Discover what’s on at Fed Square

A month of community-led planting events around Naarm (Melbourne) and beyond, where you can connect with others and help regenerate local environments.
This August, put your hands in the ground and help look after our landscapes, creeks and rivers for the better, as part of Planting.
Each event will be guided and led by passionate ecological groups who are dedicated to practices like restoring grasslands, improving waterways, and increasing biodiversity.
Accompanying the act of planting, each community event will include a range of cultural activities, such as Smoking Ceremonies, cultural walks, constructing bee hotels, music, readings, botanical drawing and nature journalling.
Planting will be held in the lead up to <a href="/events/planting-party/">Planting Party</a> – a celebration of community-led environmental action, art and connection at Fed Square held in September, and presented as part of RESET.
With seven planting sites connected to the Birrarung, by joining this event, you&#8217;re helping to care for the Birrarung and its catchment, while contributing to the vision of the Yarra Strategic Plan.
Find a local Planting event near you, register now, and get ready to join in a community planting this August. Then mark your diary for <a href="/events/planting-party/">Planting Party on 5 September</a>!
Fed Square and Creative Climate gratefully thanks its partners for making Planting possible: Creative Victoria, Creative Australia, Bupa, Melbourne Water and Burndap Birrarung burndap umarkoo collaboration, Now or Never and Landcare.

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Community

Free

Planting

A celebration of community-led environmental action, art and plants, marking the start of spring.
To celebrate our month of community-led volunteer plantings held in August across Melbourne and beyond, we are throwing a family-friendly Planting Party!
If you joined a <a href="/events/planting/">Planting event in August</a>, Planting Party will be an opportunity to reconnect with community groups and volunteers and perhaps make new friends. If you missed Planting, don’t worry – you are invited to the party too!
The day will be full of music, ceremony, art and conversation, where you can explore a plant market, enjoy delicious food and learn from Elders and First Nations knowledge holders about caring for Country.
Throughout the day, you can join in a hands-on propagation or creative workshop led by artists and plant experts – and meet with passionate environmentalists from local community groups working to protect our landscapes and waterways through collective grassroots action.
The exciting line-up of live music includes Riff Raff Marching Band and the Climate Choir alongside music from DJs Darcy Justice, General Vibes, Tess Monoghan and Elsie.
Check back for further details as the program is finalised.
Fed Square and Creative Climate gratefully thanks its partners for making Planting possible: Creative Victoria, Creative Australia, Bupa, Melbourne Water and Burndap Birrarung burndap umarkoo collaboration, Now or Never and Landcare.

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Planting Party

This year&#8217;s Oration, A fair and just future for First Peoples: Social Justice Report 2025 will be delivered by Katie Kiss, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.
The annual Oration promotes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, perspectives and issues. It demonstrates Deakin&#8217;s commitment to reconciliation and Indigenous knowledges.

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First Peoples

2026 Deakin University Indigenous Oration

Reflections on a lifetime of writing, with some of Australia’s most celebrated writers.
This new, free, in-conversation series invites readers into the writing lives of some of Australia’s greatest living literary icons. Over decades of reflecting on various elements of Australian life – and reflecting it back to us through their writing – these writers reveal something meaningful about who we are as a people and culture: what we care about, how we see the world, how we grow, age, change, fight and love. About what we remember and what we choose to forget.
This series will deep-dive into these authors’ bodies of work, celebrating their scope, artistic progression and literary legacy to date – from their debut book to their most recent. Body of Work is presented by Fed Square and curated by author and bookseller Jaclyn Crupi.
Due to the expected popularity of this series, tickets will be limited to two per registration for each event.

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Talk

Body of Work: conversations with Australian literary icons

Come and join the Koorie Heritage Trust weekdays (except Public Holidays) on their Birrarung Wilam (River Camp) Walk for all members of the public. Starting at 1pm, the Birrarung Wilam Walk takes you through Fed Square and down to the Birrarung Wilam (Common Ground) Aboriginal art installations, experiencing the Aboriginal history of the Birrarung Marr (Beside the river of mists) and Aboriginal Peoples of the Kulin Nation.
With one of their experienced Koorie guides, you will learn how the land on which Melbourne is located has changed over time and about the significance of the Birrarung Wilam to the local Kulin peoples. You will gain a deeper and more meaningful understanding of this incredible location; an important gathering place for the Kulin Nation and one of Melbourne’s most popular meeting hubs.
For any questions regarding the tours, please contact Kieran Stewart, Tours Coordinator on 8662 6313. Tickets are also available on the day, visit the KHT reception/retail desk on the ground floor, Yarra Building (availability may be limited).
For more information visit: <a href="https://koorieheritagetrust.com.au/visit-us/education/guided-walking-tours/cultural-walk-birrarung-wilam-river-camp/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://koorieheritagetrust.com.au/visit-us/education/guided-walking-tours/cultural-walk-birrarung-wilam-river-camp/</a>
Image credit: Visit Victoria

