In 1973, the McGlashan’s new block on the edge of Sunbury fitted Roger’s wish for a “patch of country” and Linley’s wish to be near town.
Right there, beside Jacksons Creek, they built a house and raised a family. Through it all, the creek has been there.
“No matter what happens, the creek is there,” Roger said, “our kids have played in it. The grandchildren have played in it. It’s life itself.”
Their back veranda is surrounded by the birdlife of the valley, where the resident shrub birds mix with larger birds that come and go with the seasons. There are shifts too over decades.
“The first Currawong in the valley arrived in the aftermath of Ash Wednesday, and now they are quite common,” Roger said.
In recent times, New Holland Honeyeaters have displaced the White-plumed Honeyeaters, which have shifted to isolated pockets of the creek.
Roger and Linley got involved with the Friends of Holden Flora Reserve from its start in 2009.
The reserve had been created in 1989 to preserve a slice of the geology, flora and fauna of the Keilor plains, and the friends group formed to restore its natural habitat.
Hugging the western bank of Jacksons Creek, the 96 hectares is hard to miss, but Roger said the reserve is still “a bit of a mystery spot to a lot of Sunbury people”.
As president of the Friends of Holden Flora Reserve, he wants locals to appreciate the beauty of the place, and be part of looking after it.
“I enjoy organising our working bees, being able to get down there with a trailer load of trees, stakes and guards… watching people come over the hill, happy to be there, and getting stuck into planting,” he said.
There are challenges, residents of the new estates enjoy their view of the valley and plains but don’t yet realise that, like any garden, natural places need looking after.
Roger’s perseverance has been tested but not broken.
“I don’t like failure”, he said. It’s seeing results that spurs him on.
“We have achieved a lot. Plants in the riparian area are fully grown and it’s the friends group that planted them.”
A new regional parkland will run 26 kms north from Holden Reserve and the hope is that it will bring the resources needed to make Holden Reserve part of “the lungs of the city.”
Volunteers like Roger and Linley will be in the thick of it.
