Kananook Creek

A waterway with more than one job

From wetlands to waterway, and the questions that remain beneath the surface

We set out in the kayaks expecting quiet water and an easy paddle and at first that is exactly what we found. Our kayaks glided along a creek that looked peaceful at first glance, the surface smooth enough to mirror the sky, the banks leaning gently inward. Birds stood calmly on wide mats of green growth as we drifted past. For a moment it felt quiet enough to forget we were in the middle of suburbia. It felt calm. Safe even.

Yet something about the stillness lingered. The surface was calm, but the creek itself felt stagnant and that calm, more than anything, was unsettling. But paddling soon meant weaving. The open water narrowed into patches of growth and each stroke meant avoiding floating vegetation and shallow patches, slowing, stopping, starting again.

At one point the kayak ran aground on a soft looking green mound that held firm beneath the surface. Up close what looked like one problem was actually three layers. Green algae sat on the surface, fed by nutrients washed in through stormwater. Beneath it were soft mounds of accumulated plant matter and trapped sediment, firm enough to stop the kayak. Below that lay a darker, fine sediment settled in slow moving water. The creek could look clear from a distance but feel heavy underneath.

Halfway upstream we startled a resident hanging out washing.
“No one really comes up this way anymore,” she said. “Not with all the pollution.”

We paddled for just over an hour and reached only halfway before turning back. It felt like enough adventure for one day. Enough to realise this wasn’t just a paddle upstream, it was a question.

Where the creek began

Long before streets and drains, Kananook Creek was part of the vast Carrum Carrum Swamp, a 5,000 hectare wetland stretching from Mordialloc to Frankston. It wasn’t a narrow channel. It spread, slowed and filtered water naturally before releasing it to the bay. For thousands of years the Bunurong people lived alongside this system without changing its balance. That balance changed after settlement. When the Patterson Cut was dug in the late 1800s to drain the swamp, most water found a faster path to the sea. Kananook Creek lost the steady movement that once kept it clear and once carried material out to sea.

Over many decades, fine sediment has settled along sections of the creek bed. In slow moving water these layers build gradually and remain largely undisturbed. Disturbing them is not straightforward. Before any large scale removal, material must be tested and handled carefully, as disturbing deeper sediments can release nutrients and other contaminants back into the water column.

For this reason, broad dredging through the creek is rarely considered a simple option. Work is generally limited to the sandy entrance where material moves naturally and can be safely managed.

Changing the creek’s role

As surrounding suburbs developed, rainwater from roofs, streets and drains needed somewhere to go. Along its length pipes and channels were connected into the creek, turning it into part of the wider stormwater network carrying runoff toward the bay. This wasn’t neglect, it was engineering. But the creek now had two roles, a natural waterway and a drainage channel. Those roles don’t always agree.

Why it looks the way it does

After rain, water rushes quickly from hard surfaces into the creek carrying sediment, nutrients and debris. With less natural flushing than it once had, material settles. At the mouth where people expect the cleanest water, the effects become most visible. The brown water is usually stormwater runoff rather than sewage, but visibility makes it confronting.

Why solutions are difficult

Responsibility for the creek is shared. Frankston City Council manages the land and local stormwater infrastructure Melbourne Water manages the waterway itself. South East Water manages the sewerage network around it. Each organisation addresses a different risk, flooding, environmental health, infrastructure and public safety, which means change requires coordination rather than a single decision.

Dredging the entrance is sometimes undertaken to maintain water flow and allow boats to exit safely. It does not clean the creek, but it prevents flooding and navigation hazards. Increasing flushing sounds simpler, but doing so means deliberately changing water levels within a developed suburb, which can create new problems upstream.

Alongside this, community groups such as the Kananook Creek Association have spent decades advocating for the creek’s health and restoration. Their persistence reflects how strongly many locals feel about the waterway and how long these questions have existed. The result is a waterway that is carefully managed rather than dramatically altered.

A creek between expectations

People see different things when they look at Kananook Creek. Some see habitat. Some see a drain. Some see recreation. Some see risk. All are correct and that is the difficulty. The creek cannot fully return to what it once was, yet it cannot be treated as only infrastructure either.

Looking forward

The story of Kananook Creek is not one of neglect, but of change. Every generation has tried to improve it, draining it, flushing it, pumping it, restoring it. Each solution reflected the understanding of its time. Today the challenge is not simply fixing the creek, but understanding what we now expect it to be. From the kayak it felt both beautiful and uneasy. Worth caring about. Worth understanding. And perhaps that is where progress begins, not with a single solution, but with people understanding the same problem