Living Links is a collaboration between councils, government agencies and community groups, all working together to achieve bigger and better outcomes than if they worked alone.
Many organisations are active partners in Living Links – they have representation on the Living Links Coordination Committee, contribute funds to the Living Links effort, undertake on-ground projects, conduct community events and/or undertake monitoring and research activities.
Living Links is hosted by Melbourne Water on behalf of Living Links partners and governed by a Coordination Committee consisting of representatives from the partner organisations.
Current Living Links partners
Traditional Owners
Aligning with the Port Phillip and Western Port Regional Catchment Strategy, Living Links recognises Traditional Owners as essential voices for waterways and Country, with important roles in planning, decision‑making and action across land, biodiversity and water management.
Living Links is committed to supporting the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation in achieving their self‑determined aspirations for the Dandenong Creek Catchment.
Both organisations are valued partners of the Living Links program.
To learn more please visit their websites:
Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation
Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation [
Bayside City Council
The Bayside City Council is a founding partner in Living Links and continues to support and find value in the projects aims and direction. Bayside City Council contains a diverse range of habitats with 17 km of coast and sand dunes and many bushland reserves which support a wide range of plants and animals.
More information available at Bayside City Council
City of Casey
The City of Casey is a founding partner and ongoing supporter of Living Links.
The municipality contains magnificent coastlines and twelve beautiful nature reserves. These are home to a wide range of flora and fauna including rare and threatened species such as the Southern Brown Bandicoot, Southern Toadlet, Glossy Grass Skink and Growling Grass Frog. Each reserve plays a critical role in ensuring the environmental connectivity of the region.
In 2007, Council identified that there was only 7% of native vegetation cover remaining in the municipality. The City of Casey is working with private land owners, developers and other government organisations to protect and enhance the remaining significant vegetation scattered throughout the municipality.
The City of Casey is committed to an ecologically sustainable future and aims to build a better environment through practical, personal and community action. Working with the community we provide a wide range of options for addressing issues around sustainability and climate change.
Casey has been involved in many Living Links projects which have helped conserve important assets and build connectivity. This website is supported for the use of the community of Casey and we welcome everyone with an interest in sustainability to engage with it.
More information available at City of Casey
City of Greater Dandenong
The City of Greater Dandenong is a founding partner and ongoing supporter of Living Links.
The City of Greater Dandenong has over 100 parks, sports reserves and playgrounds, as well as bushland areas and open space corridors, totalling over 600 hectares.
Owned and managed by Council, these open spaces offer a wide range of activities and things to see and do, including bushwalking, playgrounds, cycling, recreational areas, picnic and BBQ areas, local flora and fauna and more.
More information available at the City of Greater Dandenong website
City of Kingston
City of Kingston has been an advocate for Living Links since the commencement of the project.
It is our belief there is a real value in linking environmental, social, recreational and cultural assets for all to use and appreciate.
More information available at City of Kingston
Field Naturalist Club of Victoria
The Field Naturalists Club of Victoria (FNCV) was established in 1880 and is Victoria’s oldest field naturalists club. Its purpose is to gain an understanding of the natural world, not by mere study of what others have written, but by going out into the natural environment and examining it for ourselves. The reason for the FNCV‘s long existence is because the need to understand our ever changing environment has always been there. Early club members worked successfully for the reservation of Wilsons Promontory as a national park. The FNCV continues to thrive to this day. It is a very active club with close to 1000 members. There are nine special interest groups (SIGs), and a calendar of diverse events is devoted to the study of natural history.
Frankston City Council
Frankston City Council is a founding partner of the Living Links initiative and is committed to providing support and local guidance to the project. Frankston City acknowledges the value of the project’s aims and directions and appreciates the local benefits provided.
The municipality covers an area of 131 square kilometres from Seaford Wetlands in the north to Baxter in the south. The municipality is bordered by the Westernport Highway in the east and has nearly 10 kilometres of foreshore and coastline along Port Phillip Bay to its west.
