The Broken Creek Improvement Group is currently in recess.

In 1995, a planning application was lodged by Goulburn Murray Water to build the Muckatah Surface Drain and The Broken Creek Improvement Landcare Group was formed.
It is a small group of approximately 30 members, primarily farmers. Over 160 objections against the drain were lodged with the Moira Shire.
Below is one project the group has worked on in the past - taken from a news story.

History of Broken Creek First European farming
In the 1870s, land along the banks of the creek was selected for closer settlement, for farms of about 320 acres. This land was at a premium because of the high quality of the soil and because the river provided stock and domestic water. Broken Creek was an ephemeral stream, one that only flowed when it rained, and it mainly consisted of chains of large waterholes. In the summer time you could walk across many parts of the Broken Creek. The lower creek, near the Murray River, had larger holes and was a more reliable water source and fish habitat. Many of the original settlers? families still farm along the creek.
In periods of drought, locals would travel several miles to cart water back to their farms from the creek. A severe dry period in the late 1890s saw people from the Nathalia area travel with drays and wagons to Benalla to construct the first Casey's Weir on the Broken River. This was to divert more water down into the creek.

Nine weirs
This period also saw the construction by local landholders of nine wooden weirs above and below Nathalia township, plus dirt embankments. These weir pools were used for small irrigation schemes when water was available. Farms along the creek were then able to grow tobacco, fruit, and vegetables. Some dairy farming was also possible, but the water in the creek was still used mainly for stock and domestic purposes.After the first and second world wars and the proliferation of irrigation from both the Murray and Goulburn rivers into this area, holdings were again reduced in size to allow for Soldier Settlement to commence dairy farming and fruit growing on a larger scale.
With the wet winter of 1956 a push was on for drainage and Murray Valley Drain 13 was constructed to outfall into Broken Creek just north of Nathalia.
In 1966 drainage was constructed north of Shepparton by channelling small creeks to outfall at Broken Creek, downstream of Numurkah. These drains are Shepparton Drains 11 and 12, and were deeper than the creek, so to overcome that problem, several kilometres of Broken Creek were dredged two metres deep, downstream of the incoming drains. The dredging removed the creek?s natural filtration and brought in water from drainage channels.
Dredging Broken Creek: 1960's
At the time, the dredging was sold to the community on the promise that it would solve all the creek?s problems. This major dredging of the creek changed its form forever and people today still recall how vibrant the creek was before the dredging. Its clear waters made it particularly popular for fishing.
Broken Creek has a major flood about every 20 years - 1916, 1939, 1956, 1974, 1993. Every flood is greater than the one prior. A decade ago, the Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority proposed to drain roughly an extra 100,000 hectares into the creek. Half of this work would not require planning approval.
Birth of Broken Creek Landcare In 1995, a planning application was lodged by Goulburn Murray Water to build the Muckatah Surface Drain and The Broken Creek Improvement Landcare Group was formed. It is a small group of approximately 30 members, primarily farmers. Over 160 objections against the drain were lodged with the Moira Shire.
Goulburn Murray Water instigated mediation sessions between objectors and themselves. This lasted seven days and resulted in our expert witness, Mr Neil Craige, being employed by engineers Sinclair, Knight Mertz to redesign the drain and its outfall.
In 2000 Goulburn Murray Water floated plans to construct Murray Valley Drain 11, and hosted a delegation from Environment Australia to view the site. We were able to make a presentation to this group and after doing so plans for the drain seemed to stall, until late 2003 when it resurfaced and Goulburn Murray Water applied for a planning permit to construct the drain.
Our group and several individual farmers objected to this because of the detrimental effect on the habitat of the Murray Cod, water quality and the interaction between Broken Creek and the Ramsar-listed wetland at Goose Swamp in the Barmah Forest.
The Commonwealth Department of the Environment and Heritage requested more information on the November 2002 death of large numbers of Murray Cod in Broken Creek, again delaying the process for a few months. The VCAT panel hearing will now take place in February, 2005.
We find it is hard to fight this issue but have had some support, including gaining the services of Barney McIlraith of the Environment Defenders Office. We have about $2000 to spend on this case and we believe Goulburn Murray Water could spend anything up to $200,000.

Black day for Broken Creek
The heavily-stressed Broken Creek suffered a Black Water event in mid-December 2004.
The photos seen here, and below, are of inflows of Murray Valley Drain 13 into the creek north of Nathalia. They were taken on Wednesday 15 December, 2004. (courtesy of the Broken Creek Landcare Improvement Group)

Similar water to this has been flowing since rain fell in early summer,Barry Flanner told Environment Victoria just before Christmas. Barry is a local farmer and secretary of the Broken Creek Improvement Landcare Group.