Waterfront: Forgotten Ecologies of Birrarung

Join a Andy Fergus (design advocate at the City of Melbourne, Co-Director of Melbourne Architours and teacher at the Melbourne School of Design) and Mark Skiba (Landscape Architect, Vice President of AILAand fellow Co-Director of Melbourne Architours) on a 12km bicycle tour exploring the oft-forgotten ecologies of the Yarra River, stopping along the way to meet with experts in the pre and post contact history of the lower Birrarung (Yarra River), including researchers, ecologists and landscape architects.

The tour commences in Richmond at the former Burnley Basalt Quarry and finishes in the west at Stony Creek with a short journey across the last Punt in Melbourne. From remnant vegetation, to the blasted stone of the falls, and a colony of mangroves, the journey is punctuated with a series of stops at moments which connect us to the river’s former condition, with story sharing from a series of designers and researchers who are exploring how the history of the river might inform the future possibilities for its regeneration.

Guest experts include:
Maya Ward – Author, ‘The Comfort of Water – A River Pilgrimage’
Ros Rymer – Researcher, Historian and Landscape Architect
More speakers TBC

Waterfront is presented by Open House Melbourne as part of Melbourne Design Week—an initiative of the Victorian Government in collaboration with the NGV. Forgotten Ecologies of Birrarung is co–presented by Melbourne Architours.

Access Requirements: Bike tour, BYO bike and helmet.

For more information, click here.