Wurundjeri heritage and culture

Monday 13 February marked the 15th Anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. As part of the ongoing work towards reconciliation, we are in the process of acknowledging, recognising and paying tribute to the Stolen Generations by establishing a marker within the municipality. The Victorian Aboriginal Community – including those who are part of the Stolen Generations and their families – are invited to provide feedback on three potential shortlisted marker locations.

Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Elder, Uncle Dave Wandin, shares the importance of understanding an Acknowledgment of Country and how to deliver it with respect. Find out more about Melbourne’s Traditional Owners and Aboriginal peoples’ deep connection to Country.

A welcoming neighbourhood

We are renewing and upgrading infrastructure to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, predominantly Tactile Ground Surface Indicators (TGSIs). This program of works is running ahead of schedule and at the end of January approximately 20 projects have been delivered, equating to over 70% of the program.

We are embedding equity of access and inclusion across our tourism services, programs, events and information. We have worked with Guide Dogs Victoria to implement virtual beacon technology to aid people with vision impairment in navigating Swanston Street and Bourke Street. We are also investigating improvements to our tactile street signage across the city.

Our libraries have recently launched their own Disability Inclusion and Accessibility Plan with action to improve accessibility to our libraries, services and resources.

Book-A-Librarian has kicked off again for 2023 where people can book one on one time to get some digital literacy support with online platforms and use of digital devices.

Green waste management and recycling

We continue to provide a wide range of services for reusing, recycling or disposing of unwanted household items and materials. 11,400 combined tonnes were collected from various sources including communal recycling bins, cardboard bins and residential collections between October 2022 and January 2023.

We continue to roll out the Food Organics Service to high-rise residential apartments across Melbourne. Selected buildings are undertaking a 12-month pilot program to collect and process food scraps using an on-site organic processor. For more information on the pilot, visit Food Organics High-Rise Pilot.

Support and advocate for renewable energy

We're working to make it easier to access affordable renewable energy. Our Power Melbourne project will install a network of neighbourhood batteries around the city to help renters, people living in apartments, and those running small businesses access more affordable renewable electricity. Late last year we consulted with community on ideas for where neighbourhood batteries should be installed and how we design retail plans with an energy retail partner. Keep an eye on the Power Melbourne page for opportunities to get involved in the next stage of engagement activities, opening soon.

Small business support

We’ve launched the Melbourne Economy Snapshot, a free seasonal activity guide designed to help businesses make data-led decisions by understanding Melbourne’s new rhythm.

The first edition shows a sky-high December, with a record $1.1b spent across the city. Friday and Saturday remain the busiest days in Melbourne, while our night-time economy continues to flourish. Delve into the nitty gritty and explore weekday, weekend and night-time activity.

Dusk 2 Dawn applications were open throughout November and December. Applications are currently being reviewed, with successful activations commencing in May.

The City of Melbourne’s social enterprise grants program supports social enterprise businesses to thrive in Melbourne. The program supports startups and existing enterprises which are expanding or developing new products or services with a distinctly social purpose. Applications are currently open and close at 2pm Friday 10 March 2023.

Between October 2022 and January 2023 our Business Concierge service have had 5000 interactions with businesses across the municipality. The range of enquiries have been simple support requests over the phone and email, face to face interactions and supporting new businesses in their start up.

A diverse and thriving economy

We are seeking an Expression of Interest (EOI) from a commercial hospitality provider to lease, fit-out and manage the Pavilion in Fitzroy Gardens. The EOI is open until Tuesday 28 February 2023. Follow the Pavilion Fitzroy Gardens Participate Melbourne page to stay updated and learn about the successful tenant.

The Christmas Collective program is an initiative as part of the Christmas Festival. One of the objectives is to increase visitation and spend supporting the economy. A total of $74,726.00 in funding was allocated to 15 businesses/groups to deliver an event or activity.

To support local businesses, we lifted the holiday spirit with our Christmas Decoration program, including the Melbourne CBD, East Melbourne, Carlton, Docklands, Southbank, North Melbourne and Kensington.

Heritage protection of buildings and open spaces

The Neighbourhood Portals have been updated with links to planning register entries relevant to each neighbourhood, making it easier for community members to find local planning applications. Weekly Planning Applications and Decisions Lists are now sorted by neighbourhood for ease of reference. Sign up to receive these weekly emails.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Trust is reviewing the Yarra Park Master Plan, which will provide a framework for the sustainable future use, management and renewal of Yarra Park to ensure its long term viability, whilst continuing to respond to the current needs of the Park and its function as a multi-purpose recreational resource within the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct.

We are renewing our Urban Forest Precinct Plans, starting with East Melbourne, Melbourne CBD, South Yarra and Carlton. Consultation for these neighbourhoods will begin in March. The precinct plans outline what is going to be planted where, when and why over the next ten years. We are delivering workshops in the neighbourhoods and asking community members to provide feedback to us from March to May this year. This is an exciting opportunity for local residents to have their say on the future of street trees within their neighbourhood.

