Melbourne Dreaming: A guide to important places of the past and present (Second edition)

Summary

Beneath Melbourne's busy city landscape lie layers of a turbulent history and an ongoing vibrant Aboriginal culture. Melbourne Dreaming allows you to learn the past and appreciate Aboriginal people's historical, cultural, social and economic contribution to the city.

It is both an authoritative guidebook with clear maps and travelling instructions but also an alternative social history with stories and images of significant people and events.

This revised edition of Melbourne Dreaming includes:

• a variety of landscapes from beaches, parklands, camping places, historical sites, exhibitions, cultural displays and buildings – arranged into seven precincts
• sites in the city, surrounding suburbs and outer areas
• historical sites like shell middens, scarred trees, wells, fish traps, mounds and quarries
• significant sites of colonial contact
• sites that are the focus of contemporary life.

Meyer Eidelson created this edition in response to demand, in consultation with the relevant Aboriginal groups. He runs Melbourne Walks.

Media

'Born and bred in Elwood, Eidelson spent his childhood playing in the vast green expanse of Fawkner Park. He was shocked as an adult to discover that the area was once an Aboriginal reserve. “I didn't know the faintest thing about it. You have to remember, there was virtually no recognition of Aboriginal culture in Australia until very recently. That's why all my walking tours have a strong Aboriginal component. It's fundamentally the foundation of everything here.”’

— Meyer Eidelson quoted in Time Out Melbourne, 15 July 2014 online