Virginia Overell

To understand the Birrarung as a single living entity is a powerful mindset change. Broadening the reach of this understanding could have profound impacts on the river, the ecosystems its supports, and the mindsets of the people whose lives its waters wind through.

On this site we are limited in our capability to return significant land to the river in the short term. Instead we are proposing a series of interventions that work to open the suburbs back to the river and raise its profile. Our strategy is to seek out opportunities in between the concrete dominated landscape. These interventions are just the beginning – a foot hold in, to unpick the outdated grey infrastructure from within. Woven into these interventions are ‘Cues-to-care-for Country.’ They aim to reorient how non-indigenous Australians see the river and its lands by amplifying Indigenous knowledge of place and relationship to Country and embedding this into the day-to-day experience of the urban environment. The health of the river and its lands relies on a commitment across private and public realms and indigenous and non indigenous communities. As Uncle Bill said ‘the river cannot care for itself.