubt a number of informal crossings on private property (I know of at least one) there are modern bridges at Bannockburn (Pilloud's Bridge) and the unnamed road bridge on the Hamilton Highway near Murgheboluc.
Looking to the future, the Golden Plains Shire and its landholders are acting to improve the health of this little waterway, preserving and enhancing remnant vegetation and developing plans for the future management and use of the creek and its surrounds.