A new exhibition celebrates the volunteer-led transformation of the Merri Creek corridor from a quagmire of rubbish and weeds into an urban Eden.

Like proud parents, Ann and Bruce McGregor – unpaid workers in the area for 39 years – show off the green vistas they have helped create from numerous weekend tree plantings, weed removals and planning meetings.

Bruce and Ann McGregor have helped clean up and replant Merri Creek for 39 years. Credit:Justin McManus

However, it's the details that they cherish. In a curve of the creek north of Blyth Street, Brunswick East, they point to wattlebirds picking insects from the limbs of the 20-metre red gums planted as seedlings in 1985.

Nearby, in the creek, they spot moorhens which graze among the reeds that have sprung up.