Our last history walk is out today. It starts and ends at Alphington Park and takes you down along the Yarra River. Pop past and collect a hard copy. Alternatively you can download a copy here to print at home or use on your phone.

Happy neighbourhood walking friends.

Time is passing us by … and it is pretty nice to be marking it with this series of local neighbourhood walks.

The third walk is through the northern streets of Alphington, and whilst lots of the houses that are talked about have disappeared, it’s still pretty interesting to understand how this area developed, and how it has changed. Who knew, for example, that Yarana Road was once a long driveway to a fancy house …

To find out more you can pop past ACC and collect a physical map from the box on the side of the seed library, if you have a printer you can download and print your own here and of course you can also just download it and follow along on your device.

We hope you have a lovely time exploring the northern part of Alphington this weekend!

Our second History Walk through the Lucerne Estate (south of Heidelberg Road) is now available for your weekend walking pleasure!

We’ve printed 70 copies that are again out on the street for you to collect, both on the bottom shelf of the seed library and in the little perspex brochure holder on the side.

Alternatively if you have a printer at your house you can print your own here or read along on your phone.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

If you are interested in learning more about the history of our neighbourhood … and also like a stroll, perhaps you’d like to print out or collect our first History Walk.

This walk starts on the south side of Alphington Station and takes you on a tour of the Old Alphington Village. Thanks to Anne and the 3078 History Group for all the background work that has gone into this flyer, and thanks also to Lee for the graphic design and Kalimna for the photos.

We’re planning to record an accompanying podcast at some stage to sit along side this walk. We’ll let you know when this is active.

If you have a printer at home you can print a copy here. If you’d like to collect a printed copy you’ll find some out the front in the little brochure holder on the side of our seed library.

Over the last few months we’ve been mixing up how we identify our Instagram posts ‘location’ … sometimes we choose our actual address that is saved in the ether of the interwebs, and sometimes we choose our traditional place name ‘Wurundjeri Country’. This choice acknowledges the long history of our location.

As Cr Susan Rennie discussed when she was Mayor,

“It's important for Wurundjeri people to see their language and their names and places recognised in writing, but it's equally important for Australians who aren't First Nations people to understand and see that connection in everyday things."

Of course there are hundreds of First Nations words that were adopted into our daily lexicon as white settlement rolled out - Dandenong, Prahran, Toorak, Yarra, Boroondara etc.

It’s great to add more, and especially ones that we know are historically meaningful …

Because for example I heard an archaeologist talking on the ABC the other week, explaining that Yarra isn’t the actual name of the river for the Wurundjeri, the traditional owners of Naarm (Melbourne). It’s Birrarung. Yarra was a misinterpretation of yaro yaro which was a description of how the water flowed over the rocks at the falls (that no longer exist). Said falls were in the middle of Melbourne near Queenbridge Street, and provided both a barrier to seawater going further upstream, and a natural crossing point from the north to south sides …

It was because of these strategically located falls that Batman etc. declared ‘this is the place for a village’ … before blasting them away not too many years later … because they partially dammed them … which exacerbated flooding upstream … and we know how these things go … yikes.

Anyway, I just saw that Australia Post has published an official protocol so we can now also add the traditional place name to snail mail as well.

The protocol is

• Addressee’s Name

• Traditional Place Name

• Address or PO Box

• Suburb, State and Postcode

Australia Post is starting distributing new packaging with the address prompts in this format to coincide with NAIDOC week (4-11 July).

NAIDOC week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and is a great opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

If you are interested in NAIDOC activities for this year visit the NAIDOC Week Events page.