Respecting Wurundjeri and Bunurong connection to Country

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.

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.

A pet friendly neighbourhood

We are currently working on developing 'dogs in the park' events in neighbourhoods. These events, in partnership with behaviour trainers from the Lost Dogs' Home aim to raise awareness and provide education of dog behaviour, enrichment and responsible dog ownership to improve dog and human experiences in public places.

We’ve installed sensors in Eades Park, where we recently added a dog off-leash area. This will help us to learn how the park is being used, including the popularity of the off-leash zone and any peak times or patterns of use. Learn more about how we're using sensors in the park.

Parks and 'green living' solutions

Throughout 2021 we completed three phases of community consultation to guide enhancements for Hawke Street. Phase three of the community consultation was on the proposed design plans and to better understand concerns form the community. Throughout 2022, the project team used this feedback to revise and improve the design plans. Construction on the new Hawke Street Linear Park is anticipated to commence early 2024 and expected to take around 12 months to complete. To stay up to date with the project, follow the project's Participate Melbourne page.

We’ve installed sensors in Eades Park in West Melbourne, a popular local green space. We want to learn more about how it’s used in detail, for instance the popularity of the playground, basketball court and fitness equipment. This will help inform the maintenance and future design of our parks and green spaces so they can better match the needs of the community.

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.

We’ve become one of six cities around the world to appoint dedicated Chief Heat Officers to raise awareness about extreme heat risk, provide local leadership and collaborate to deliver solutions. We’re currently delivering Heat Health Preparedness seminars with a range of community groups across February and March. We're also working on developing a plan to make the city safer from the impacts of heat and will be engaging with people who may be vulnerable to the experiences of heatwaves across each neighbourhood.

Local shopping and dining options

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 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.

We're helping new businesses establish in West Melbourne. Sydney chef Eun Hee An, of Paper Bird and Moon Park, started an online condiment business called Moon Mart and has now moved to West Melbourne and opened a café selling great dishes using the condiments. They are positioned on Stawell Street with coffee only Monday-Wednesday, food menu available Thursday-Sunday.

We also helped support the delivery of the River Studios Christmas Market providing opportunities to shop from local artists and businesses.

Community activity, arts and events

Melbourne will be filled to the brim with dozens of new creative offerings, thanks to new funding to support and grow our vibrant arts sector.

We have allocated more than $175,000 across 49 projects through our 2022 Quick Response Arts Grants program – the only fast turnaround micro-grant program offering this level of support in Australia.

The latest round of the program will support nearly 350 artists to develop and present their work in public – including live theatre, dance, music, films, written pieces and visual art.

We helped support the delivery of River Studio Christmas market providing a local event for community to take part in and connect with art activities and ability to engage with local artists and businesses.

Safer and quieter roads

We've been working with the Department of Transport and Planning to improve safety at the intersection of Roden Street and King Street. Since November 2022, vehicle right turn movement has been restricted to left turn only with kerb realignment and regulatory signs. Work is continuing to install additional kerb at the centre median to increase compliance and ensure safer vehicle movements for all road users.

We're currently working on concept designs for kerbside protected bike lanes along Abbotsford St, West Melbourne, from Spencer St to Adderley St and Sims St, West Melbourne, Dynon Rd to Maribyrnong River Trail.

Our proposed Hawke Steet Linear Park project will provide improved protected bike lanes will help establish a safer and strong connection for bike riders from West Melbourne into the city and beyond and upgraded footpaths and crossings to create a safer environment for pedestrians.

Public areas that feel welcoming and safe

As part of Victoria Police's Neighbourhood Policing initiative, a Local Safety Committee meeting was held for Melbourne West and North on 9 December 2022, and included representatives from Carlton, Parkville, Docklands, Kensington, North Melbourne, West Melbourne and the western part of the Melbourne CBD.

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 20 February and close Monday 20 March.

Check out other grant opportunities on the Community Noticeboard.

No applications have been submitted for the Connected Neighbourhood Small Grants from the West Melbourne neighbourhood.

The following projects have recently received Connected Neighbourhood Small Grants:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.