Skeleton Waterholes Creek is a waterway in the outer western and outer south-western regions of Melbourne, Victoria. The creek originates near Mount Cottrell, to the south of Rockbank, and passes through rural land until it reaches the suburban areas of Tarneit, Truganina, Hoppers Crossing, Altona Meadows and Point Cook before it flows into Port Phillip Bay after the Cheetham Wetlands. The creek has important local Aboriginal spiritual significance, and parts of the creek are popular sites for recreation(various).
It has been classed as being in "moderate condition" by Melbourne Water, [1] but it is becoming increasingly urbanised as new developments extend across the catchment from Hoppers Crossing and surrounding areas. This new development poses a major risk to the health of the river, as does the poor quality of both the creek's water and streamside vegetation along significant parts of the waterway.
A recent defence force study of PFAS contamination on defence bases has indicated some groundwater contamination from sites at the partially decommissioned Williams Landing airforce base. Hydrological studies show that this groundwater flows into Skeleton Creek, and caution should be taken with consuming fish and eels from this creek.
The Maribyrnong River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment, located in the north–western suburbs of Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria.
Hoppers Crossing is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km (15 mi) south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Hoppers Crossing recorded a population of 37,216 at the 2021 census.
Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 32 km (20 mi) south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the local government area of the City of Wyndham. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census.
Altona Meadows is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 17 km (11 mi) south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Altona Meadows recorded a population of 18,479 at the 2021 census.
The Moonee Ponds Creek is a creek and major tributary of the Yarra River running through urban Melbourne, Victoria, Australia from northern to inner suburbs. In 2004 a reporter for The Age described it as "arguably the most abused tributary of the Yarra River, and part of the true underside of Melbourne".
Melbourne is Australia's second largest city and widely considered to be a garden city, with Victoria being nicknamed "the Garden State". Renowned as one of the most livable cities in the world, there is an abundance of parks, gardens and green belts close to the CBD with a variety of common and rare plant species amid landscaped vistas, pedestrian pathways, and tree-lined avenues, all managed by Parks Victoria.
The Werribee River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment that is located on the expansive lowland plain southwest of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The headwaters of a tributary, the Lerderderg River, are north of Ballan near Daylesford and it flows across the basalt plain, through the suburb of Werribee to enter Port Phillip. A linear park follows the Werribee River along much of its course. In total the Werribee River completes a journey of approximately 110 kilometres (68 mi).
The Oxley Creek is a creek that is a tributary of the Brisbane River, located in suburban Brisbane in the South East region of Queensland, Australia.
Koonung Creek is a small tributary of the Yarra River in Melbourne's east. The creek originates in Nunawading near Springvale Road, and flows to join the Yarra at the border between Ivanhoe East, Bulleen and Balwyn North. The place the two waterways meet forms the borders between these suburbs. Bushy Creek is a tributary to the creek, joining near Elgar Park in Mont Albert North. A shared use path follows the course of the creek, known as the Koonung Creek Trail.
The Federation Trail is a 23-kilometre-long (14 mi) shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which mainly follows the heritage-listed Main Outfall Sewer through the western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. There are three bridges spanning across major arterial roads, as well as button-activated traffic light crossings at most other major road-trail intersections.
The Kororoit Creek is a watercourse of the Port Phillip catchment, rising in the outer north western suburbs of Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria.
Toolern Creek is a small tributary of the Werribee River in Victoria. The creek rises near Toolern Vale and flows through the Melbourne suburbs of Melton and Melton South, separating the industrial and residential areas of these suburbs.
The Dandenong Creek is an urban creek of the Port Phillip catchment, located in the eastern and south-eastern Greater Melbourne region of the Australian east coast state of Victoria. The creek descends approximately 550 metres (1,800 ft) over its course of 53 kilometres (33 mi) before joining the Eumemmerring Creek to form the Patterson River and eventually draining into the Beaumaris Bay.
The Western Treatment Plant is a 110 km2 (42 sq mi) sewage treatment plant in Cocoroc, Victoria, Australia, 30 km (19 mi) west of Melbourne's central business district, on the coast of Port Phillip Bay. It was completed in 1897 by the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW), and is currently operated by Melbourne Water. The plant's land is bordered by the Werribee River to the east, the Princes Freeway to the north, and Avalon Airport to the west. It forms part of the Port Phillip Bay and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site as a wetland of international importance. The Western Treatment Plant treats around fifty percent of Melbourne's sewage — about 485 megalitres or 393 acre-feet per day — and generates almost 40,000 megalitres or 32,000 acre-feet of recycled water a year.
The Skeleton Creek Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which follows Skeleton Creek as it passes through the outer south western suburbs of Point Cook and Altona Meadows in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Werribee River Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which follows Werribee River in the outer western suburb of Werribee in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
The Port Phillip Bay and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site is one of the Australian sites listed under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance. It was designated on 15 December 1982, and is listed as Ramsar Site No.266. Much of the site is also part of either the Swan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area or the Werribee and Avalon Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of their importance for wetland and waterbirds as well as for orange-bellied parrots. It comprises some six disjunct, largely coastal, areas of land, totalling 229 km2, along the western shore of Port Phillip and on the Bellarine Peninsula, in the state of Victoria. Wetland types protected include shallow marine waters, estuaries, freshwater lakes, seasonal swamps, intertidal mudflats and seagrass beds.
Point Lillias is a narrow peninsula jutting southwards from the northern coast of Corio Bay, north of the city of Geelong, in Victoria, Australia. It was formed by a southward-trending tongue of lava from the volcanic flows of the Werribee Plains. The seaward end of the peninsula forms a low cliff fringed by shelly beach ridges. Forming the end of the same lava tongue, 500 metres to the south, is a small basalt island known as Bird Rock, connected by a submerged shoal to the peninsula. Point Lillias adjoins the evaporation ponds of the Cheetham saltworks at Avalon. It is listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention as part of the Port Phillip Bay and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site.
The Cheetham Wetlands are 420 hectares of artificial and natural lagoons, created on old salt works land on the western shores of Port Phillip Bay, Australia. The wetlands are approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of Melbourne, and sit within the Municipal Councils of Hobsons Bay and Wyndham City.
The Point Cook Coastal Park covers an area of 863 hectares and includes the Cheetham Wetlands. The park extends from the RAAF Williams Point Cook Base northeast along the coast to the Laverton creek which comprises its northern boundary. The park is approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) from Melbourne, Australia in a southwesterly direction along Port Phillip Bay. The park is adjoined by the Point Cook Marine Sanctuary, which extends around the point to the south and the east. The northwestern boundary to the park is residential housing.