News – Drill Hall Residents Association

UPDATE OF THE WORMS

The worm community has been industriously converting copies of the seniors newspaper and CBD news into garden nourishment. The worms have asked residents to take a lot of leafs out of their collective books/newspapers, shred them to bits and deliver it to them. They promise to read and improve their knowledge of the world as they munch them up. We are always passing motions of course because worm life is really just like one long meeting really. We’re always getting bogged down in paper work. Anyway its a bit of a relief that our slogan is of course “No Bosses’. Enough juicy gossip now – watch this space.

DHRA 2017 Community Grant Application to City of Melbourne successful – and other news.

Drill Hall Residents Association’s application for a City of Melbourne Community Grant has been successful.

So for the third year running, we have been awarded $3000.00 for our activities. This is an exceptional result, because normally such grants are only repeated over two years.

It will be spent on meeting spaces, refreshments at meetings, community garden equipment etc.

Secondly; HCA has agreed to:

1) External window cleaning at Therry Street to be carried out in Mid-January 2017.

2) A pest control company to attend every quarter to treat all common areas (bin room and front foyer included) for preventative cockroach/pest treatment.

DHRA has been in conversation with Hon. Ellen Sandell, our local State Member of Parliament who has agreed to make representations on our behalf where appropriate. We owe Ellen our thanks.

We recently had a visit to the garden from Councillors Cathy Oke and MIchael Caiafa who were impressed with the progress.

Community Garden Update

Even though our cities are dramatically increasing in density, still the idea of The Australian Backyard has a firm grip on our concept of Home and Comfort.

In truth this is less about the size or scope of the space; it is more about a sense of ownership, of belonging that exemplifies how we experience a ‘Home’. For the residents of Drill Hall, this small patch of open space has become exactly that. Neglected over time, they took it upon themselves to occupy the space, to maintain it; soon adding raised vegetable gardens and having their own community gatherings; and in this way it became their Backyard.

When the time came to consolidate their ideas into a designed space, this was the only way to go – to create a backyard space that was both public and private, that provided for the needs of the residents who would have a sense of ownership over the space, who would maintain it in their way, but allow it to also be a community backyard, one that reflected the increased need for personal open space across the cityscape.

The intention of this design is to imply private space in a public arena, and allow the Residents of Drill Hall to grow the space in their own way, to build a sense of belonging in what has become their Backyard.

Elliot Summers

Creative Director

0424 036 884 // elliot@polygonla.com.au // www.polygonla.com.au