Rat spotting on the Maribyrnong

A new favourite pastime for a group of friends living on the Kensington Saleyards estate is to pretend they’re camping by the Maribyrnong River.

They take down camp chairs to the jetty at Riverside Park and watch the river.

One evening at about 7.30 pm they spied a native water rat.

It was way across near the other bank, but it did a few dives and swam over towards them before disappearing under the jetty.

It makes such a difference this park. You’re out in nature.

Interior designer Alex MacDonald was not in the original group of campers.

They told her about the sighting, and she arranged to meet them on the following Thursday.

“It was the day after the five-day lockdown,” she said. “We were lucky. We were able to keep our plans. The rat came up after about half an hour.”

“It was pretty exciting seeing a water rat swimming around in the Maribyrnong. We leaned over the edge and called it like a cat.”

“It would duck down, and we could follow it. It swam around doing a few laps then it swam under the jetty.”

Riverside Park is on a flat plain leading to the riverbank with a small marsh and native trees.

The place is so rustic that snakes have been sighted and bull ants gather in the sandy areas.

“If we hadn’t had COVID I wouldn’t been as excited about a rat,” Alex admitted. “It makes such a difference this park. You’re out in nature.”

Locals have grown attached to their local space during the lockdown. The sightings are evidence that the unexpected can occur even in an urban area.

While some take their exercise seriously, passing through in joggers and ear buds, others like the water rat prefer to muck around by the bank.

Alex designs the fit-outs for empty skyscrapers by day but by night she likes to emulate her furry friend.

Rat Wharf, the new name for this quaint piece of riverside habitat, is home to the rakali, or Hydromys chrysogaster, as well as some nature-loving locals.

Alex compares the Maribyrnong bank favourably to that of the Yarra. “It’s an interesting little park on a trail not just rich people’s homes,” she said.

Water rats have been spotted on the Maribyrnong from Keilor East to Yarraville, according to a survey conducted in 2018.