Small Creek Channel Naturalisation
2017 National Landscape Architecture Award
- Land Management
2017 Queensland State Award of Excellence
- Land Management
Landscapology
Ipswich's Small Creek was once a meandering natural stream that flowed into Deebing Creek. Today, it’s a straight concrete channel that offers very little value to the community or environment.
That’s about to change: Small Creek will return to a natural waterway through a visionary Council project. As well as clean water and habitat for wildlife, the new Small Creek will allow for better path and bikeway connections and the opportunity to interact with nature in a parkland setting.
Landscapology and their project partners have deftly demonstrated through the Small Creek project just how valuable creative collaboration can be when connecting communities with fragile, fractured landscapes. The methodology takes principles established by Healthy Land & Water’s ‘Living Waterways’ initiative to a new level, demonstrating potential for addressing degraded urban waterways across the country. The energy devoted to fostering community engagement, including lengthy site occupation and detailed technical investigation, has driven a site-specific, layered outcome with a strong sense of local ownership. The project has been commended for the work undertaken by the team and their project partners for this exemplary piece of professional advocacy and land management practice.
