Hannah Dinh To

The Birrarung river and all its tributaries are the blood vessels that flows to nourishes all life on Country. Rivers are the veins of Country, and its creeks are the capillaries that delivers water and nutrients across the landscape and down to the river. To our Traditional Custodians the land, water and their connections are the sources of identity, spirituality, culture, and well-being. They hold the knowledge and responsibility to protect and our waterways and its lands. The arrival of European settlers brought a different set of values to our waterways. Our creeks were exploited and controlled. They were diverted, polluted, channelised and buried underground and replaced by urban drainage infrastructure.

The Urban Creek Line Parklands project explores how daylighting a lost creek line can create new parklands, restore riparian habitats, and improve the health of the Birrarung. Country is conceptualised as a shared garden weaving through the suburb of Hawthorn following the floodplains of the lost creek line. The parklands act as a device to reclaim land for the Na­tive Title to restore Indigenous rights and interests to land and waters as well as creating opportunities for new kinds of cultural places.  Meaningful engagement and co-design processes with our Traditional Custodians is at the centre of this project following alongside the timeline of Treaty in Victoria and aims to empower Indigenous people’s voices in both planning and design.

booklet
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