By Derek Schlennstedt
Healesville’s connection to Indigenous culture and the natural environment has been immortalised in sculpture seats that were installed across the town earlier this month.
The seats pay special tribute and celebrate ‘Wattarang,’ the platypus, which inhabits local waterways around Healesville and the Yarra Valley.
Yarra Ranges Council’s Communities for Platypus program commissioned Indigenous sculptor Glen Romanis to produce two sculptural seats which have been installed outside The Memo and in Coronation Park in June.
Future plans surrounding the seat in Coronation Park include the seat becoming part of a larger walk.
Ryrie Ward Councillor, Fiona McAllister, said the seats were a beautiful addition to the town and a reminder of the importance of looking after our waterways.
“When people litter, their rubbish can end up in waterways and cause serious harm to platypuses and their habitat,” she said.
“These seats link back to the Indigenous perspective of Caring for Country; we have to care for the environment and our native animals like the platypus by doing our part and avoiding littering.
“This has been a wonderful project and I know the seats will become a well-loved part of our town.”
The seats come under part of the Communities for Platypus program which is funded by the Victorian State Government’s Litter Hotspot Program and hosted by Yarra Ranges Council.
The program aims to improve waterway health by capitalising on community motivation to reduce litter, which can impact platypus habitat.
Also involved in the planning and implementation of seats has been Healesville Indigenous Community Services Association (HICSA), Healesville Environment Watch Incorporated (HEWI) and Plastic Bag Free Healesville.
Council will build on this work with Healesville resident and Wurundjeri woman Brooke Wandin to create Indigenous signage, installed near the seats, with planting to follow.