Frankston’s Living Links project areas include Kananook Creek, Boggy Creek and Sweetwater Creek, all of which contribute to connectivity throughout the landscape and provide essential refuges between and within our diverse natural ecosystems. These three waterways vary significantly in their topography and geography and each contain unique and important values.
Frankston City values a clean and green environment which enhances the local lifestyle and also brings thousands of tourists from across Melbourne to enjoy our city and its attractions.
More information available at Frankston City Council
Greater Dandenong Environment Group
The Greater Dandenong Environment Group is committed to enhancing the local environment and educating the community on ways they can contribute to its protection. They have been an active and valued member of the Living Links Committee for many years. For more information, please visit their website at https://greaterdandenongenvironmentgroup.org.au/.
Knox City Council
Knox City Council is nestled in a green and leafy valley between the Dandenong Ranges to the east and the Dandenong Creek to the north and west. Over 150,000 people call Knox home in twelve localities that include Bayswater, Boronia, Ferntree Gully, Knoxfield, Lysterfield, Rowville, Scoresby, The Basin, Upper Ferntree Gully, Wantirna, Wantirna South and Sassafras.
Knox City Council manages an extensive open space network of nearly 800 hectares that encompasses over 80kms of major creek corridors being Dandenong Creek, Blind Creek, and Corrhanwarrabul, Ferny and Monbulk Creeks.
There are 197 hectares of Sites of Biological Significance within the open space network that provides significant habitat for diverse flora and fauna.
The Knox community use 90kms of shared paths with in the open space network for walking, running and cycling.
These facilities ensure that Knox residents and visitors are well connected to each other, and the natural environment through it’s ‘Living Links’.
More information available at Knox City Council
Maroondah City Council
The City of Maroondah covers a land area of 61.4 square kilometres and is located 22 kilometres east from Melbourne’s Central Business District (CBD), with an estimated population of 119,354 residents.
Maroondah has been a founding partner of Living Links and has been able to implement a number of successful projects in collaboration with other partners. Council fully supports the vision of Living Links and sees great value in working together on a whole of catchment approach to enhancing the environmental and recreational amenity.
A few of the projects that have been undertaken include revegetation and access paths at Glen Park Reserve to complement the wide range of community facilities; weed control and revegetation along the Dandenong Creek at Dorset Road; and extension of the Dandenong Creek Trail to Liverpool Road.
More information available at Maroondah City Council
Monash City Council
Monash Council has been a proud partner of the Living Links program from the beginning. Council shares the vision of a coordinated approach to catchment management which will help to secure community and ecological health for future generations.
The City of Monash has more than 125 parks, reserves, sporting facilities, creek corridors, playgrounds, and bushland areas. These open spaces offer a range of recreation activities and opportunities including cycling, walking, sporting facilities, picnic and BBQ areas and playgrounds.
Monash’s indigenous creek corridors include: Scotchmans Creek, Dandenong Creek and Gardiners Creek. These creek corridors and associated open spaces constitute one of the primary recreation and habitat assets for City of Monash. They provide important walking and cycle links to recreation and cultural destinations and are home to 151 different species of flora and fauna. Associated with these corridors are six constructed wetlands & litter traps which treat stormwater and contribute to improved water quality in local creeks and ultimately the Yarra River.
More information available at Monash City Council
Melbourne Water
Melbourne Water is a proud partner of the Living Links Partnership, having supported it since its inception in 2006. Following the integration of the Port Phillip and Western Port Catchment Management Authority into Melbourne on 1 January 2022, Melbourne Water is now the host agency on behalf of Living Links partners.
Melbourne Water has and continues to provide financial support for Living Links projects and has committed several million dollars under our Healthy Waterways Strategy towards projects in the Dandenong Catchment.
Melbourne Water is committed to enhancing life and liveability for Greater Melbourne and values the role Living Links plays in a coordinated approach to managing the Dandenong Catchment to help achieve this vision.
