Fed Square features in plans for a 220km Birrarung Valley Walk

A long-term plan for a 220km “connected, whole-of-river trail” along the Yarra, or Birrarung, has been publicly announced, with the walk, from Williamstown to the Upper Yarra Reservoir, expected to open in 2029.

The Birrarung Valley Walk will feature Federation Square and Birrarung Marr as key stops and take in highlights such as Herring Island, the Abbotsford Convent, Heide Museum of Modern Art, Warrandyte and Mount Lofty and finish close to the source of the river in the forested Yarra Ranges.

As with Victoria’s 250km Great South West Walk and the 164km Grampians Peaks Trail, it is envisioned walkers would tackle the trail either in one trip over a couple of weeks or in combined or individual stages.

Unlike the state’s remote rural walks, though, the route would offer accommodation at the end of each stage.

According to the organisation established to pursue the initiative, it is a collaboration between “all the Traditional Owners, state entities and local government associations” along the river, which is being created “in deep partnership” with the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, with “First Nations knowledge … shaping every decision.”

A key aspect of the plan, Birrarung Walk Inc. says, is the development of a companion app for walkers that will provide separate streams of environmental, First Nations and “post-colonial” stories while also enabling people to report dumped rubbish or environmental issues.

While 80 per cent of the 220km trail, including its city sections, already exists as publicly accessible pathways, new or upgraded sections need to be built beyond Warrandyte, Birrarung Walk Inc. executive director Nichola Lefroy said.

In the first two, CBD-linked, sections of the trail, the work to be done now with land managers and Traditional Owners would be in gathering and curating the stories to be told through the app.

City of Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell expressed great enthusiasm for the process.

“It’s an historic project and a bold vision that will change the way we experience our city.”

Environment portfolio lead Cr Davydd Griffiths said the walk offered an extraordinary opportunity.

“Few cities can connect people to a living river corridor on this scale – taking walkers from the heart of Melbourne into some of Victoria’s most significant natural landscapes,” he said.

“Whether it’s a short walk through the city or the full 220km journey, this walk will offer a chance to better understand the environmental, cultural and historical significance of the Birrarung.”

Ms Lefroy said the founder of the walk was the late Dr Maudie Palmer AO, the founding director of what is now Heide Museum of Modern Art and the champion of countless projects relating to art, the Birrarung, First Nations peoples and the environment.

The idea reportedly gathered momentum during the COVID years and gained the support of Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong Traditional Owners in 2023, after which formal planning between Birrarung Valley Walk, local governments and public land managers began in 2024.

The vision for the walk fits with a “50-year-community vision” for the river developed in response to 2016 laws making it a “single living entity”. 

The Birrarung Valley Walk was announced at Heide on Monday, June 15.

Melbourne Water manager Matthew Daley told CBD News the authority was working with steering committee members on the next stages of planning “to help define access routes, clear pathways and appropriate signage and make sure the project proposal protects the river and drinking water supply while enabling community use”. •