The Riverbank

A Bank in service to a living entity

A Swimmable Birrarung is about transforming the Birrarung Yarra River from a polluted, undervalued city resource into a vibrant, healthy, and regenerative living system. Since early 2023, Regen Melbourne has explored how financial capital can support this vision, working with domestic and global partners to understand capital flows around the river. In order to achieve lasting impact, this will require alignment across diverse stakeholders, each with different values and relationships to the Birrarung. The Birrarung RiverBank is a shared fund that seeks to pool government, philanthropic, business, and private capital to fund projects like habitat restoration, floodplain reconnection, and cultural care-for-Country. By backing a whole portfolio rather than individual projects, risk and reward are shared, enabling long-term, regenerative, and coordinated investment. Guided by Traditional Owners, scientists, community representatives and Water Authorities, the fund will invest in river as living, shared infrastructure, creating a financial backbone that supports systemic, community-led regeneration and ensures the river's health benefits everyone.