Harry and Meghan participated in a guided scar tree walk that traces Kulin cultural sites along the Birrarung and finishes at a protected heritage area in Yarra Park
The visit by Harry and Meghan to Melbourne included participation in the scar tree walk, a paced walking experience that threads together historic and present-day expressions of Indigenous life. The walk was organised and led by staff and elders from the Koorie Heritage Trust, beginning at their centre in Federation Square.
Guides interpret the landscape, explain the meaning of the trees and artworks, and situate modern installations alongside traditional places of importance. For readers unfamiliar with the term, a scar tree is a tree altered by Aboriginal people who removed bark for canoes, tools or shelters, making it both a practical modification and a cultural record.
What a scar tree represents
Beyond the practical work of harvesting bark, the scar tree functions as an emblem of continuity and memory in Indigenous communities. Many trees with deliberate bark removal mark locations used for manufacturing items such as canoes, shields or containers; others are created as part of ceremonial practice.
These altered trees can also signify places of particular spiritual resonance, including burial sites, and they act as living links to an unbroken cultural lineage stretching back 60,000 years. The combination of practical craft and symbolic marking means scar trees are treated as both artefact and living heritage, requiring care and legal protection in urban settings.
Route and landmarks along the walk
The guided route follows the banks of the Birrarung—the river also widely known as the Yarra—and moves through a riverside precinct rich in contemporary Aboriginal installations. Starting at the Koorie Heritage Trust in Federation Square, participants encounter the Birrarung Wilam artworks and other public pieces that merge Indigenous storytelling with modern materials. The path crosses the William Barak Bridge, named for a noted elder of the Wurundjeri-willam clan, and spans over Batman Avenue. Along the way, guides explain how these artworks and place names preserve language and history while creating new contexts for cultural expression in the city.
Koorie guides and the meaning of place
Guides identify themselves with the term ‘Koorie’, used by Indigenous people from Victoria and parts of New South Wales, and provide grounded explanations that mix oral history, art interpretation and site-specific knowledge. They explain how everyday landmarks correspond to ancient meeting places and how contemporary installations deliberately respond to those traditions. The walk is designed not as a performance but as an educational conversation, where elders and cultural workers share responsibilities for safeguarding stories and ensuring that visitors recognise the continuing presence of the Kulin Peoples on country.
Ancient meeting places and modern sports grounds
One of the striking elements of the walk is how it reveals the palimpsest of the city: beneath modern infrastructure lie sites used by the Kulin Nation for gatherings over generations. The traditional meeting ground of the Wurundjeri people now corresponds to the location of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Guides use this contrast to discuss resilience, adaptation and the persistence of cultural life despite urban change. The narrative ties a world-famous sporting arena to an earlier landscape of communal decision-making, trade and ceremony.
Protection and the final site
Preserving scar trees in Yarra Park
The walk concludes at a group of protected scar trees located in Yarra Park. These trees are legally recognised as cultural heritage, and their protection involves collaboration between Indigenous custodians and municipal authorities. Visitors are reminded that the physical scars are not merely historical curiosities but active testimonies to Indigenous knowledge systems and resource management. The guided visit emphasises respectful behaviour and encourages further learning about how urban landscapes can be read as layers of human activity.
Overall, the experience offered to Harry and Meghan demonstrates how a relatively short walk can serve as a concentrated primer on local Indigenous culture, the care of sacred places, and the ways public art can amplify traditional stories. Through the leadership of the Koorie Heritage Trust and local elders, the route connects living communities to sites of deep significance, creating a public narrative that recognises both continuity and contemporary cultural expression.