Melbourne Water is owned by the Victorian Government. Day to day they Melbourne Water provides clean drinking water, treats sewage so we can recover and reuse our valued resources, works within our community to reduce flood risk, and keeps all 25,000km of Melbourne’s rivers, creeks and catchments healthy, today and for generations to come.
More information is available on the Melbourne Water website
Parks Victoria
Parks Victoria is a founding partner in Living Links and continues to support and find value in the projects aims and direction.
Parks Victoria manages more than four million hectares of land which is 17 per cent of Victoria, and is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the state’s park network. The organisation delivers on‑ground works across Victoria and within the Dandenong Creek catchment, to ensure parks remain healthy, resilient and well‑managed for current and future generations.
Guided by its ‘Healthy Parks Healthy People’ philosophy, Parks Victoria recognises the essential role of nature in supporting individual and community wellbeing. Through its management and engagement programs, Parks Victoria plays a vital role in helping people connect with nature and enjoy the many benefits that parks provide.
More information available at Parks Victoria
Whitehorse City Council
Whitehorse City Council supports coordinated catchment management improvements promoted by the Living Links program.
The City of Whitehorse is a longstanding Living Links partner, managing key landholdings at the top of the Dandenong Creek Catchment. The Council actively works to enhance these areas to deliver environmental and recreational benefits for the community.
More information available at City of Whitehorse
Yarra Ranges Council
The Yarra Ranges Council is a founding partner in Living Links and continues to support and find value in the projects aims and direction.
More information available at Yarra Ranges Council
South East Water
South East Water provides water, sewerage and recycled water services to around 1.65 million people across 3,640 square kilometres in Melbourne’s south east. South East Water’s vision is ‘healthy water for life’ and this commitment extends to sustaining liveable communities.
Liveable communities are founded on the protection and enhancement of biodiversity, improved water quality and environmental flows, greater connectivity between environmental, social, recreational and cultural assets as well as increased community participation. In line with the aims of Living Links and as a founding partner of the group, South East Water aims to deliver services, programs and activities to ensure the south east of Melbourne remains a great place to invest, work, live and visit.
More information available at South East Water
Cranbourne Royal Botanical Gardens
The Cranbourne Royal Botanic Gardens have recently joined the Living Links Committee and play a vital role in plant conservation through biodiversity research, habitat studies, and programs that protect rare and threatened species. Their work is further strengthened by education and visitor programs that highlight the essential role plants play in sustaining life.
Located within the Dandenong Creek Catchment, the Gardens also form an important habitat corridor.
To learn more, please visit their website https://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/cranbourne-gardens/
Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust
The Southern Metropolitan Cemeteries Trust (SMCT) is committed to strengthening biodiversity and supports the Living Links program to retain and protect natural values in the region. We aim to deliver quality services and activities in an environmentally responsible manner. This includes a strong focus on responsible land management and on protecting and enhancing biodiversity across our cemetery sites.
SMCT is a Victorian public entity responsible for the perpetual care and maintenance of 374 hectares of land across eleven cemeteries in metropolitan Melbourne and Bass Coast We aim to retain protected remnant vegetation and restore habitat for native and indigenous flora and fauna across our sites. We view environmental responsibility as part of good governance and are always seeking improvements for the long-term benefit of the communities we serve. Beyond compliance, SMCT aims to meet or exceed all measures and targets applicable to sustainability and environmental response in Victoria.
To learn more, please visit their website https://www.smct.org.au/.
Suburban Rail Loop Authority (SRLA)
The Suburban Rail Loop Authority (SRLA) is a proud partner of Living Links, contributing to the shared aims and objectives of the group.
SRLA is delivering the Suburban Rail Loop, a city shaping orbital rail project that will connect Melbourne’s middle suburbs while unlocking new housing, jobs and creating vibrant precincts around future stations.
SRLA embeds sustainability into project delivery and place making. One such initiative is the Buzzing Burbs program to encourage the planting of native shrubs and trees – supporting healthy ecosystems, biodiversity, climate resilience and habitat connectivity along the rail line.
To learn more, please visit their website https://www.vic.gov.au/suburban-rail-loop
