Over three weeks in September, the second-ever Riverfest took place along the banks of the Birrarung River. The event was organised by the Yarra Riverkeeper Association and Regen Melbourne was privileged to play a role in the event’s success. Here, Charity Mosienyane, Lead Convenor for the Swimmable Birrarung project, reflects on an incredible celebration of Melbourne’s life force.

The Yarra Riverkeeper Association’s (YRKA) 2024 Riverfest has officially come to a close. The festival ran for 3 weeks (1–22 September) and brought together communities up and down the Birrarung corridor with over 40 community-hosted events attended by over 2,000 people. 

Each event was organised by different actors and stakeholders within the Birrarung ecosystem, including local First Nations groups, community groups, local councils, water authorities, government entities and local businesses along the river. The festival demonstrated the love, commitment and care for the Birrarung from a diverse group of individuals and organisations. 

Unfortunately, I missed out on all the walking events because they sold out within the first week of the festival line-up going live. Note to self – register for all the events you want to attend immediately!

As strategic partners, we’ve been working with the wonderful team at YRKA since the beginning of the year to leverage new collaborative opportunities, lend our full-team support and curate three events to the festival program. Below are some of our learnings and the outcomes of these sessions, which we will apply to our Swimmable Birrarung work moving forward.

Sports + Waterways: A Ripple Effect 

We co-hosted this event in collaboration with Annabel Sides (Green Planet Sports), which gathered over 30 representatives of Victorian sports organisations and associations (including tennis, swimming, rowing, football, golf). We met beside the Birrarung to workshop how sports can play a role in the climate resilience journey of waterways, particularly the Birrarung. 

‘But wait a minute, what does the Birrarung have to do with sports?’ we hear you ask. Great question! 

I want to share a discussion I had with Annabel a few months ago to connect the dots as to why sports plays an integral role in the transformation of our waterways. 

With the increasing extreme events (heat waves, bushfires, floods etc), we are likely to find ourselves in a scenario where there is less snow falling on Mount Baw Baw (the source of the Birrarung). Less snow means less alpine water running down the mountain and into the Birrarung. This has a direct impact on the volume of water that is available for the environment, drinking water, irrigation and recreational use. Less water means we can’t irrigate and maintain sports fields located all across the state, which will directly impact athletes and sports such as football and cricket. It will also affect the available water in creeks and rivers which has a direct impact on swimmers, rowers, kayakers etc. 

These are some of the actions that were suggested at the event to raise awareness and connect the public to the Birrarung:

• Develop a route map to sporting events (like the Australian Open, AFL Grand Final, etc) highlighting the cultural/social stories of the river 

• Establish funding frameworks that embed environmental stewardship and care for the river 

• Support organisations such as the Sport Environmental Alliance; a not for profit organisation that works with the sports ecosystem to educate and empower towards an environmentally sustainable and regenerative future 

• Run campaigns around waterways and what we can collectively do to care for the river

• Explore a water theme for an AFL round during the month of September (World Rivers Day month)

We will be summarising the outcomes of the workshop into a short report to be shared around with the attendees. Please contact myself or Annabel if you are keen to know more.

Swimmable Cities: Come on Melbourne! 

Our second event was an online session on swimmable cities co-hosted with Matt Sykes (Regeneration Projects). 

This event celebrated the stories of transformation of place, people and cities as a result of the swimmability of urban waterways. Speakers shared transformation stories from Copenhagen, Metz, Berlin and Sydney. 

Marshall Blecher (MAST) shared stories of rediscovering urban swimming in Copenhagen, and how this transformation of the city’s harbour  has changed the culture, identity and brand of Copenhagen as a global leader in bathing culture. “Swimming in the harbour is what now defines summer in Copenhagen,” he said. It’s safe to say that all attendees were in awe of the Danish design and architecture of the thriving bathing corridor.

Sibylle Van Der Walt (Metz Ville d'Eau) shared stories of how her organisation is working towards making the River Moselle in Metz swimmable again. She shared the current political/legislative challenges due to security concerns regarding management of naval vessels and human interaction, something we have in common here in Melbourne. The community is working together to activate bathing experiences on the river that are accessible to all. 

Adriaan van der Linden shared the transformation journey Netherlands is on to activate urban waterways swimming, and the importance of intercity collaboration to promote this movement.  

Leanne Niblock from Sydney Water, the largest water utility service in Australia,  shared how a swimmable Parramatta River and the Urban Plunge movement has transformed how the organisation manages waterways and catchments in Sydney. The movement has been so successful that the swimmability of waterways is now priority for Sydney Water customers.  

Community desire for swimming now contributes to the decision-making process for capital investment. Swimmability has also enabled collaboration across the government and private sectors to activate new swimming sites.

Some common themes from these stories include:

• People used to swim in urban waterways until industrialisation and pollution made this impossible

• An enabling environment (legal, political, governance) is required to activate urban swimming

• Urban water swimming champions are required to progress/push through the vision  

• Swimming in urban waterways can change the identity of a city and how the government invests capital in service to the health of local waterways and catchments

Urban Water Safety for Kids

Our final event was co-hosted with Life Saving Victoria (LSV) and sponsored by Patagonia. This event was held in the last week of the festival at MPavillion, at the city reaches of the Birrarung. The event was a take on LSV’s City Nippers and Bush Nippers programs and tailored to water safety in urban waterways.

Most of us have lost the art of safely swimming in rivers or waterways because they have not been accessible for the last several decades. If we want to realise the vision of a Swimmable Birrarung, we – and especially our young people – need to learn how to do this again.

Riverfest 2024 was a resounding success. From source to sea, plenty of fun was had, a lot was learned, and hopefully more people found ways to reconnect and contribute to the river as she makes her way to a healthy and thriving status. 

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