Flowing Loops

Listen to Ria Soemardjo’s sound piece created in response to the stories that unfolded while walking and talking as we followed the flows, loops and lines of the Suburban Rail Loop East. All the sounds were collected on our walks, including some underwater microphone recordings at the Surrey Park Dive. The model steamboats from the Surrey Park Model Boat Club were Ria’s personal favourite! You can...

The final steps of Dan & Ria’s journey towards Box Hill pass through Surrey Park, near Elgar and Canterbury Rds, where an old clay quarry is now filled with water and life. The Surrey Park Model Boat Club meets at Surrey Park Lake every Wednesday and Sunday to sail their incredibly detailed hand made model boats. We talk to Vice Commodore John about the Club community, their boats and his pers...

Ria Soemardjo joins the final leg of the Cheltenham to Box Hill journey, starting just north of the Burwood Highway beside Deakin University. We walk along the KooyongKoot via the Gardiners Creek Trail, pausing to talk about conservation and community building with the Urban Guerrillas.  Ria Soemardjo is a musician with a passion for collaborating with artists across a diverse range of genres and...

As Dan and Emily approach Deakin University we pause to consider time at the Local History Park alongside the Gardiners Creek Reserve south of Burwood Highway, where we walk, talk and drift between timescales with animist-anarchist-actionist Yin Paradies.  Yin is a Wakaya man who is Chair in Race Relations and Professor at Deakin University where he researches the effects of racism, anti-racism th...

In the first of our walks between Glen Waverley and Burwood Stations Dan and Emily Bowman venture deeper into the Kooyong Koot catchment through suburbs and school zones, stopping to smell the roses along the way. Amongst this everyday scene we stumble across Damper Creek in Mount Waverley, an urban oasis nestled between busy roads and suburban houses. Here we chat with locals Di & Rebecca who...

In this final episode in our Glen Waverley series Dan & David continue a meandering walk alongside the KooyongKoot catchment of the Scotchmans Creek. We pause on the fringe of the Scotchmans Creek Valley Reserve with Graham Ross, the convener of the KooyongKoot Alliance of Friends groups looking to preserve and improve the catchment. See the many community groups working together by checking o...

At the half-way point in our journey we move from sandy saltwater Country of the Boon Wurrung peoples, towards clay freshwater Country of the Wurundjeri peoples around the KooyongKoot catchment. In this episode we are joined by David Sornig to begin walking the Glen Waverley leg, pausing at a confluence of streams to talk with Professor Brian Martin (Bundjalung, Kamilaroi, Muruwari) about his rela...

After weaving a walking path through campus Sarah and Dan noticed water infrastructure hidden in plain sight that deserved a deeper look in our final Monash episode. We talk to campus Water Manager, Carlo Lacson, to consider flow (charts), (recycling) loops and (underground) lines of the campus water systems that help us make connections between the natural landscape and urban management. You can...

Sarah Walker joins the third leg of our journey traversing the Monash Uni Clayton campus from Clayton Station to the new Monash Station. While reflecting upon our erstwhile Bachelor studies at the campus Dan and Sarah stumbled upon Water-Orb, a flowing sculpture by Natasha Johns-Messenger that’s part of the MUMA Gallery Public Art Collection, who joins us for a discussion of time, space, place and...

In this episode Lina & Dan continue walking with our birdwatching binoculars before noticing something else flying through the air - discs! We chat with locals Doug and Janet who introduce us to the sport, the Melbourne Disc Golf Club community and the public course at Bald Hill Park in Clarinda. You can borrow discs from the Kingston Library to give and check out Doug's Disc Golf Tips for...

This episode is the first in our Clayton series, introducing you to Lina Patel as we walk from Cheltenham to Clayton and encounter the wonderful outdoor community at Karkarook Park. Lina and Dan first met birdwatching and bonded over mutual love of Jenny Odell’s writing about place and bioregions, especially How To Do Nothing (2019) , which is highly recommended! www.jennyodell.com/writing.html  ...

In this second episode Dan & Jack continue walking along Narrm-ga on salty, sandy Boon Wurrung lands and waters, stopping at Ricketts Point to talk with Neil Blake. Neil is the founding director of the Port Phillip Eco Centre and known to many as the Port Phillip Baykeeper.  www.ecocentre.com/programs/community-programs/baykeeper/ During the conversation Neil mentions the invaluable work of co...

Welcome to the first episode of the ~FLOWING LOOPS~ podcast, hosted by Dan Koop. Across this series Dan is joined by six walking companions to explore the flows, loops and lines of the Suburban Rail Loop East, across the lands and waters of Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Country. In this episode we meet our first guest artist, Jack Mitchell, at Table Rock Point in Beaumaris overlooking the waters of...

Welcome to the ~FLOWING LOOPS~ Podcast, exploring the flows, loops & lines of the Suburban Rail Loop East, across the lands and waters of Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Country. In this episode Dan Koop introduces the rest of this podcast series from where it all began at Beaumaris overlooking the salt water of Narrm (Port Phillip Bay). To begin, Dan outlines his creative practice and explains th...