Melbourne’s Yarra River looks placid most of the time, but it is a river with a turbulent past. A new exhibition at Melbourne’s Old Treasury Building explores the chequered history of the stream we call the ‘city’s river’.

The river banks are tranquil now, but 186 years ago they were the site of the first struggles between First Nations people the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung, and invading Europeans. It was all over within five years, with the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung effectively banished from the village of Melbourne by Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe in September 1840. This was to be a story repeated over and over again throughout the catchment areas of the Yarra.

This free exhibition at the Old Treasury Building is rich in stories and illustrations of our river past and present. It was developed in consultation with the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation and in partnership with Public Record Office Victoria.