Through our Urban Forest Fund, we’re supporting five new greening projects that will beautify and cool our neighbourhoods, creating 1000 square metres of new green cover. Tram stops will be transformed into lush eco-installations and community gardens will pop up in unlikely places through $500,000 in matched-funding to create a greener, more sustainable city.

An owners’ corporation on Agnes Street has converted a large, hostile concrete area between two 1970s apartment buildings into a green oasis with native trees and shrubs, improving biodiversity and canopy cover.

Grassroots neighbourhood activities

We supported the following community-led activities in East Melbourne:

Unity makes Community East Melbourne – This was an event that aimed to be inclusive of all the community to encourage post pandemic re-connection and assist residents to get their bicycles running again in a community setting.

East Melbourne Community Christmas Picnic - ‘Building Community Spirit’ was an inclusive Community Picnic to celebrate the festive season and bring our community together. The event will take place on the grounds of Bishopscourt and residents are invited to bring along a picnic and enjoy an afternoon of music, entertainment, social interaction, and community connection.

Shared use and safety on roads and paths

We undertook a study to identify a range of pedestrian and road safety improvement projects for East Melbourne. We consulted with community over October – November last year to understand which pedestrian improvement projects should be prioritised and other ideas to improve roads safety. We’re currently collating the feedback findings to inform the delivery of this work.

We’re working with the Department of Transport and Planning to inform its evaluation of the e-scooter trial and decision on the legalisation of e-scooters. The Victorian Government extended the trial until 31 March 2023. To date there have been more than 3 million e-scooter trips across the city as part of the trial, many of which are replacing car trips and providing increased access to city attractions.

We’re collaborating with other nearby councils as part of M9 to develop actions that encourage more people to ride. We supported Ride to Work Day activities in October that showed an increase in bike and scooter users by 48 per cent compared to 2021.

A clean and quiet neighbourhood

We continue to expand our Rapid Response Clean Team to fast-track graffiti removal, dumped rubbish, cigarettes, street sweeping and syringe collection across the city. Residents, workers and visitors continue to play an important role in reporting graffiti and rubbish across the city using Council’s QR code reporting system.

Between October 2022 and January 2023:

• 42,000 square metres of graffiti was removed
• 1350 tonnes was sent to landfill from public litter bins
• 11,400 combined tonnes from various sources including communal recycling bins, cardboard bins and residential collections.
• Over 1800 tonnes of cigarette butts collected and recycled.
• 1435 tonnes of street sweepings collected
• 712 loose syringes collected from public spaces
• 110 collections from syringe bins located in public and private facilities.

A safe neighbourhood

We are working with members of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation - Local Drug Action Team to develop a Drug Safety in the City of Melbourne flyer. Consultation has been undertaken with broader members of the Melbourne Alcohol and other Drug (AOD) Services Network as well as residents and small business owners in Carlton, East Melbourne, South Yarra and the Melbourne CBD. The flyer is currently in final production and will be distributed to residents and small business owners.

Outdoor amenities and facilities

We are installing outdoor exercise equipment in Powlett Reserve. A funding application has recently been approved and Council will proceed with installation of the exercise equipment this year. Finalised plans will be shared in the coming months.

The Fitzroy Gardens Lansdowne Street toilet replacement design has been undertaken and an application will be submitted to Heritage Victoria.

Community and apartment gardening

KereKere Green Café installed 3 raised planter boxes in Fitzroy Gardens to support local community members to participate and connect through growing vegetables. Community members are welcome to join the initiative and take part in growing and harvesting vegetables.

In February 2023, we distributed 1000 productive plants displayed in front of the Melbourne Town Hall to 7 community gardens and groups across the municipality, including Carlton, CBD, Docklands, East Melbourne, Kensington, North Melbourne and Southbank.

We are launching the Grow It Local program in early 2023 for all City of Melbourne community members to get involved in growing food at home. As part of the program, Grow it Local have launched the latest Autumn Seed Service, a patch-to-plate adventure that makes free heirloom seeds and instructional content available to local residents. This free offer is available to the first 100 participants who register to receive a package containing heirloom seed varieties including kale, rainbow chard and spinach. Participants will learn to grow from seed-to-spanakopita with Costa Georgiadis via online videos for each stage of the growing journey and support is also available from Grow it Local’s garden guru.

Grants of up to $2000 are available to increase community participation, connection, equity, diversity and inclusion through our new Connected Neighbourhoods Small Grants. Applications are open all year until the budget has been fully allocated.

Applications for our Inclusive Communities Grants open twice a year. This includes operational support grants of up to $2000 and for larger projects and initiatives up to $20,000. Applications for projects taking place from July 2023 to June 2024 are open from Monday 20 February and close Monday 20 March.

