by Meredith Gibbs
After many months of planning, the Merri Creek Women’s Walk initiative finally had a live, in-person launch event!!
About 90 people met on the banks of the Merri Merri at Joe’s Garden to share a hot cuppa at the groovy coffee cart (supplied by Moreland Council), sit by the fire to catch up with old friends and make new ones, and celebrate the installation of the online trail map permanent sign on Thursday, 7 April 2022.
After Shay Xie (Vice President) and Meredith Gibbs (Committee member) welcomed the broader community to the event, Moreland Mayor Mark Riley spoke of his connection to the Creek. Unfortunately, Wurundjeri Elder Aunty Di was called away to a family emergency at the last minute and so we were unable to have her officiate the Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony. Instead, we formed a gratitude circle and listened to her Welcome to Country from the online launch in October last year – so beautiful and well worth hearing again (you can access the YouTube recording of the online event here).
It was a beautiful sunny evening as the sun set over the flower gardens as Anne McGregor (Merri Creek Management Creek Committee and Friends of Merri Creek) finally revealed the sign! We also heard from Farmer Em (Joe’s Garden) and Louisa McMillan (Merri Creek Management Creek Committee) about plans for the area. Joe’s Garden had a veggie and flower stall and Friends of Merri Creek had a stall where the community could learn more about their work and sign up to become a member.
It’s been a wonderful journey with all our volunteers from the Victorian Branch of the AWA to bring this idea to life, through COVID - a real team effort to embody AWA’s core values to SHARE, CONNECT and INSPIRE to drive a sustainable water future.
Thank you to all involved and to our sponsors for making it possible: Melbourne Water’s Liveable Communities, Liveable Waterways program which enabled us to commission the permanent sign for the Walk, and Eurofins and Water4Good for their generous sponsorship of the initiative from its inception. Thanks also to Moreland Council (Civic Events and Open Space team) for supplying the coffee cart and installing the sign.
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