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. 

Living and Learning @ Ajani has joined the Australia wide chatty café scheme.

We are hosting a table in our café every Tuesday morning 10am to 12pm starting May 24.

We welcome people to come along for a chat while enjoying a hot or cold beverage and a muffin for only $3.50.

Our chatty café volunteer will ensure the conversations are interesting and stimulating.

It is a great way to meet new people in a warm friendly environment.

If your child identifies as LGBTQIA+, non-binary, gender diverse, or is questioning their sexuality and/or gender, this event is for you.

This event will include:

• educational presentation on sexuality and gender
• ways to support your young person
• panel discussion
• opportunities to ask all your questions
• time to talk with other parents
• additional support resources

This is an inclusive and accessible event.

Light refreshments will be served. To assist us with catering and seating, please register for this event.

This is a free guided nature walk, exploring a variety of bushland settings in Manningham. It is paced to allow participants to enjoy and appreciate the natural beauty of the area.

This nature walk is rated moderate and incorporates moderately steep and slippery sections.

The walk will cover approximately 3km and go for around 2.5 hours.

The meeting point for the nature walk will be provided at the time of registration.

Please note: nature walks will be cancelled on days of total fire ban or extreme weather warning.

Calling all people from multicultural backgrounds in Manningham and surrounds!

Come and learn more about the importance of looking after your mental health and wellbeing, and the support that is available in your local community.

Our next Strength Through Connection event is a forum on Mental Health and Multicultural Communities as part of national Mental Health Week.

This event will feature:

• specialists in multicultural mental health
• a panel of experts
• local mental health and wellbeing service providers
• plus the launch of Manningham Council's mental health services webpage by Mayor Michelle Kleinert

Mental health is a key component of overall health and well-being. 1 in 5 (21.4 per cent) Australians aged 16 to 85 have experienced a mental disorder in the past 12 months.

Many people may not be aware of what poor mental health means, how to support someone or how they can get help. The individual needs, backgrounds and identities of people can impact how, or even whether, they will seek support.

We will have a broad range of speakers who will provide information about:

• types of mental health issues
• stories of lived experience
• what treatments are available
• how can you support someone
• how to get help
• hope for recovery

We look forward to seeing you there!

An exhibition of local artists showing mixed media of member's work.

The art show will be open 10.00am to 3.00pm daily.

For more information, go to Doncaster Templestowe Artists Society.

Learn how to identify our local eucalypt trees and find out how understanding where they grow can help you to read the landscape.

If all the trees and bush look a bit the same to you, this short walk and talk could change the way you see the world!

Join experienced local naturalist and ecologist Alan Noy to guide you through the process.

GO Soccer Mums is an introductory football program designed specifically for women, where participants can have fun, meet new people, and learn basic football skills in a social, judgement-free environment!

This summer break we are offering a free multi-week program for you to try the program for the first time or return to keep up your skills and maintain your psychical activity level in the off season.

Many participants may be busy with children on school holidays so we are also offering a free football clinic for kids!

This will run parallel to or GO Soccer Mums session for boys and girls aged five years to 12 years old.

The Clothing Exchange believes that looking good shouldn’t cost the earth.

Swapping is a clever and thrifty way to update your wardrobe without hitting the shops. It saves you pennies and the planet too!

Eligibility
To participate you must drop clothes off. For each item you drop off you will receive a token which can then be used to select another item. A maximum of eight items per person will be accepted.

Please note: the clothes drop off starts at 12.00pm and the clothes swap exchange starts at 1.00pm.

What we accept

We will only accept items that are:

• clean, folded or pressed
• good quality with a long potential lifespan
• free of faults or with minor faults that are easy to repair (for example, a missing button)

The best items to swap are good quality garments that you once loved but are no longer your favourites or perhaps no longer fit you perfectly. This way, you’re giving them a second life with someone new who will treasure them.

Whatever you swap, please make sure you are emotionally detached from the item, as once it has been swapped you cannot change your mind.

What we don't accept

We will not accept:

• anything pilled, smelly or too far from perfect
• undergarments
• swimwear
• tracksuits

Please note: we have quality screening processes at our events.

Any items left over after the event finishes are donated to a local charity.

Disc Golf is a fun recreational activity for everyone!

The aim of the game is to throw your disc (similar to a frisbee) from the tee pad into the basket in the least number of throws.

At this come and try session members of the Melbourne Disc Golf Club will show you how to hold, throw and putt. Once you've got the hang of how it all works, you'll have the chance to play on the brand new, recently updated course.

No prior experience is required for this event. This event is suitable for families, all ages, all genders and all abilities.

Please note: entry is free but registrations are required.