Community Events Grants of up to $10,000 per event are available to not-for-profit organisations to work in partnership with the City of Melbourne. Applications open annually. Applications for events held between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024 will open Monday 20th of February and close Monday 20th of March.

Check out other grant opportunities on the Community Noticeboard.

The following projects in East Melbourne have recently received Connected Neighbourhood Small Grants:

• Unity makes Community East Melbourne - This project aims to be an event inclusive of all the community to encourage post pandemic re-connection and assist residents to get their bicycles running again in a community setting.
• East Melbourne Community Christmas Picnic - ‘Building Community Spirit’ is an inclusive Community Picnic to celebrate the festive season and bring our community together. The event will take place on the grounds of Bishopscourt and residents are invited to bring along a picnic and enjoy an afternoon of music, entertainment, social interaction, and community connection.

Projects from other neighbourhoods include:

• Growing Stronger Communities Together - This project aims to provide a new outdoor gathering and bbq space at the Kensington housing estate.
• The Creative Youth Coding Program - This project is aimed at providing outcomes for children (aged 11-12) in the City North area where there is currently limited low-cost weekend programming for children and young people.
• Book Club - This is a unique idea to bring together diverse groups of women in the CBD neighbourhood to support each other and learn together about financial and business skills.
• Docklands Primary School End of Year Celebration - This project is aimed at bringing together the Docklands community, beyond the school community, for a concert and celebration.
• Carlton High Rise Elder Citizens project - This project aims at increasing community connection for older men living in the Carlton Housing Estate.
• Unity makes Community East Melbourne - This project aims to be an event inclusive of all the community to encourage post pandemic re-connection and assist residents to get their bicycles running again in a community setting.
• Baby Wearing Boogie - This event will help new parents in the COM connect with others, move their bodies, have some fun and enrich their babies lives with new sensory experiences.
• Community Cooking Club - The Community Cooking Club will meet weekly at Carlton PS to plan recipes, budget for shopping for the following month. Meals will be cooked and shared by participants with participants leading the program. Participants will be encouraged and supported to set up a fortnightly school lunch program, become involved in site activities including community events involving food. The grant will be used to purchase a fridge/freezer for use by Community Cooking Club, healthy lunch program and other programs at Carlton PS. To be used to store fresh/frozen produce for community/school programs and food from Foodbank.
• HEALING MINDS THROUGH MUSIC - Healing Mind through Music aims to collaborate with Paving The Way Forward, Co Health, Chinese Elderly Dancing Group and Vietnamese Elderly Association in North Melbourne to bring elderly people of all backgrounds together, to help people to improve mental health by healing the mind, body, and soul.
• Growing Kensington's Community Food Forest Together - Growing Kensington’s Community Food Forest Together will rebuild a team of volunteers to refresh this newly established food garden based on permaculture principles which‍ have both (volunteers and garden) suffered years of decline from COVID lockdowns. A new volunteer team will help to restore and maintain the garden’s food abundance for fair share harvesting amongst Kensington Estate’s (former public housing, now 50:50 public private new housing) 2000+ residents and neighbours.
• Celebrate at Yarra's Edge: The Docklands Connection - A one off event to bring the community of Docklands together to connect and showcase: local talent, businesses and government services. The event will be held at Shed 21, 206 Lorimer Street Docklands on Saturday 26 November, 12pm - 3pm. This will also help to reactivate the site. We have approached a number of organisations to determine interest in the event eg. Development Victoria, Mirvac, various social groups etc.
• Mushroom Growing Workshop Series - The funding will provide access to four mushroom-growing workshops at the Kensington Stockyard Food Garden during 2023. The workshops will provide an opportunity for social connection and community building at the Kensington Stockyard Food Garden where participants will learn how growing mushrooms can be cheap, easy, and a sustainable way to produce their own fresh mushrooms at home and in the community.
• Gardening@33 - Gardening@33 is a social gardening project aimed at facilitating increased social connections between community members, building community resilience, and contributing to greater mental and physical health. This will be achieved through fortnightly sessions involving hands-on gardening alternating with theory-based guest lectures. The project is resident-led, and will build awareness of food systems, growing and cultivating, the importance and function of native plants in our community food garden.
• Removing Barriers to Education - River Nile Learning Centre (RNLC) students are all newly arrived refugee and asylum seeker women who struggle to survive on limited or no welfare payments. The grant will be used to purchase Myki’s for participants in English language classes at our learning centre in North Melbourne.
• LITTLE KENSPACE - The DRUM Youth Committee would like to design and furnish a vacant space at the bottom of the Kensington Housing Estate building - has a small room at 56 Derby St corner office space we propose can be used by young people Wednesdays 4-6pm. This $2K funding will be used for items such as a couch, and Xbox and television and some beanbags or similar to upgrade the space.