Listen to Finding Melbourne’s Nature
Finding Melbourne’s Nature is a podcast and field-based project, built around walking conversations through reserves across Melbourne, with Traditional Owners, scientists, rangers, conservationists, and community members. Together, we explore what lives in these places, what’s changed, what needs protecting, and sometimes the paths that led people into conservation.
Recorded in the field, these conversations capture birds, wind, footsteps, and the atmosphere of each place.
The trailer and Episode 1 is out now!
The first episode of Finding Melbourne’s Nature, recorded at Darebin Parklands with long-time ranger Peter Wiltshire, who has spent over 40 years working in the reserve. A deeply knowledgeable and respected voice in the community, Peter shares the history of the park, its restoration, and what it means to care for nature in the middle of a city.
Find out more and listen here:
Episode 2
Docklands - Dr Kylie Soanes
Recorded in Docklands, Melbourne/Naarm, beside the floating wetlands Kylie helped bring to life, this is not a typical conservation setting. Surrounded by concrete, water and movement, a small patch of habitat quietly doing its work.
Kylie shares how these wetlands came to be, what they’re already supporting, and what they represent in a city like Melbourne/Naarm right now.
She also reflects on her journey into conservation, and how that has shaped the way she sees cities — exploring the kinds of places we create, and how they can invite biodiversity back into urban landscapes.
Find out more and listen here:
Episode 3
Banyule Flats - Dr Jacinta Humphrey
Recorded at Banyule Flats Reserve, Melbourne/Naarm, this episode follows a walk through wetlands, billabongs and remnant bushland with urban ecologist Dr Jacinta Humphrey.
Jacinta shares how birds persist, adapt and even thrive in city environments, and what places like Banyule Flats reveal about the role of urban nature.
She also reflects on her journey into conservation, and how that has shaped the way she sees cities — and how the spaces we create can better support biodiversity.
Find out more and listen here:
Episode 4
Westgate Park - Naomie Sunner
Recorded at Westgate Park in Port Melbourne, this episode follows a walk through one of Melbourne’s most remarkable urban restoration sites.
We’re joined by Naomie Sunner, who in the late 1990s led and established the Friends of Westgate Park, helping transform what was once a heavily modified, neglected landscape into the park it is today.
Naomie shares how a seven-day walk along the Birrarung brought her here, and how that moment grew into decades of community-led conservation.
Episode 5
Braeside Park - Judith Sise
Recorded at Braeside Park in Melbourne’s south east, this episode follows a walk through wetlands, grassy woodlands and protected heathland within one of the city’s most important urban reserves.
We’re joined by Judith Sise OAM, president of the Friends of Braeside Park, who shares the changing history of the landscape, from Carrum Carrum Swamp to grazing land, sewage farming and decades of community conservation.
As we walk through the reserve, Judith reflects on old river red gums, disappearing orchids, wetlands shaped by the seasons, and the ongoing work involved in caring for a place like this.
