A Little History
Pre-colonial Ashburton
The traditional owners of the Ashburton Forest area are the Wurundjeri-Baluk people of the Kulin Nation[citation]. Where Ashburn Grove Reserve now stands was an important resource for the Wurundjeri-Balluk, supplying stones and wood for tool making, plants that could be used in first aid, and a variety of food sources that were grown, farmed, or caught.
Before colonization, the Ashburton Forest was an open, grassy woodland with many River Red Gums and native grasses- The Ashburn Grove site has remnant stands of River Red Gums and lightwoods, and some native grasses. The Clifford Close site is bounded by Kooyongkoot Creek, which translates from Woiwurrung as 'haunt of the waterfowl'. now known as Gardiner's Creek.
Personal accounts
Alec McClure writes that in the 1920s he would ride to the Ashburton Forest with his brothers. In a box on the old bicycle trailer was an old pot, a box of matches, a knife and a piece of string with a bit of red meat tied onto it.
"When we got the fire going, we went over to the pond and caught a few yabbies, which we then put into a pot with some water to cook before eating them. We would go down into the creek under the bridge at Warrigal Road and, using a split chaff bag, would drag the reeds to catch small carp. In late 1927 we saw a huge arch made of tree boughs in the forest bearing a sign saying Scout Jamboree."
Ian Hamilton recalls: "I knew the Ashburton Forest well and walked all over it back in the 1940s when there were only a few houses between us and the forest. I spent much of my spare time exploring the forest with three mates. We caught yabbies for lunch in Gardiner's Creek and cooked them in our billy cans. We roasted wild mushrooms by setting alight bunches of dry reeds and letting the fire settle to hot coals. We drank deeply of the creek's pristine water. Our mothers never worried about us until dusk, nor did they need to. What a wonderful time it was, and I still have great memories of the forest animals and birds."