The Bug Rug: West-Melbourne community group turns weedy site into an insect haven
By Emma Lucey 5 March 2026
The Friends of Kororoit Creek (FOKC) use the little patches available to them to enrich the area for wildlife, build community, and honour the Wurundjeri Kurung-jang-baluk people who had lived on the plains around Mt Kororoit for tens of thousands of years.
Over the last decade alone, FOKC have planted 132,000 plants to restore what was once present before the introduction of sheep and settlers in the 19th century.
Their Walan-walan sculpture project by Fiona Clarke and Kenneth McKean represents the annual cycle of the year in First Nations cultures. This meeting place, a circle of stones with glow-in-the-dark rock carvings, overlooks the Bug Rug, a site host to a huge range of insects enjoying the carpet of Indigenous plants and wildflowers.
The Bug Rug began when FOKC teamed up with a local school on a creek adoption patch. What was once a weedy mess of a site has now transformed into a bug haven after even more schools and community groups got their hands dirty by planting and caring for a range of native seedlings.
“We love National Tree Day. It gets the community involved in large-scale revegetation projects that provide a meaningful connection to the creek. It is always a jolly day - rain, hail or shine,” FOKC President Jessica Gerger told Planet Ark.
Insects aren’t the only wildlife group thriving thanks to the FOKC projects. Frog bogs, a lizard lounge and more bug hotels have been installed along the creek to provide shelter for those enjoying the wildflowers.
Even more colour has been attracted thanks to a bountiful range of birdlife flitting amongst the lush landscape. Visitors include New Holland and Plumed Honeyeaters, Pardalotes, Wagtails, Silvereyes, Golden Whistlers, a range of water birds, Dollar birds, Tawny Frogmouths, Brown Goshawks, Musk Lorikeets, and many more.
The FOKC core team of volunteers are on the creek twice a week and organise regular working bees and events like National Tree Day plantings. Their hard work, dedication, and passion for the site is more than evident in the results they are witnessing daily, and they have set their sights on even further growth!
“We have some extensions to our sites planned for this year - plus lots of infill planting. We'll do more additions of rocks and logs and will continue to plant a wide mixture of plants - keeping that all-important diversity,” said Gerger.
The area has come a long way – check out this video from a National Tree Day event back in 2016!
If you'd like to host a planting this National Tree Day, register here nationaltreeday.org.au/get-involved/host-a-site
Emma is a Sydney-based digital media and communications specialist. Prior to joining Planet Ark in 2022, Emma spent 5 years living abroad in London & Amsterdam, where she developed a greater interest in the environment and sustainability. Outside of work, Emma enjoys gardening, camping and bird watching.
