The Birrarung – Yarra River – is an important place for both the Boonwurrung and Woiwurrung peoples. It was a place of meeting and ceremony for millennia before colonial settlers arrived.

The development of the city started when surveyor Robert Hoddle laid out a grid pattern of streets and lanes on the northern side of the Birrarung in 1837, creating what is now known as the Hoddle Grid.

The Hoddle Grid is now the centre of the city, to some – it’s the heart of Melbourne, a place rich with history and experience that we’d like to understand.

As we’ve grown and changed, the centre of our city is understandably very different today to the early days but it still has places and spaces that are close to the community’s heart, including places of connection for Aboriginal Traditional Owners.