Relating to the Living River: A Reflection for Riverfest Melbourne
We gather on the banks of the Birrarung, the Yarra River, to pause, to connect, and to listen deeply. The following is the talk I gave for the 2026 Breathe with the Birrarung event on Herring Island in South Yarra.
Since the dawn of human history, rivers have been the lifeforce of human civilisation. For tens of thousands of years, Indigenous peoples have gathered along their banks for food, trade, culture, and connection. Rivers link landmasses to the global ocean, constantly moving and nourishing everything they touch. They have inspired poetry, art, and sacred traditions across every continent.
The Wurundjeri name for the Yarra River is Birrarung, which translates to "river of mists" or "place of mists and shadows."
Moving Beyond Disconnection
In modern industrial society, many of us have been taught to view a river like the Birrarung as a mere object, a utility, a storm drain, or something "dirty." We look at its brown, silt-rich waters through a lens of disconnection, forgetting what a healthy, living river actually is and ignoring that it is a primary life source for local wildlife and our communities alike.
The truth is, the Birrarung is not a gutter for our cities. The Birrarung is a living entity. When we truly acknowledge this, our relationship with the river shifts from exploitation to connection and care.
In First Nations ways of knowing, the river is an Ancestral Being holding lore, story, and memory. When we shift our perspective from seeing a "dirty waterway" to encountering a living teacher, we begin to open ourselves to ancestral ways of being connected to the land.
Our bodies are wise and intelligent, having evolved over millions of years in relationship with nature. Through practices like mindfulness and meditation, we can tap into deep ways of listening and reconnecting with the land as our ancestors once did. Bridging this gap is essential if we are to heal both ourselves and the Earth.
A Living Entity in Lore and Law
The Birrarung as a living entity exists not only in the LORE of the Wurundjeri people, but also in LAW.
In 2017, following extensive advocacy by community and Traditional Owner groups, the Victorian Parliament passed the landmark Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017, granting the Yarra River legal status as a living entity. Notably, it was the first legislation in Australia to be co-titled in Traditional language.
However, legal recognition alone is not enough. Safeguarding the health of the river is an ongoing responsibility, made even more urgent by the climate crisis. The Birrarung suffers under the weight of urban growth and unprecedented biodiversity loss. We must face the scientific reality of ecological degradation without looking away.
Transforming Climate Anxiety into Action
When we let this ecological reality into our hearts, it hurts. We may experience climate anxiety, fear, anger, or despair. But these difficult emotions should not be pathologised—they are proof of our deep love for the Earth. You only grieve what you care about.
When we hold these feelings together in community, we transform anger into determination, fear into courage, and despair into grounded action. Action is the antidote to the eco-crisis.
Re-imagining at Riverfest Melbourne
In a recent interview with Emergence Magazine titled "Is a River Alive?", author Robert Macfarlane notes that modern culture suffers from a "crisis of the imagination." Industrial rationalism trains us to see rivers as inanimate matter, causing waterways to degrade from drinkable, to unswimmable, and eventually to untouchable.
Macfarlane asks: What happens when we unlearn this and re-imagine the river as a living being?
What changes when we recognise that a river doesn't just flow through a landscape, but "irrigates our bodies, our thoughts, our songs, and our stories"?
When we make that shift, the river ceases to be an ugly utility. It becomes a neighbour, a relation, and an active participant in our shared life.
Practical Hope and Gratitude
This transformation is already taking root, fuelled by dedicated organisations working across our catchment.
As we celebrate Riverfest, we want to express our deepest gratitude to key stewards of the Birrarung:
Yarra Riverkeeper Association: Thank you for being the voice of the river, advocating tirelessly for its protection and restoration (including insights shared by President Janet Bolitho on the river's legal entity status in the recent Earth Conversations).
Parks Victoria: Thank you for managing and protecting the parklands along the Birrarung, preserving biodiversity and keeping nature accessible.
City of Stonnington: Thank you for supporting local environmental initiatives like Rewilding Stonnington, fostering community-led stewardship along our local river stretches.
We also see practical hope in vision-led initiatives like Regenerate Melbourne, working toward a future where the river is safely swimmable once again.
How You Can Get Involved
Join a Riverfest Melbourne event or get involved in a community rivercare programs or local initiatives.
If you're keen to understand how to develop a nature-based spiritual practice and active project of your own, you might be interested in the Earth Stewards program I am running in 2027 with the Insight Meditation Institute.
Deep Listening: An Eco-Somatic Practice
Regenerating the river doesn't begin with a shovel or a policy—it begins within.
Local Indigenous scholars like Tyson Yunkaporta remind us that Country invites us to listen differently. Listening with Country is an active, embodied practice—much like meditation in nature. It requires moving out of our heads and leading with feeling rather than relying purely on a Western intellectual worldview.
In ecopsychology, this is called eco-somatics or eco-tuning: opening the full sensorium of the body to the river and abiding in listening. Scientific evidence shows that this type of deep listening regulates the nervous system, calms the mind, and evokes a sense of safety, as fresh water is a universal environment for all life.
A Guided Invitation for Riverfest
Today, we aren't just standing next to the river, we are asking permission of the Birrarung to let it teach us.
The Birrarung doesn't speak English, so we must open our hearts and minds to be moved by what we sense and feel.
Mindfulness Invitation: Drop below the surface of your thoughts—beyond whether the water looks "brown" or "dirty"—and tune into the living rhythm of the flow and the rich ecology of the Birrarung. Practice deep listening. Ask the river what it needs from you, and allow yourself to feel what it truly means to be connected to this living place.
