A Green Light For Guerilla Gardeners

By Sue Jackson

2 Nov 2009

Guerrilla gardens might not have 'owners' but they sure have defenders, as Yarra Council discovered when it tried to wipe the gardens out. Sue Jackson tells the story

At its regular monthly meeting in August, Melbourne's Yarra Council won itself a green star for forward thinking. Instead of razing local unauthorised street gardens as it had threatened to shortly before the meeting, it did a complete about-face, voting unanimously to become a champion of such initiatives instead.

Yarra, like quite a few other municipalities, is increasingly becoming dotted with community-initiated gardens. These include registered, secure community gardens that councils approve and support, but there are also others — guerilla gardens located in places like planter boxes in the street or on abandoned public land, which are established without prior council approval. As their survival relies on councils turning a blind eye, the future of each individual garden of this type is always precarious.

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