A vision for Kevin -

The Boat House

For several years, the Friends of Edwardes Lake (FoEL) community group has been working hard to restore the environment and biodiversity at Edwardes Lake Park in Reservoir.

It has recently been suggested by Darebin Council members that it is time to reinvigorate the Boathouse at Edwardes Lake, with a proposal to turn it into a café. While the idea of a café in the Boathouse may appear like a good idea on the surface, we have a number of concerns around whether this is the best use of this space, and the potential negative impacts of a commercial operator based directly in the park itself.

This includes concerns around waste management and noise and light pollution, all of which have been proven to have a negative effect on wildlife. The recent protests around the Harry Potter light show in The Briars Sanctuary demonstrated how strongly the community feels about ensuring that appropriate activities take place in the places that our animals call home.

We already know that we have issues with litter in the park (which is regularly cleaned up by our volunteers) and a habit of feeding our wildlife inappropriate foods – these issues are highly likely to increase with the introduction of a café, which may not have respect for biodiversity at the forefront of their mind. Further to this, the space is fairly small and not really fit-for-purpose for a commercial operator.

FoEL and Darebin Council have been working towards creating a sanctuary at Edwardes Lake, a unique prospect for Darebin, which will not only enhance the space for our wildlife, but also for locals and visitors. A commercial arrangement does not fit into this vision.

Instead, we are proposing the Boathouse be converted into a community space, which locals can book out for community meetings, fitness classes, workshops and other activities. We have partnered with a number of local community groups, including Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes and the Friends of Merri Creek, who have expressed an interest in using such a space. There are limited community spaces north of Bell Street, so this would also help address that need.

We are incredibly supportive of local business, and understand that new cafes and other commercial operations in Reservoir help elevate the suburb, this just isn’t the right location. Rather we would prefer to see investment in our high street precinct, where there are already a number of vacant buildings (like the old library and police station) much better suited to housing a café or other commercial operation.

There are already cafes in close proximity to the lake, and if we are to protect this special place, we do not need a café within the park itself. Edwardes Lake was a creek before it was dammed and there is much work needed to restore it. We already know the water quality is on a knifes edge, with issues such as algae blooms creating potential health problems for not only our wildlife, but people (which is why activities on the lake are no longer permitted). This will not prove to be a nice outlook for a commercial operator. 

Creeks are lifelines to wildlife and we know many in our community appreciate our efforts to restore the park. There are so few places in Melbourne where residents can truly connect with nature; we have an opportunity to create such a unique place on our own doorstep.

Whatever activity is conducted within this building needs to respect wildlife; we hope others in the community will support us in our vision.

Darebin must put the environment, social responsibility and community development  front and center in planning decisions at Edwardes Lake and its community  assets such as the boathouse .  

Reservoir deserves a place for the community to grow and be revitalised, we do not do that with a cafe, we do that with a community space. 

Our concerns

  • A lost of a community asset north of Bell Street

  • A negative effect on wildlife

  • Noise and light  pollution from commercial operator

  • Additional pressure on a waterway with water quality still on a knives edge, El Nino weather over the next few years will prove to be challenging

  • Wildlife in further stress that already has poor and concerning habits with expecting food from humans – Humans have bad habits of feeding wildlife a cafe or restaurant will make it worse

  • More litter issues - The Friends of Edwardes Lake collects a recorded 30,000 piece of litter each year, this does not include daily litter walk conducted by volunteers

  • Problems with waste management of a commercial operator - Even the most sustainability operator needs to manage waste

  • Increased pest species such as rats, foxes and displaced cats attracted to  waste management of a commercial operation – we already have a significant Brown Rat and Mouse problem at Edwardes Lake

It’s current use

The ground level of the building is used by the open spaces team in the following ways;

•Store equipment that is used to look after the lake and surrounds;

•Ride on mower

•Boat for litter collection

•Tree guards

•Stakes

•Hand tools

•Booms for emergency water pollution response

•A break room and locker room for workers at the lake 

A place to meet -action plan

•Remove old bi-fold doors

•Remove benches and hooks in old male changeroom

•Install split system air con in large meeting room

•Install ceiling fans in smaller meeting room (no external wall to install aircon)