Ruffey Lake Park Disc Golf Course is located near the Church Road entrance, just off King Street. 

This activity is hosted by Melbourne Disc Golf.

Want to find out more about Disc Golf? Visit Melbourne Disc Golf Club.

Mind Calm will be facilitated by group therapists and is suitable for those who are new to meditation and people who wish to explore or extend their current practice.

• Discover what mind stilling methods work for you. 
• Experience mindfulness.
• Learn breathing techniques.
• Practice different types of meditation.

This event has a series of four sessions.

Getting there

Located on Doncaster Road between Westfield and the Manningham Council Civic Centre, MC2 is conveniently accessible by public transport.

There are ample parking spaces on site including 4-hour parking underneath the building.  Access to level 1 via the lift or via stairs in the front foyer.

Caroline Ellen is one of Australia's most trusted parent educators. Through her presentations, podcast, online courses, private coaching, and online membership, she has helped thousands of families build stronger connections. After 15 years of being a social worker specialising in children and families, Caroline has seen first hand what information and support parents really need in order to make changes at home. Caroline delivers difficult, often challenging information in a style that feels relatable, reassuring, and safe.

In Kids, nudes & the internet, Caroline provides practical resources and advice you can put into immediate action. We'll explore what you can do to reduce the risk of harm, and how to take action if things go wrong.

Caroline's advice is clear, actionable, and empowering. Parents walk away feeling more confident about what action they can be taken to protect their children and ensure a safer, stronger future.

This event is proudly supported by Manningham Councils Community Grants Program.

Experience the thrill of our brand new ninja warrior course. Swing, climb, and conquer exciting obstacles at Ruffey Lake Park.

The ninja warrior course provides an exciting opportunity to test your physical prowess whilst having fun!

Join us for a come and try session with the team from A Space, as they explain how to use the new facilities. There will be coaches on hand to offer help and instructions, and to guide you through the obstacles. 

Competitions will run throughout the session, with prizes available.

So come on down and challenge yourself, have fun, and unleash your inner warrior!

Read more about this fantastic new facility.

Learn about our local wattles on this iconic walk through Warrandyte’s once thriving goldfields, now a haven for wildlife and wildflowers.

This is a circular walk that starts and finishes at the same location. A difficult 5.5km circuit with some very steep and slippery sections.

Wear solid walking shoes, weather appropriate clothing, a hat and sunscreen.

Participants must provide a mobile number.

Location will be given upon registration.

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.

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Join award winning visual artist Bridget Hillebrand and Charlotte Sterrett from Yarra Riverkeeper Association as they share their knowledge and passion to promote river connection and care.

Bridget will reveal insights into the creation of her immersive, site-specific installation ‘River’ and Charlotte will discuss ways in which we can all help achieve a healthy, protected and loved Birrarung (Yarra River).

Registration for this event is not required.

Photo by Charlie Kinross. 

Explore a range of mindfulness and meditation techniques at Doncare's Mind Calm series. 

Mind Calm will be facilitated by group therapists and is suitable for those who are new to meditation and people who wish to explore or extend their current practice.

Over four sessions, participants will learn:

• what mind stilling methods work for you
• experience mindfulness
• learn breathing techniques
• practice different types of meditation.

Getting there

Located on Doncaster Road between Westfield and the Manningham Council Civic Centre, MC2 is conveniently accessible by public transport.

There are ample parking spaces on site including 4-hour parking underneath the building.  Access to level 1 via the lift or via stairs in the front foyer.

Join award winning visual artist Bridget Hillebrand and Sonja Ross from BirdLife Melbourne as they share their knowledge and passion for the ecology of the Birraung (Yarra River).

Bridget will reveal insights into the creation of her immersive, site specific installation ‘River’. Sonja will discuss some of the ways we can best support the habitat and needs of Australia’s native birds.

Spaces are limited, please register via Eventbrite.

A one-day practical seminar visiting sites around Warrandyte that have had their local native vegetation restored using a range of techniques. 

Join your land restoration guides, Alan Noy and Glenn Jameson on the land and for a short summary session in the study room.

They will take you on a local journey observing and discussing practical aspects of revegetation design, local vegetation patterns, choosing plants, maintenance, and long-term management of natural vegetation.

Visit sites where our community is attempting to reconcile the loss of biodiversity and learn how we can be part of that reconciliation process through the revegetation of the land.

Each winter, the Heritage Fruits Society (HFS) runs a grafting and tree sale day at Pettys Orchard.

Come along to this free public event and discuss your fruit tree growing needs with us. You will also be able to:

• buy fruit trees and/or scion
• observe on-the-spot fruit tree grafting
• join a guided walking tour of the HFS heritage block.

For more information about the day, visit Heritage Fruit Society.