Take part in one of the largest Citizen Science projects in the world while contributing valuable information about Manningham’s biodiversity.

About the City Nature Challenge

In this worldwide BioBlitz, cities compete to observe the most species by the most people.

Manningham is collaborating with more than 25 local governments to form the Greater Melbourne project.

How to participate

During this four-day challenge, take photos of plants or animals and upload them to iNaturalist.

Your observations will be added to the Manningham iNaturalist projects (Manningham East or Manningham West) so that we can compete with participants from across Melbourne and around the world.

All data is added to Australia’s database of plants and animals, helping scientists with their research to improve outcomes for our environment.

Steps to prepare 

1. Install the iNaturalist app on your mobile phone and create an iNaturalist account.
2. Join the Melbourne City Nature Challenge 2025: Greater Melbourne Project.  
3. Start adding your observations.

Taking its name from the unofficial description of the present day epoch which has seen human activity dramatically impact the earth's climate and ecology, this exhibition is the expression of four artists' efforts to record, reflect upon and potentially enact change in how humanity views and interacts with the world.

Shifting the Anthropocene features the work of Lesley Duxbury, Ruth Johnstone, Rosie Weiss and Stephen Wickham, who have variously photographed underwater ecosystems and stunning 400 year old eucalypts, and collected and drawn remnants of plants destroyed by bushfire, amongst other creative acts.

The works are descriptions of the immediate and personal effects of climate change as the artists have witnessed them. They also pivot to celebrate instances where individuals and communities have saved endangered species or enacted changes in environment laws through collective effort, thereby giving a hopeful and positive tenor to the exhibition overall.

Installation view of artworks by Lesley Duxbury. Photo by Charlie Kinross.

Join us at Currawong Bush Park to learn about local wildlife and come face to face with local animals of Manningham.

Recommended for children aged 5 to 12 years, the Manningham Junior Ranger Program is designed to get young environmentalists out and active in our local environment.

Activities include:

• Go on a bush park discovery walk with Environment Officers as they explore why Currawong Bush Park is known as the best little wilderness in town
• Survive a live wildlife show presented by Reptile Encounters
• Experience nature as a place to play, imagine, relax and explore.

Participant information:

• Children must be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times. Please arrive 10 minutes prior to start time.
• Come prepared and dress for the weather on the day. Please wear closed-toed footwear.
• Don’t forget to bring a snack and water bottle for morning tea.
• In the event of extreme weather, this event will be cancelled.
• Currawong Bush Park is protected habitat, dogs are not permitted in the park at any time.

Presented by the Astronomical Society of Victoria (ASV) and Manningham Council,

Join the ASV with a stargazing evening at Westerfolds Park, Templestowe. ASV astronomers will be on hand with telescopes and demonstrators.

Bring a torch covered with red cellophane (to keep your night vision), mosquito repellent and warm clothes. Telescopes will be set up on the grassy field near the Parks Victoria Office. Expect evening dew and a cold evening. Children will especially appreciate warm footwear and snacks!

Please reverse your car into the parking space to reduce headlight shine on exit.

This event may be cancelled due to cloud cover (more than 25 percent cover) or in the event of a total fire ban or bad weather. Please provide a relevant contact mobile phone number or email for an automated update on any event changes.

Participant information:

• Children must be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times. Please arrive 10 minutes prior to start time.
• Come prepared and dress for the weather on the day. Please wear closed-toed footwear.
• In the event of extreme weather, this event will be cancelled.

POSTPONED: Unfortunately, this event has been cancelled and will be rescheduled for later in the year.

Disability Sports Australia and Manningham Council invite children living with disabilities to our free Variety Abilities Unleashed Kids event. 

Proudly supported by Variety Victoria - The Children's Charity and Matchworks, this multi-sport come and try day marks the initial steps in the active journey of children living with disabilities.

Each event enables and empowers participants to discover local active opportunities within a fun, safe, and inclusive environment. 

Participants will be split into smaller groups upon registration. After a welcome at 10.00am, they will rotate across 4 to 6 stations. These activities will consist of modified  sport and active recreation with the use of adaptive equipment to suit the participants. The stations will be facilitated by specialised coaches with the support of students and community organisations.

Places are expected to fill quickly, register today!

Take part in one of the largest Citizen Science projects in the world while contributing valuable information about Manningham’s biodiversity.

About the City Nature Challenge

The City Nature Challenge runs from Friday 25 April to Monday 28 April 2025.

In this worldwide BioBlitz, cities compete to make the most observations of the most species by the most people.

Manningham is collaborating with more than 25 local governments to form the Greater Melbourne project.

How to participate

It is free, easy and fun to get involved.

During the 4-day window of this challenge, take photos of plants or animals and upload it to iNaturalist.

Your observations will be added to the Manningham iNaturalist projects (Manningham East or Manningham West) so that we can compete with participants from across Melbourne and all over the world. 

All data gets added to Australia’s database of plants and animals, helping scientists with their research to improve outcomes for our environment.

To prepare for the challenge:

1. Install the iNaturalist app on your mobile phone and create an iNaturalist account.
2. Join the Melbourne City Nature Challenge 2025: Greater Melbourne Project.  
3. Start adding your observations.

Join now 

Manningham Art Gallery is excited to present Gosia Wlodarczak's A Space of Facial Deconstruction. 

Over a five-day onsite performance, Gosia will create a large-scale drawing installation spanning across the interior of Gallery One. 

The gallery environment and self-portraits submitted by Manningham residents are translated into shapes through Gosia’s senses. In a continuous process of meeting, overlapping and collision - in endless movement, the ongoing change and exchange will create a drawing installation over the period of the performance.

The result will be a stunning group portrait of the Manningham community.

View the performance

• Visit the gallery between 11.00am to 5.00pm from Tuesday 29 November to Saturday 3 December to watch Gosia's drawing performance

View the completed artwork

• Visit the gallery during regular opening hours up from Wednesday 7 December to Saturday 17 December to see the completed artwork.

During your visit to the gallery, you can also explore A Fragment of the Infinite Magnificence by Zahra Marsous in Gallery Two. 

For further information on submitting your self-portrait and getting involved, please visit Gosia Wlodarczak: A Space of Facial Deconstruction.

Photo Credit: Longin Sarnecki

The Manningham Junior Ranger Program is designed to get young environmentalists out and active in our local environment.

Go on a bush park discovery walk with Environment Officers as they explore why Currawong Bush Park is known as the best little wilderness in town.

Survive a live wildlife show presented by Wild Action, the Zoo that comes to you.

Experience nature as a place to play, imagine, relax and explore.

Important information:

• Children must be supervised by a parent or guardian at all times. Please arrive 10 minutes prior to start time.
• Come prepared and dress for the weather on the day. Please wear closed-toed footwear.
• Don’t forget to bring a snack and water bottle for morning tea.
• In the event of extreme weather, this event will be cancelled.
• Currawong Bush Park is protected habitat, dogs are not permitted in the park at any time.

Meeting place:

Currawong Bush Park, Environment Education Centre. 

This event is part our Manningham Spring Outdoors Series, where we offer a range of fun outdoor activities across Manningham.

You can also check what’s happening across other Councils by visiting the Spring Outdoors website.

Subscribe to our Environment Newsletter

Keep up to date with our latest environment and sustainability events.

Subscribe now

We've installed another, brand-new exercise station at Ruffey Lake Park! Learn how to use the new equipment by trying a workout with a qualified instructor.

This station is off Cricklewood Drive, up the hill from the Church Road car park along the Hilltops Circuit path.

Every session will begin with a demonstration by a qualified instructor on how to use the outdoor fitness equipment. 

The sessions are 1 hour long and are recommended for those with a beginner to moderate fitness level. Anyone can use this outdoor gym to improve their strength, fitness, and coordination.

How to get there: This station is best accessed through the Church Road car park. From there, walk up the hill toward Cricklewood Drive.

On the day, please make sure to:

• dress in activewear
• bring a drink bottle
• wear sunscreen

Belgravia Leisure is committed to doing everything they can to keep everyone safe. Equipment will be wiped down before and after use and hand sanitizer will be available during the session. Instructors delivering these sessions are fully vaccinated. You are not required to wear a mask, however if you wish to wear one please do so. Please do not attend if you are feeling unwell.

Join Scott Hitchins as he returns to the Strathdon kitchen to create some of our, soon to be hot favourite, comfort dishes.

With a focus on low waste cooking, Scott will teach participants the techniques to create delicious winter warmers using every bit of what you grow or buy.

The focus in this session will be on using vegetables from the garden and an overview for slow style cooking that you can try at home.

You will be provided with a sample of what is cooked on the day and digital notes to try some of Scott’s recipes at home.

What to wear: Suitable clothing for getting your hands dirty in the kitchen and closed toe shoes.
What to bring: an apron (optional)
Who: Adults or teens

About Scott

Scott Hitchins has been working with sustainable, food-producing gardens for most of his life.

He has qualifications in biological science, permaculture design, education, and is a founding member of Werribee Park Heritage Orchard.

Scott has been providing popular workshops and garden-design advice to local councils, schools, and other community groups for many years.

He presents useful facts and skills in a fun and engaging manner. To quote Scott in a recent interview “Get me talking about sustainable gardening and you’ll never shut me up.”

Join local ecologist John Harris as he takes you on a journey through Warrandyte State Park’s Fourth Hill.

John will undertake a bird survey and help you identify birds found in the Warrandyte area. 

Walk rating: 3km moderate walk, includes steep and narrow sections, creek crossing, slippery sections and tripping hazards.

Food and snacks

A light breakfast will be provided at the end of the walk. 

If you have any special dietary requirements, we recommend bringing your own food and snacks. 

What to bring and wear 

Bring a water bottle, wear solid shoes, weather appropriate clothing and bring your own binoculars so you don't miss a thing!

Download the Aussie Bird Count Smartphone Application on Android and Apple before the walk and bring your smartphone on the day.

Where to meet

The meeting place will be at Gold Memorial Drive Picnic Ground. 10 minutes before the walk starts.

Please note: the nature walk could be cancelled due to extreme weather.

This event is part our Manningham Spring Outdoors Series, where we offer a range of fun outdoor activities across Manningham.

You can also check what’s happening across other Councils by visiting the Spring Outdoors website.

Subscribe to our Environment Newsletter

Keep up to date with our latest environment and sustainability events.

Subscribe now

The Disney Channel's smash hit movie musical comes to life on stage in Disney’s High School Musical JR. Troy, Gabriella and the students of East High must deal with issues of love, friends and family while balancing their classes and extra-curricular activities.

It’s the first day after winter break at East High. The Jocks, Brainiacs, Thespians and Skater Dudes all find their cliques. Basketball team captain and resident jock, Troy, discovers that the brainy Gabriella, a girl he met singing karaoke on his ski trip, has just enrolled at East High. The couple causes an upheaval when they decide to audition for the high school musical. Although many students resent the threat posed to the "status quo," Troy and Gabriella’s alliance might just open the door for others to shine as well.

The show’s infectious and danceable songs are sure to engage performers and audiences alike. This production promotes engagement and encourages the audience clap along and even sing along to the songs they know; it will be a fun filled performance for all to enjoy! 

Book by: David Simpatico

Based on a Disney Channel Original movie written by: Peter Barsocchini

Music adapted, arranged and produced by: Bryan Louiselle

Presented by: Wendy Samantha Productions

Kevin Heinze Grow’s Spring Celebration is back, and we invite you to join us for a fun family day out in support of our meaningful work.

What to expect:

• activities for all ages - enjoy a gardening workshop, pot decorating, and a scavenger hunt for the kids
• nursery and plant sale, including 9 varieties of heirloom tomato seedlings
• PhotoVoice exhibition - experience participant stories through Megan Dennis’ PhD research 
• self-led tour - learn about our impactful programs and services through the KHG gardens, at your own pace
• exclusive tour of our therapeutic gardens with Patrick Wain, KHG Therapeutic Horticulture Coordinator
• art exhibition - explore beautiful artwork created by our community
• food and refreshments - indulge in delicious treats from our café and cake stall
• raffle and prizes - support our cause and win amazing prizes
• support our mission - donate to help more people with disabilities access the therapeutic benefits of gardening. 

This event is for gardening enthusiasts, families, community members, KHG supporters, Therapeutic Horticulture professionals, and anyone interested in learning more about Kevin Heinze Grow.

Don't miss out. Come and be a part of our vibrant community. We look forward to celebrating spring with you at Kevin Heinze Grow.

Manningham Art Gallery presents two exhibitions of tactile, abstract works that recontextualise commonly encountered materials, celebrating the everyday and unpredictable process driven experimentation. 

Anni Hagberg’s Trace Encounters employs foraging practices, ceramic processes, and experimental installation to explore uncertainty as a contemporary human condition.

Rejecting linear understandings of progress, foraging practices embody a sense of agnostic curiosity. Opportunistically engaging materials, which present themselves within the environment through the process of being discarded by one and found by another, foraging encourages lively interaction with the environment.

Rhys Cousins work homes in on otherwise ordinary and ignored surfaces that one might expect to encounter on any given day. It acknowledges life as complex sensory jigsaw, but deliberately strips away the smells, sounds, language, and colour of that puzzle to explore only touch and the external physical qualities of the myriad materials that make up the urban places we live.

Examining the importance of touch as a physical and emotional experience - helping us to make sense of the world, the work also highlights how texture is made as much through presence as absence, with the solid bumps and ridges in a surface playing as great a role in creating its overall texture as its voids, crevices, nooks, and cracks.

Cousins and Hagberg’s works are activated across Gallery 1 and 2. 

Installation View, Manningham Art Gallery, March 2022. Photo by Charlie Kinross. 

Join us and learn more about new public art in Doncaster and take part in an all-ages art activity.

As part of the Ayr St South shopping strip upgrade, a ground mural will be designed and installed by artist Tom Civil.

Tom will share his designs at Greythorn Bowls Club in an information session for the community, where you can meet the artist and discuss his ideas.

The information session will be followed by an all-ages art activity, where you will design your own footpath mural. Use the materials provided to work collaboratively, or own your own to create an artwork for your street.

• Information session / meet the artist: 11.00am to 12.30pm
• Art Activity: 1.00pm to 2.30pm

Morning and afternoon tea will be provided

About the artist

Tom Civil is an artist, muralist, community art facilitator and printmaker. 

Tom has been making art in the streets of Melbourne for over 18 years, and has painted over 30 commissioned murals across town in the last ten years.

Tom's ground artworks reference through the language of mapping and symbology, our connection to nature in a heavily urbanised and concrete and asphalt covered world. The ground artworks also allow us to day-dream about how the places we live were in the past, and how they could be in the future. They also create fun interactive play moments in our daily lives.

Photo by: Nathan CCP

We invite you to join us in acknowledging the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) as we gather together to recognise the strengths, contributions and resilience of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

Attendees are welcomed to join us in raising the Pride Flag on the concourse out the front of the Civic Centre. We will then move into the function rooms to listen to and learn from our guest speaker, Sally Goldner, share her lived experiences and speak to this year's IDAHOBIT theme.

2024 IDAHOBIT theme "No one left behind: Equality, freedom and justice for all".

Please note: registrations are required for this event. 

Keynote speaker

Sally Goldner AM’s massive involvement in Victoria’s queer communities spans nearly 30 years. Her diverse contributions include being a founding member of Transgender Victoria, presenting 3 CR’s “Out of the Pan,” Transfamily Treasurer, Just.Equal Australia Treasurer and Bisexual Alliance Victoria Treasurer. She is the focus of an autobio-doco “Sally’s Story”, a life member of four queer-focussed organisations and has made broad-ranging contributions to many groups.

Sally was inducted into the Victorian Women’s Honour Roll in 2016 (the first trans and first known bi woman to receive the honour), awarded LGBTI Victorian of the Year in 2015 and noted in The Age’s Top 100 most creative and influential people in Melbourne in 2011. She was awarded the Order of Australia in 2019. She is a professional wrestling ring announcer, MC, speaker, educator, life coach and occasional performer (all in contrast to her original accountancy training!).

Come along to our 2025 Inspired Living Series panel to learn about the exciting future of electrification and energy efficiency – both at home and beyond!

Heidi Lee

Heidi is the CEO of Beyond Zero Emissions, an independent think thank that shows how Australia can prosper in a zero emissions economy through ambitious research, influential engagement and compelling communications. Heidi has two decades' experience in sustainable design and architecture, and in 2024, was named one of The Australian's 'Top 100 Green Energy Power Players' for the third year running. 

Tim Forcey

Tim is one of Australia's leading voices in home energy efficiency and electrification. He is an avid researcher and author of 'My Efficient Electric Home Handbook', which captures a decades worth of advice and insight. Tim founded and contributes to the thriving My Efficient Electric Home online community. As a qualified home energy advisor who has advised in more than 1,000 homes, Tim will share his main insights on how to transform and retrofit any home to be efficient, comfortable and sustainable. 

Brendan Lang

Brendan is an electrician with more than 10 years' experience operating his electrical contracting business. He's also the founder of Get Off Gas. The core motivation for his work is to help accelerate the transition to renewable all-electric buildings and transport, which will reduce running costs and improve liveability. Brendan and his Get Off Gas team offer solutions to electrify homes, with a strong focus on educating homeowners to ensure they make great choices for the environment and their wallets.

Inspired Living Series – keynote speaker events

Our 2025 Inspired Living Series showcases five insightful, not-to-be-missed evenings. The series will introduce you to a diverse lineup of local keynote speakers who will offer unique insights on embracing sustainability.

Topics range from sustainable food to low waste lifestyles. Each speaker will share their journey – inspiring our audience to embrace positive choices, nurture a connection to nature, and foster community for a stronger, more resilient future.

Registration for this event is required.
 

Electrify Your Life 

This event is part of our Electrify Your Life program, supporting residents to go all-electric at home and power up a brighter future for Manningham. Learn how to make the switch at Electrify Your Life. By switching to electric appliances, you can create a safer and healthier home for your family. 

This is a Partner Event hosted independently as part of Renew’s Sustainable House Day 2025 program. Visit Sustainable House Day for the full program.

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Keep up to date with our latest environment and sustainability events.

Subscribe now

Meeting Date: 13 December 2022
Meeting Time: 7.00pm 
Location: Council Chamber, Civic Centre 699 Doncaster Road, Doncaster.         

Council meeting livestream

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