•Paint walls + ceiling in crisp white to enhance light in both meeting rooms

•Paint doors in nature based colour palette to reflect the surrounding bushland environment

•Install neutral vinyl plank flooring – easy to clear and maintain

•Purchase 5 x flip top board room tables to allow for flexible use of the space and ease of storage if not needed

•Purchase 60 x stackable chairs to allow for flexible use of the space and ease of storage if not needed

•Purchase 2 x 85” TV and stands for allow for AV access in both meeting rooms

•Purchase 2 x A-Frame Whiteboards for both meetings rooms

•Install Wi-Fi

The facilities - action plan

  • Install wall along staircase to ground floor with lockable door to separate levels. – This will ensure the security of Darebin’s assets and equipment on the ground floor

  • Remove toilets, shower and sink in old male changeroom, leaving it empty for storage

  • Remove benches and hooks in old female changeroom

  • Remove showers in old female changeroom and replace with DDA compliant toilets

  • Install second sink in toilet area

  • Replace current toilets in old female changerooms with newer water saving units

  • Install lockers / pigeon holes for personal storage

  • Install parents room facilities with a curtain to separate the space if privacy is required

  • Remove / upgrade kitchenette – including microwave, sink, reusable crockery and glasses

  • Install safety equipment - defib, first aid kit etc

The exterior - action plan

•Paint the outside of the building in nature based colour palette to reflect the surround bushland environment

•Replace handrail on balcony with high mesh balustrade to ensure security of space and prevent members of the public climbing onto the balcony from the path

•Paint a nature-based mural on the wall of the building along the path (Artwork by Carly Al-tree Williams) – Pops of the mural to arrange on the wall inside the building as well

•Create outdoor meeting space (with elder permission it could be referred to as a yarning circle) surround by a meadow of indigenous wildflowers planted by the coummunity

Our Partners

  • Friends of Merri Creek

  • Friends of Edgars Creek

  • Merri Creek Management Committee

  • Darebin Hard Rubbish Heroes

  • The Rezzadent

  • Transition Darebin

  • Darebin Repair Cafe

The possibilities 

  • Meeting space for Darebin advisory committee meetings such as, Darebin Community Awards Advisory Committee, Darebin Disability Advisory Committee, Edwardes Lake and Edgars Creek Taskforce, Darebin Nature Trust

  • Darebin gardens for wildlife workshops, meetings and training

  • Committee meetings for friend’s groups

  • Space for the Rezzadent to plan their next issue

  • Yoga / dance / exercise classes / musical therapy

  • WaterWatch training sessions

  • Wildlife Victoria training workshops

  • A community hub for rehoming, reuse, repair, recycling

  • Workshops for learning new skills and knowledge

  • Resume and career workshops

Dream Big

Many people ask us what our dreams and hopes are for this waterway. We hope that we never have another algal bloom that results in the black water event causing avian botulism. The last botulism outbreak in 2007 killed 100s of birds. We dream of never seeing litter floating in the water that volunteers are tasked to collect. We dream of a space that is a sanctuary for our native wildlife and a place for our community to connect with nature and reset from the stresses in their life. We hope for a community that respects and protects our local biodiversity. We dream of never writing another post about a Swan’s early and preventable death.

We do not dream of a commercial operation, nor a restaurant, nor a cafe. 

Reservoir deserves a place for the community to grow and be revitalised, we do not do that with a cafe, we do that with a community space. 

For those of you that are pondering about whether a cafe or restaurant might be nice idea in this space, we ask you to take a moment to consider whether travelling 500m to the already established local pubs, restaurants, cafes, breweries and ice creameries is much of a sacrifice to provide Kevin (the resident Black Swan) and his fellow wildlife have a safe, clean and quiet place to call home?

You can help us and our partners realise this dream be signing the petition below;

https://chng.it/wgygpqFDdz