BY DANIELLE ROCHE
Despite lockdown limiting movement, social events and business operations for the best part of two years, communities are finding a way to thrive within their five kilometre zone.
Images of beauty, joy and community spirit have been captured along Melbourne's Bayside suburbs.
Point Ormond site has been a magnet for citizens during their allocated hours of outdoor exercise throughout recurring lockdowns.
Known to early settlers as Little Red Bluff, Point Ormond was ironically used for Victoria’s first quarantine station when a typhoid infected emigration boat arrived in Port Phillip from Scotland in 1840, and was quarantined at the site. Three men died and were buried at the bluff, making it the first official graveyard in St Kilda.
The bluff was important to the Boon Wurrung people’s Yalukit Willam clan for cultural and social practices as it lies on the fringe of the bay that was once ‘kangaroo ground’.
Tracey Harvey and her husband Greg Dee run the Elwood Sourdough bakery from their home driveway on Elwood Canal. Ms Harvey said they were grateful for the connection it has allowed them to foster with the local community.
After taking a year to perfect their first loaf, the local business organically expanded from gifts to friends, to stocking local stores and farmers' markets, then to a home-based bakery.
“It’s good therapy working with bread,” Ms Harvey said.
“In life we tend to think it’s got to be planned, but often it’s the things that just evolve slowly over time that have legs.”
Wandering the Elwood foreshore, the infectious attitude and party-ready appearance of locals Raphael and Irene draw many eyes and grins.
“We sense that it is time again to bring smiles to people’s faces,” Raphael said.
“It makes us smile, seeing everybody else smile,” Irene added.
Junction Fish and Chips opened in the middle of August this year and bears Melbourne artist Clare Brady’s signature style, paying homage to the neighbourhood’s bayside scenery.
The mid-lockdown launch was immensely successful, selling out of product two days in a row. Such demand proves a sustained hunger for the timeless classic beachside fish and chips.
An important symbol for nature and beauty in Japanese culture, cherry blossoms are one of the earliest flowering spring varieties that can be found all over Melbourne.
In 2021, the cherry blossom season had its earliest peak since the beginning of the Kyoto records in the 9th century. The Japan Meteorological Agency has linked this shift to increasing spring temperatures due to climate change.
The intermittent rain and sunshine give a shimmer to the suburban landscapes, as winter draws to a close.
Addison Street, Elwood runs parallel to the waterfront, and stretches across from Glen Huntly Rd, over Elster Creek, to the picturesque St Kilda Botanical Gardens.
Decked out in multicoloured décor mere months ago, Kids Cuts salon catered specifically to making children’s hair appointments entertaining for the kids, and carefree for parents.
Empty shop fronts like this have become a familiar sight in many neighbourhoods across Melbourne as the pandemic’s economic impact continues to take its toll.
Directly across the road from St Columba’s Church, a window in Elwood Flowers reflects the historical site built 92 years ago.
Imagery of the church enmeshed in the flowers’ life and growth, in spite of a year and a half of hardship, is reflective of the Port Phillip community’s resilience.