Northbank Heritage Trail

STOP 2
Birrarung Marr

Location:
Birrarung Marr upstream from Princes Bridge

Located on the northern bank of the river, between Melbourne Park and Federation Square, Birrarung Marr was opened in 2002. From 1856, this area was used for railway lines and yards, but with the creation of Federation Square, the land was reclaimed and a riverside park created to allow public access to the river. It features a range of native flora and sculpted terraces, pedestrian and bicycle paths, a children’s playground, and arts centre, and provides space for many events and festivals throughout the year.

Before European settlement in 1835, with seasonal Wurundjeri presence the Birrarung/Yarra was pristine but with rapidly increasing colonial settlement, it soon became tainted, contaminated by sewage and early industrial waste. However environmental consciousness, policies and effective remedial popular activism grew in the 1980s. In 2005 citizen-advocates established the Yarra Riverkeeper Association to promote and monitor the health of the river along its entire length. The Birrarung/Yarra looks ‘brown’, not from pollution, but due to microscopic clay particles through which this river flows.

In May 2024 work commenced on Melbourne’s Greenline Project along the line of the Northbank Trail to enhance the river’s unique ecology and celebrate the site’s significance to the Wurundjeri. In 2025 the City of Melbourne indefinitely paused the Public Private Partnership for the Greenline Project. The first major section, which has been completed, was funded by the Federal government and the City of Melbourne.

As you walk along the river bank, think of the patterns of seasonal migration and clan gatherings for ceremony and trade which occurred in this location over millennia. Indigenous travel on the river by raft and bark canoe was common. Evidence of pre-colonial trade may be found in a Woi Wurrung bark canoe of the eastern Gippsland design on display at the Melbourne Museum, and on the three ‘scar trees’ found in Yarra Park.

FURTHER READING

IMAGE CREDIT
Birrarung Marr, photographer Jeff Malley 2024