Our story

Victoria had not had a Geographical Society since 1920. Just over one hundred years later, Geography Victoria was formed in 2021-2022 as a geographical organisation.

The formation of Geography Victoria addresses a key recommendation of the National Committee for Geographical Sciences in 2018 and redresses the lack of a geographical organisation for Victorians.

Geography Victoria will bring together people of all ages, from all walks of life and with a broad range of interests to share in a range of geographical experiences aimed at developing a deeper understanding of the community and environment.

Geography Victoria provides the opportunity to explore, enjoy and learn about the world in which we live. So while all the official business to establish the organisation has been going on, we have been undertaking numerous highly rated fieldtrips. You do need to register early as fieldtrips have been extremely popular and book out quickly.

Our sincere thanks to Rob Gell AM (President of The Royal Society of Victoria) for his ongoing support and the RSV who auspiced our early events.

The beginning …

2022: With a host of willing experts on hand, Studley Park in August and Rickett's Point in November were ideal locations to explore and learn more about our own backyard. 

       

The year ended on a high note with the 11 December Treasure Hunt Day. As part of the City of Melbourne Christmas Festival, Geography Victoria (supported by Spatial Vision) held three concurrent treasure hunts across the CBD. The event was a huge success with over 700 participants. It was wonderful to see so many people from such a diverse range of backgrounds and ages with maps in their hands exploring the city. 

2023: More successful fieldtrips

May: On the sea and in the sky! It was all aboard for the Port of Melbourne Boat Trip where we explored the changing face of the Melbourne harbour. Swoop Aero also provided insights as to how they are innovatively using drones to unlock the potential of the sky for the good of us all.

June: Due to popular demand, we headed back to the beach for another full-day Coastal fieldtrip. 

July: Following on from the success of the CBD treasure hunts, we booked out the Thornbury Picture House for a screening of the highly acclaimed The Lost City of Melbourne.

August: Geography Victoria was proud to host an event as part of 2023 National Science Week at  Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve and Rippon Lea Estate. Thanks to an Inspiring Victoria grant, 40 people had a fabulous time exploring the regeneration of Elsternwick Golf course with urban ecologist Gio Fitzpatrick and then after lunch on the verandah at Rippon Lea, property manager Matt Chester showed just how farsighted the original owners were in the sustainable use of water on the property.

 

November: Transforming Melbourne for a Resilient Future: Walking Tour

City of Melbourne architect and urban designer, Professor Rob Adams AM provided a fabulous opportunity for us to explore the city and discover the greening and infrastructure adapting Melbourne to the impacts of climate change to become a global leader in climate action and sustainability.  

December: Building on the success of 2022, the City of Melbourne Treasure Hunt Day was an outstanding event. As part of the City of Melbourne Christmas Festival, Geography Victoria (supported by Spatial Vision) produced the Melbourne Christmas Decorations Walking tour maps for the Festival and held two concurrent treasure hunts across the CBD on Sunday,10 December 2023. The event attracted over 1650 participants on the day with many more participating throughout the Christmas Festival.

                 

More sold-out events in 2024

March: How Melbourne has been transformed into one of the most liveable cities in the world! Back by popular demand.... our November 2023 Melbourne CBD walking tour, led by City of Melbourne architect Rob Adams AM, had such a great response that it was repeated in March 2024.

Feb/March: We were pleased to be asked to organise a coastal fieldtrip in collaboration with Life Saving Victoria, the Association of Bayside Municipalities and the Victorian National Parks Association. This fieldtrip led by James Driscoll (Monash University) and Rob Gell AM (President of RSV) replicated the fantastic and informative coastal fieldtrips of 2022/23 and inspired a new audience. As a new organisation it is wonderful to establish connections...... and also a challenge when the fieldtrip was to occur on the only day above 38 degrees in February and needed to be rescheduled.

May: An opportunity to learn about the research that has been undertaken at the Australian Synchrotron (see pages 3 & 4) with a tour which provided a close-up view of the facility and its various x-ray and infrared beamlines. Since commencing in 2007, it has provided benefits to more than 5000 researchers a year from academia, medical research institutes, government and other research organisations and industry.

July: On July 19 our fieldtrip was in the CBD at the Metro Tunnel HQ - a community information centre - learning about and being updated on the progress of some of the biggest public transport projects in Victoria’s history. The Metro Tunnel Project and the five new stations, due to be up and running next year, were brought to life through a presentation by renowned architect Ingrid Bakker from the Hassell group. Ingrid provided her insights into this once-in-a-century opportunity to reshape entire city precincts to be more responsive to their context and communities through the design and architecture of the new stations and precincts. Staff at the Metro Tunnel HQ proceeded to show us more about the trains, systems and technological innovations involved, before taking us to the Town Hall Station construction site to learn about Victoria’s biggest archaeological dig as well as station construction methodology.