Bunyip River
Andrew Saunders is the Koo Wee Rup Flood Plain District coordinator for Melbourne Water. His photos are taken early in the morning of two places on the Bunyip River / Main Drain in Koo Wee Rup.
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| Morning on the Swamp. Bunyip River at the highway. Andrew Saunders. |
"It's not just a drain is it?!" Anthony Stevens, South East region team leader, Melbourne Water.
The Bunyip Main Drain is a human-made drainage system developed to drain the swamp that used be this region. The old Bunyip River used to cross at Milligan's drain. It's gone now. A series of other drains crossover its ghost as they feed water into the Bunyip Main Drain as it channels water from the landscape into Western Port bay.
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| 'Confluence'. Andrew Saunders. |
"It was only a couple of weeks ago, two weeks ago roughly, just driving along the highway in the morning."
- Andrew Saunders, Koo Wee Rup Flood Plain District coordinator, Melbourne Water.
Prue Clements is a painter, a knitter and a 'waterwatcher.' Her work takes her to the waterway monthly to create images of what she sees, and conduct chemical tests, to learn more about the Bunyip River at Ballarto Road, Koo Wee Rup north. The river runs passed her home of over 20 years. Her work hopes to maintain and bring health to the Koo Wee Rup swamp.
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| Koo Wee Rup swamp. Prue Clements. |
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| Westernport. Prue Clements. |
"It's different to other bays, it's silver"
Prue Clements created a painting each month at the one site along Bunyip River near Ballarto Road from July 2010 to July 2011...
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| Prue's Waterwatching site, and site of the following pieces. |
After sitting by the river and completing her sketch, Prue returns to her studio to make an entry in her Bunyip River journal. Prue records a quote or reflection that matches her observations for the month...
My Site, 2010. Waterwatch @ The Bunyip River. Prue Clements.
Winter 2010
"The Bunyip River" |
| July 2010. Bunyip River, Ballarto Road. Prue Clements. |
"Over thousands of years the Bunarong tribes lived around here on the Koo Wee Rup swamp" July 2010.
"The water is up. Before it was channelled the bunyip would flood across the flat swamp and create it's vast wetlands." Aug 2010.
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| Bunyip River, Ballarto Rd. September 2010. Prue Clements. |
"Down by the river, Spring has sprung. Swallows are back for the Summer. They are nesting on the bridge over the water." Sept. 2010.
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Bunyip River, Ballarto Rd. October 2010. Prue Clements.
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"Ducks build their nest in the trees, so when the floodwaters come their ducklings are not swept away." Oct 2010.
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Bunyip River, Ballarto Rd. November 2010. Prue Clements.
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"Water Dreaming. Water dreaming is about where water comes from and where it goes to." Nov 2010.
Summer 2010 to 2011
"We could've sold a sausage sizzle there were so many people on the Ballarto bridge who'd come to watch the february floods" - Prue
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| Bunyip Main Drain @ Ballarto Rd. December 2010. Prue Clements. |
"Thunder storms with clouds like whales in the sky." Dec 2010.
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| Bunyip River, Ballarto Rd. January 2011. Prue Clements. |
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| Bunyip River, Ballarto Rd. February 2011. Prue Clements. |
"And then rain." Feb 2011.
Autumn 2011
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| Bunyip River, Ballarto Road. March 2011. Prue Clements. |
"There are accounts that the Aboriginal people traversed the Koo Wee Rup swamp by a series of beacon lights" Mar 2011.
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| Bunyip River, Ballarto Rd. April 2011. Prue Clements.
"I went to the thing at Lakeside, and there was the seagrass, I never realised about the seagrass!"
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"The Bunyip River flows into Westernport Bay's seagrasses." April 2011.
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| Bunyip River, Ballarto Road. May 2011. Prue Clements. |
"Bubbles coming to the surface like silver baubles. I wonder, who is down there breathing". May 2011.
Winter 2011
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| Bunyip River, Ballarto Road. June 2011. Prue Clements. |
"Water craft is practiced by the Bunerong women in the form of woven fish sculptures, made from plants collected across their wetlands." June 2011.
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| Bunyip River, Ballarto Rd. July 2011. Prue Clements. |
Prue Clements continues to paint the Bunyip River here monthly.
She also collects water quality data
and consults Melbourne Water through the Healthy Waterways Waterwatch program
if anything concerns here.
Prue has began a journal to pass around
the Waterwatching groups of Western Port.
Tooradin
Chaz Alan The pictures and words to the storybook, The Something I Saw were inspired by research into documented sightings of bunyips observed in Tooradin, from both Aboriginal folklore and colonial reports. As descriptions of the ‘bunyip’ vary (some refer to prehistoric marsupials, others refer to reptiles or even birds) it was a fun exercise to create something indigenous and yet alien, that also appealed to younger readers.
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| Chaz Alan. |
“It sounds quite bizarre
But it happened last week.
Something quite strange
Came out of the creek.
It shook itself dry,
Rubbed its eyes,
Looked around,
It hadn’t been here
Above ground
For so long,
It paused at the sound
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| Chaz Alan. |
What do you like about the process?
Its really inspiring to work with the freedom of imagination. And even more fulfilling to deal with issues relating to the local environment because this is where we breath in and out our natural expression.
The trees were difficult to draw and took more time than the buildings.
Because the natural curves shades textures
and unpredictable growth spurts of eucalyptus follow a chaotic order.
That’s what is exciting for me…
Drawing and painting something that is …hmmm… that, that we sometimes take for granted. (Chaz Alan)
Did you learn something about the subjects you were drawing?
Yeah, of course.
What I learned about the subjects I’m drawing…
I learned about the different colours umm to colours of leaves and the impact of light on plant life, how the light falls on grass rocks and water.
It tuned me in to scenery which I used to gloss over.
It’s amazing, it totally does, like there were trees
I used to see when I’d go swimming and as soon as I looked closely at some of the trees to find out exactly how they,
or to work out how I would draw them,
it became almost impossible for me to look in their direction without noticing them." (Chaz Alan.)