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Tours

Birrarung Wilam (River Camp) Walk with Koorie Heritage Trust

Originally produced and staged at 180 Studios in London, the exhibition features works by Stan Douglas, Jenn Nkiru, William Kentridge, Jeremy Deller, Virgil Abloh, Kahlil Joseph, Gabriel Moses, Cecilia Bengolea, Julianknxx and Carsten Nicolai. It also showcases The Vinyl Factory Collection, and original commissions shown to celebrate 20 years of artistic collaborations.
The exhibition explores vinyl culture and music’s influence on art, fashion, film and social movements. It dives into different eras and energies of music, from the early days of techno and house to contemporary digital art. From Kingston’s dancehall scene to the late-80s ‘Second Summer of Love’, and beyond. Get immersed in a sculptural sound system. Jump on the technics and play with endlessly remixable vinyl loops. Dip into the hypnotism of a six-hour jam film set in a reconstruction of ‘The Church’—the legendary New York studio where Miles Davis, Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan recorded. Witness a fantasy rap battle racing down copper lines from Cairo to London. Roam The Vinyl Factory’s eclectic archive of 100 pressings from Massive Attack, Grace Jones, Daft Punk and more.
Head to the Listening Room and select from a curated collection of records for some deep listening. This London hit is an acoustically optimised sanctuary for pristine sound. After hours, the room hosts weekly one-off sessions, giving you the chance to see local and international artists up close, with additional events during RISING. Selected sessions are curated by Yasmine Sharaf, presenter for Triple R’s Cease + Desist and a specialist in underground sounds.
For more information visit: <a href="https://www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/the-vinyl-factory-reverb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.acmi.net.au/whats-on/the-vinyl-factory-reverb/</a>
Presented by ACMI and RISING.

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Exhibitions

The Vinyl Factory: Reverb at ACMI

Celebrating over four decades of art, culture and storytelling, Yeerung’s Journey is the first major solo exhibition to be held at the KHT of artworks by Brabrawooloong Gunnai artist Ray Thomas.
Yeerung’s Journey offers insight into Ray’s evolution as both an artist and a cultural leader. Working across painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking and, more recently, large-scale murals, Ray has developed a distinctive and powerful visual language grounded in family, Country, memory and lived experience. His work speaks to both personal and collective histories, expressing resilience, cultural continuity and healing.
The exhibition takes its name from Gunnai lore, where Yeerung, the emu wren, is the totem carried by men, and embodies identity, belonging and responsibility.
For more information visit: <a href="https://kht.org.au/whats-on/exhibitions/ray-thomas-yeerungs-journey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://kht.org.au/whats-on/exhibitions/ray-thomas-yeerungs-journey/</a>

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Ray Thomas: Yeerung’s Journey at KHT

KHT is proud to occupation studies: ngayanhurra bayarral Birrarung (they tried to tame Birrarung) a new multichannel audiovisual artwork by artist Tahlia Palmer (Yuwaalaraay/Gamilaraay and mixed European descent), developed in collaboration with Jasper Cohen-Hunter (Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung). Through immersive sound and moving image, Palmer and Cohen-Hunter interrogate the colonial occupation and regulation of the Birrarung (Yarra River), revealing how non-First Peoples altered a living waterway that had sustained Wurundjeri people for countless generations.
For more information visit: <a href="https://kht.org.au/whats-on/exhibitions/occupation-studies/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://kht.org.au/whats-on/exhibitions/occupation-studies/</a>

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occupation studies: ngayanhurra bayarral Birrarung (they tried to tame Birrarung) at KHT

FUTURE COUNTRY is the second iteration of the Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions initiative. This national mentorship program pairs eight emerging First Nations artists and designers with established Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creatives, presenting a unique opportunity to connect and share intergenerational knowledge, and foster artistic and professional growth.
FUTURE COUNTRY celebrates land, legacy, community and cultural continuity. In response to the exhibition’s key themes of ancestral memory, re-storying, truth-telling and future- making, participating artists have created deeply personal, culturally significant and innovative works that engage Indigenous futures and envision alternative realities. Spanning weaving, photography, sculpture, possum-skin- cloak making, moving image, sound and design, the eight new commissions explore non-linear notions of time, honour intergenerational knowledge, and convey embodied and relational understandings of place.
For more information visit: <a href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/future-country-country-road-first-nations-commissions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/future-country-country-road-first-nations-commissions/</a>
Image credit: Installation view of FUTURE COUNTRY: Country Road x NGV First Nations Commissions from 20 March – 13 September at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne. Photo: Sean Fennessy

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FUTURE COUNTRY: Country Road + NGV First Nations Commissions 2026

What's On

Discover restaurants, bars and cafes serving up Melbourne&#8217;s best breakfast, coffee, lunch, drinks or dinner for any occasion and budget.

Discover All

Eat + Drink

Bringing the world’s great beers together with exciting locals from Australian craft breweries.

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Good Nature Hotel

An iconic Melbourne bar and cafe nestled in the historic Federation Wharf vaults

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Riverland Bar

Your late-night haunt for smooth jazz and classy cocktails

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Transit Rooftop Bar

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Time Out Dusk front view

Time Out Cafe, Bar + Restaurant

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Transport Public Bar

Visit some of Australia's most significant cultural attractions, including ACMI, the Koorie Heritage Trust and The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. 

Your museum of screen culture. Navigate the universe of film, TV, videogames and art.

What's On

Eat + Drink

Good Nature Hotel

Riverland Bar

Transit Rooftop Bar

Time Out Cafe, Bar + Restaurant

Riverland Bar

Transport Public Bar

Museums + Galleries

ACMI

Koorie Heritage Trust

The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia