The Yarra—Our River
What is a river? A source of life? Something beside which to build a village? A link to the rest of the world? All of those—but far more! To those of us who live along the Yarra, whether in busy cosmopolitan Melbourne or in some quiet retreat high in the hills near the source, the Yarra is our river, and just what that means could be expressed in a thousand—ten thousand—a million—ways.
How it Began
In 2003, a group of us spent three wondrous weeks tracing the course of our river. We began at the wide, calm, expanse where the Yarra empties into Port Phillip Bay and trekked past South Bank and the Botanic Gardens, through some of the oldest parts of the city and into the outskirts, until we were in the quiet of the hills. We continued on, walking wide-eyed along bush tracks rich with forest debris, holding our breaths as rare and beautiful animals moved unconcerned across our path, standing spellbound at vistas beyond our previous imagining, until at last we reached the source.
While discussing the feelings that this experience had evoked in each of us, we conceived the idea of a quilt.
Feelings about the Yarra, we thought, are not homogenous; not some trite quotation from a tourist brochure. Feelings about the Yarra are much more diverse than our famous "multi-culture", for each of us—every single individual person—is affected by the Yarra in a unique way.The quilt, then, was an opportunity for individuals to try to show the Yarra to the world through their very personal eyes.
For more than a year, people made quilt patches. They came from children and from professional artists. They came as oil paintings, as embroidery, as pastel and as applique. They are made of natural and artificial materials. They are conservatively expressed or wild, free and imaginative. They are as different from each other as the people of this earth, yet they converge at the same message—"This is how I feel about the Yarra".
January 2006
Through the tireless work of many wonderful people, the Long Yarra Quilt took shape. All the pieces have now be put together.
We had originally thought that the quilt would be complete before the end of 2005; however, we had no idea of the interest there'd be, or of just how many contributions would be made.
From tiny villages and bustling towns people came forth with their creative representations of the Yarra and the deep feelings it awakens. For new arrivals it can be a place of unexpected peace; for sixth generation Australians a bearer of history; poignant, triumphant or whimsical. For many it is a reminder of those who lived for thousands of years by the Yarra's banks, depending on its flow for life and transport, respecting and nuturing its surrounding life-space, and telling stories of how it was "in the beginning".
Some beautiful contributions are here.
If You Didn't Know ...
It's a shame that no picture small enough for a web page can possibly do justice to the beautiful and often intricate work that was done. The samples that you see on these pages give an idea of the general appearance of each piece, but the “real things” are truly wonderful.
Here's another page of quilt pieces, with links to details of their making and their makers.
Visit melbournewater.com.au/ouryarra for more information
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