Regenerating a Body of Water: A Walk with Birrarung-ga

Alliance for Praxis Research + Professor N’arweet Carolyn Briggs AM PhD + Troy Innocent

Reframing waterways through urban play starting with Boon Wurrung journey cycles, this workshop is situated along the Birrarung to speculate on a near-future flooded world. In order to tension dominant relations with water so we can envision alternative possible futures, participants encounter hidden memories of waterways and engage in play design thinking to intimately reconnect with water.

The experience is guided by a zine that includes a game to be played along the Birrarung, in which participants are invited to reimagine their own relationships with water through interrelational and intergenerational play. Through this experience participants will gain knowledge of water justice, water sovereignty, and water as a vital life force.

The game starts at Queens Bridge, where the group will have the opportunity to remember the waterfall that once was there separating the river from the bay, and reflect on the destruction of the waterfall and transformation of the river as part of the design of European colonisation. Using portable vessels, the group will collect water from the Birrarung and embrace the responsibility of protecting its substance as we walk to remap the original course of the river. Participants will carry water in their vessels to Alexandra Gardens to then engage in speculative play with Melbourne waterways past, present, and future. Participants will play with the water in different ways through a physical play system developed for the workshop.