Remnant ashes from the Queen Victoria Market presentation.
Duty of Care
Presented by University of Melbourne
MPavilion Parkville, 27th - 29th February 2024, 11am - 3pm daily.
Duty of Care is an interactive pop-up propagation station. It is an intimate encounter with local ecologies through a moment of reciprocity.
Duty of Care offers an easy and convenient way for the public to engage in short acts of conservation. It presents publics an opportunity to discover Victorian flora species from their local urban ecosystem. The project provides a practical means to satisfy our duty of care to protect our environment and biodiversity into the future.
Species chosen for the project require human intervention to be successfully propagated. Participants replicate ecological processes ordinarily performed in nature through symbiotic relationships and environmental factors. Destruction of habitat compounds biodiversity loss through disruption of these ecological systems. Duty of Care fulfils these functions and creates a new relationship of mutualism between the public and their local urban ecology.
Duty of Care was first commissioned through the Test Sites Phase 2 program and co-produced by the City of Melbourne and Testing Grounds. The project was presented as part of ACCA’s summer exhibition program ‘Who’s Afraid of Public Space?’
Duty of Care acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the lands of the Kulin Nation and pays respect to elders past, present and emerging. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were the first caretakers of this land and this artwork expresses gratitude for the deep and sophisticated knowledge held by First Nations peoples as Traditional Custodians of Country.
Collaborators & Consultants
The following individuals and organisations have contributed their knowledge and guidance throughout the creative development of this public artwork.
Jude Anderson / Dramaturgy
Lauren Hayes / Art Accessibility Consultation
Westgate Biodiversity / Guidance and support in propagation and species selection
Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation / Cultural Consultation
Photos by Zo Damage.
Germination Results
Germination results from the presentation period at the Queen Victoria Markets 2022 / download a copy
Knowledge & Resources
These resources are a good starting point to engage in local activities in your area or even a backyard or balcony.
Good Books / For Young People
Young dark emu : a truer history / By Bruce Pascoe
How Does My Garden Grow? / By Gerda Muller
The Squid, the Vibrio and the Moon / By Ailsa Wild, Aviva Reed, Briony Barr, Gregory Crocetti, Linda Blackall
Interesting Reads / For Everyone
The biggest estate on Earth : how Aborigines made Australia / By Bill Gammage
Braiding sweetgrass : indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plants / By Robin Wall Kimmerer
Finding resilience : change and uncertainty in nature and society / By Brian Walker
Central City Urban Forest : Precinct Plan 2013-2023 / City of Melbourne
A Research Agenda for Urban Biodiversity in the Global Extinction Crisis
Local Organisations, Initiatives & Resources
City of Melbourne : Urban Planting Guide
City of Melbourne : Gardens for Wildlife
Westgate Biodiversity & Bili Nursery
