St Martins Melbourne Pollinator Corridor Site
This valuable site on Bunurong Country is just a stone’s throw away from Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne in South Yarra and consists of over 400m2 of indigenous gardens. The land is a part of St Martins Youth Arts Centre and before that it was stables where people would hire horses to ride around the nearby Tan.
For Heartscapes, the journey began in mid-2022 but work didn’t start until mid-2023. Planting of over 1000 plants happened in October 2023 and then we held a wonderful celebration to 'open the site’ with a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony held by Bunurong Elder Uncle Mark Brown.
It was seriously degraded for decades before we started (see below for Before images) and has been an incredible experiment in scaling our work which could be described as ecological restoration meets landscape design meets grass roots systemic change infused with education and community engagement at all times. We are led by the question “What does nature need?”, but always balancing this with site constraints and aesthetic constraints.
18 months after planting and we are seeing a fantastic increase in biodiversity, healthier trees, shifting local attitudes towards indigenous plantings and a beautiful space to regenerate not only the local biodiversity but also the hearts and minds of local humans..
What People Are Saying:
“As well as helping the staff of St Martins and providing a safe meeting place for younger participants, the garden has provided an important refuge for the off-stage tech crew, who spend most of their working day in the dark.”
- Julie, staff at St Martins Youth Arts Centre
“This garden is an inspiration to us as we do up our acre block outside the city.”
- local resident
“Stunning- absolutely stunning. I love it and I can tell you that the whole neighbourhood loves it too.”
— local resident
Before…July 2022
Stats on the site:
Funding for the creation:
The Myer Foundation, FlowHive, Hassell
In-Kind Support:
Site Analysis: Susie Quinn (Hassell)
Design support: Fiona Brockhoff
Design team: Nicky, Chris from Fiona Brockhoff Design
Landscaping: David Swann and team from Fiona Brockhoff Design
Extra pro gardening support: Natalie Simmons
Entomology advice: Dr Julian Brown
Bluestone delivery: Rapid Quarries
Tree Delivery: Speciality Trees
Refreshments: Britt
Wood and metal work: Dale Holden
Materials: 16 deliveries - 8m3 soil - 2m3 compost - 1m3 cow poo - 29m3 mulch - 280L char/frass from Green Man Char - 960 plants - logs and branches from City of Melbourne
People Power: Emma, Gillian, Ariel, Zoe, Meg, Erica, Matthew, Doris, Dianne, Lisa, Lieze, Tomacz, Britt, Kym, Michael, Carlene, Jenni, Carla, Sarah and family, Adela, EJ
St Martins crew: Julie, Agnieszka, Hayley, Nadja, Shayne
Community People Power: Plantfulness team x 10, Gamuda team x 8, many other members of the local community big and small!
Total hours: 55 volunteers giving 595 hours!, 105+ hours in design!, 130 hours of professional landscaping!
Ongoing management: on average 25 volunteer hours a month and $4000 a year.
During…July-October 2023
After…September 2024-March 2025…
3 stories…
The local postie bumped down the bluestone uncomfortably and stopped in front of the wildflowers that are at eye height from the laneway. I watched him sit quietly and just stare at the garden for a few minutes. I caught his eye and said hello. He said they were “stunning” and “beautiful” ….then he rattled off on his way again.
A gentleman who used to take photos for the Botanic Gardens said that the garden had atmosphere. I asked what kind of atmosphere and he replied after some thought “an atmosphere of Australiana”. He told me how much Douglas (who lived in the house next door to the garden, watched the beginnings of our work but passed away earlier this year) would have loved this transformation and was sorry that his dear friend couldn’t enjoy it.
Ced, a young boy who lives in a nearby house, loved helping out with the initial planting so much that he told everyone at school and many conversations were started with various teachers and students from this.
Please support our work on this site which costs $4000 annually. Thank you so much!