The Merri Creek runs for approximately 70 kms, beginning near Heathcote Junction, a small town on Melbourne’s northern outskirts, and joining the Yarra River at Dight’s fall, Collingwood. The area where the creek meets the river was traditionally the location for large gatherings of the Wurundjeri people.
The creek was the site of heavy industrial use throughout much of the 20th century, being home to quarries, landfills and accepting waste runoff from neighbouring factories.
The creek borrows its name from the Wurundjeri-willam phrase Merri Merri meaning “very rocky”, this was later abbreviated to Merri Creek by early European settlers.