The context, geographical, operational and conceptual, for this project is a series of drainage easements in Melbourne’s east. Once integral parts of the extensive and interconnected network of waterways in the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, these creeks were home of the Wurundjeri people of the Yulin Nation. These riparian corridors were travelling routes, settlement sites and food and water sources, especially in times of drought, when humans and animals alike would gather around clearings in the forest along creeks, where vegetation continued to flourish.

The creeks were part of a regional-scaled natural flood management system, fluctuating through drought and inundation. The Wurundjeri have co-existed with this fluid landscape for millennia, as custodians of Country and its ecosystems. The richness of the landscape for which they cared, and their deep knowledge, endure today – this project aims to recover some of this richness, and restore some of this knowledge.

Contemporary management, engineering and hydrological practices had reduced the corridors to monocultures, dedicated only to the efficient conveyance of water through the landscape.

This was our starting point.

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