The essence of what the mall was is gone.
The beautiful dove the magician crushed before the audience is also gone, but then, to comfort the crying boy in the front row, the magician produces another dove — supposedly the same bird — from his hand.
The boy is not convinced, still believing the crushed bird is dead, and the one produced magically from the magician’s hand is another bird entirely.
That’s how progress works: the past is crushed and, through a little magic, we are reassured that all is well.
But we must not look too closely at the machinations; otherwise, like the young boy suspected, we will see a trail of dead birds.
For more than a decade, I organised a public gathering in the mall, giving local people the opportunity to talk about and reflect on climate change.
We met under the limited protection of the then wisteria-covered pergolas at the eastern end of the then pedestrian mall, with the gatherings becoming known as ‘Beneath the Wisteria’.
Attendance ranged from just several people — the core of locals concerned about the climate crisis — to more than 100 people in the month when candidates for the seat of Murray (it’s now Nicholls) gathered to give their ‘stump speech’ as to why they should go to Canberra.
The then pedestrian mall wasn’t ideal for public gatherings — gatherings that need to be seen, accessible and free — but it at least had all those elements.
Existing seating was poorly arranged, often back-to-back, and not at all conducive to enabling conversation or discussion that preludes action — about whatever the topic might be; in this case, climate change.
The former mall was opened in November 1989 to be among Australia’s first and, much to my surprise, longer than Melbourne’s Bourke St Mall.
Announcement plans for the “revitalisation” of the mall, as it was termed, raised concerns for many regulars who met Beneath the Wisteria.
The wisterias would go, the many trees would go and our meeting spot would be gone — handed back to machines and another bird.
That bird, called progress, would be dead.
Using its website, Greater Shepparton City Council reported in 2024:
“The Maude St Mall revitalisation, completed in June 2023, has boosted Shepparton’s economy, increasing local and visitor spending and attracting more day visitors.
“The space has hosted numerous successful events, such as the Fryers St Food Festival and City Markets, contributing significantly to the local economy.
“Vacancy rates in the Maude St precinct have decreased from 14 per cent to nine per cent over the past year, with new investments, business expansions and shopfront improvements supporting growth.”
Shepparton needs an agora — a public meeting place — where ideas can be prosecuted, expanded, explored.
And it needs to be where people are, not hidden away like a self-help group.
When the revitalisation was suggested, we (that’s those of us who gathered Beneath the Wisteria) proposed many things — among them, changes to local regulations that would encourage and allow shop-top living in the mall (by inference, improving the public security of the area); changes to the seating to encourage community conversation; a covered public meeting space; a city council customer service office; and, of course, we wanted the trees and the wisterias retained.
Well, the magician’s trick is complete.
Check out Shepparton’s Maude St and you will see ‘progress’.
But if you think a little more deeply and look somewhat closer, you will see another corpse — another bird is dead.
11°C