How a 220km trail will celebrate First Nations history and connect Melbourne to river’s source
A 13-day walking trail is planned along the Yarra River, stretching from the sands of Williamstown Beach to the pristine source of the city’s drinking water at the mouth of the Upper Yarra dam.
The 220km trail, scheduled to open in 2029, is being promoted as Victoria’s answer to the Camino, the legendary pilgrimage walk to Santiago, Spain.
The tourist trail is being developed in partnership with the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Aboriginal Heritage Authority and will support First Nations connections to the river. It will be called the Birrarung Valley Walk, named after the river’s name in the Woi-wurrung language, which loosely means “river of mist”.
Proponents of the walk, environmental organization Birrarung Valley Walk Inc., say it will also celebrate the environmental values of the river and its impact on post-colonial art and architecture.
The route is designed in 13 daily stages ranging from 12 to 22 kilometers, and accommodation is available at the end of each day’s journey.
Starting at the river’s estuary at Williamstown, the walk passes the Royal Botanical Gardens and the Heide Museum of Modern Art, winds through Warrandyte towards the hill towns of Healesville and Warburton, and ascends along mountain ash forest trails to its final leg in the Yarra Ranges.
Nichola Lefroy, general manager of Birrarung Valley Walk, said: “It’s quite unique. We looked all over the world. We couldn’t find any other walk in a major capital city that goes all the way to its source along its main river.”
Development of the trail is being led jointly by Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung elders and is hoped to create career pathways for a group of river rangers who use Indigenous knowledge and practices to restore the river corridor to ecological health.
Elder and walk manager Auntie Alice Kolasa said the river was “alive and has a voice”.
“As we walk beside him, he tells us the stories of our ancestors that are contained in our songs to protect the Land.”
Kolasa said it is important to visit and respect the site.
“It’s more than a river. It tells the story of past memories. Until now. Our Creator shaped it and it grew on the banks of Birrarung, Melbourne. It’s so powerful.”
Although footpaths exist along much of the Yarra River corridor, there are still many missing links that need to be connected, particularly in the foothills north-east of Melbourne. About 15 percent of the proposed road is either unbuilt or closed to the public.
The project requires $5.1 million in financing, including $2.3 million for trail construction.
Proponents of the march commissioned economic modeling by MCa Modeling and Analysis, which estimated it would be used by 210,000 to 240,000 people and generate $374 million in spending in the first 10 years; of that, $136 million will be impacted by First Nations tourism.
Birrarung Valley Walk director Chris Chesterfield, professor of practice at Monash University’s Institute for Sustainable Development and Melbourne Water’s former waterways manager, said momentum for the walk had increased during the COVID years, when thousands of lockdown Melburnians connected with the city’s rivers and stream corridors.
Chesterfield said the hike is designed to be undertaken either as a 13-day adventure or in smaller segments over time; “Exploring the unique nature of Birrarung, its history spanning billions of years before humanity, its relationship with Aboriginal people over tens of thousands of years, and its more recent impact on the development of Melbourne since European colonisation”.
“Hopefully this will be something that becomes a life goal for Melburnians and maybe more Australians. If you’re a Melburnian you should walk the Yarra,” Chesterfield said.
Multiple state and local government agencies were involved in planning the proposed road, including the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Melbourne Water, Parks Victoria and the nine councils through which the road would pass.
Professor John Thwaites, former deputy prime minister and environment and water minister in the Bracks and Brumby Labor governments, chairs the project’s steering committee.
He said Melbourne’s relationship with the Yarra had improved since the days when the city turned its back on the main river.
“People used to joke about the Yarra. It’s now seen as the heart of Melbourne and so this is a chance to bring people closer to the river in places they haven’t experienced before,” Thwaites said.
“It’s sometimes difficult to get people to respect the environment enough, but people stick to what they know and if we have more people doing this walk I’m sure we’ll have more people looking at the river.”
Hikers will be able to use an app that will carry the Woi-wurrung language, stories recorded by elders, and cultural knowledge along the entire route. The app will also include a feature for hikers to report environmental damage such as discarded garbage, weed outbreaks and pest animals.
Melbourne Water executive general manager Matthew Daley said the company was working on the next stage of planning to define the route, clear roads and ensure the proposal protected the river and its drinking water supply while allowing for community use.
The missing link of the path, where the river crosses private land between Mount Lofty and Yarra Glen, has proven very difficult to bridge, meaning walkers must be transferred by vehicle to Lilydale before continuing their walk.
The walk will end at the Upper Yarra Reservoir near the Yarra’s final headwaters. The spring is within Melbourne’s watersheds and public access is prohibited.
The Birrarung Valley Walk will be announced at the Heide Museum of Modern Art on Monday.
Adam Carey is an investigative reporter. He previously served as senior city reporter, education editor, state political reporter and transportation reporter. Contact him at acarey@theage.com.au or on Signal at Adamlcarey.39.Connect via email.
