The Coburg Meddler

01/03/2025

What we do often makes people very upset. People who are affected by road blocks feel targeted or punished by what we’re doing. I’m frequently shouted at and threatened with death. Sometimes I’ve been praised and thanked. It’s not always easy to know how to feel about it. Marching in your own neighbourhood is more complicated emotionally than in the CBD, where you can feel like you’re sticking it to “The Man” instead of getting in the way of people you might see at the grocery store later. I know that no-one who participates in these marches enjoys pi***ng people off and that everyone is there in good faith. So what is the correct way to protest climate inaction? Lots of things have been tried, and no-one thinks about this question more than the activists. But doing nothing and doing things that haven’t worked aren’t reasonable options so this is what we’re trying, either until it works or someone has a better idea.

Photo by Erik Anderson

By A Small Wet Frog I first came across Extinction Rebellion (XR) in the city in 2019. I was trying to mind my own business when I saw a spectacle drawing a crowd near Flinders St station. A group …

27/02/2025

Our bodies hold memories, and rituals are a way of connecting ourselves to something familiar. Inspired by the narrative of rituals the motif of the Afghan Rug as a way of orienting bodies as well as the Australia rhetoric of meeting under a shaded cloth. - Hosna Eqbal ()

Hosna Eqbal@eqbalatelier The thesis aims to offer an expository yet ephemeral analysis of space-making that encompasses practices of dwelling or doing the landscape versus showing or exhibiting wit…

21/02/2025

In this work the authors study Merri-merri-uth nyilam marra-natj (MMNM) which is a virus that they found in the Merri Creek.

It was named by Aunty Gail Smith of the Wurundjeri Woi wurung people, meaning “Dangerous Merri Lurker”. MMNM is a bacteriophage, meaning a virus that instead of infecting humans (like a flu or COVID19) infects bacteria (cells much bigger than viruses but still microscopic compared to humans and cause diseases like pneumonia).

“Dangerous Merri lurker” / Ally By Dr Emma Boehm Floating floating Brownian motionFlowing where the current takes meBubbles thrashing now I’m airborneOh! I’ve found some warm environs Air sugar hea…

17/02/2025

Since November 2023, staff in Victoria’s government schools have faced pressure to remain neutral on the issue of Israel’s ongoing genocide. This began with the Victorian Department of Education issuing a direction to all principals to share a letter with staff in response to a ‘week of action for Palestine’ planned by workers.

By SAS & BB Since November 2023, staff in Victoria’s government schools have faced pressure to remain neutral on the issue of Israel’s ongoing genocide. This began with the Victorian Department…

13/02/2025

During the weeks that they are open, the sisters are running a schedule of art and community events. In the first week, there was an admin/co-working day, a ‘hang out’ day, and a decorative fruit platter workshop. The following week, there was embroidery and photography. On 21 February, Dukkana is hosting an art fair from 6pm-9pm.

By Eddie Snagge The Meddler visited the new pop-up on a rainy Sunday and found Fatima, one of the sisters who run it, cleaning. She welcomed us in, saying that the pop-up would formally be open nex…

11/02/2025

Merri-bek can make you a mean kebab, but it can’t give you solutions to homelessness, a lack of public housing and high rental prices.

Read more: https://thecoburgmeddler.family.blog/2025/02/08/houses-for-mouses/

09/02/2025

Merri-bek has assured the community that they want input for both plans, and that they will take the proposals from the public very seriously.

How much Merri-bek plans on implementing the thoughts of locals in their final plan remains to be seen. This is a Council that, in June 2024, proudly announced that 0.25 per cent of their 4-year budget would be spent on projects suggested by the community. We hope that the community’s input for such major projects will account for more than that.

By Edwina Snagge Merri-bek Council has been deciding what should be done with Coburg central (AKA Carpark City) for a long time, but plans have often gone awry. Coburg is the largest suburb in the …

08/02/2025

According to Dave, the group’s ultimate goal is to have a permanent facility set up for the work members want to do, as the current space doesn’t meet all their needs. Despite the building’s limitations, the group has members interested in woodworking, metalwork, pyrography, ceramics, glazier work and textiles to name a few. Recently, the group introduced a blacksmithing forge to their impressive collection of professional-grade equipment.

Merri-bek Community Shed, or ‘MerriCS’, has steadily grown into a local institution. Despite this, in mid-2024, Merri-bek Council disclosed that the group only had a short-term user agreement that …

06/02/2025

In the last Wills election, Khalil came out on top with a firm, but not comfortable, 58.6 per cent of the vote. Things could be better in Wills. The question is whether Ratnam and Bolton present an answer the locals are ready for.

By BB & SAS Art by JO In a push to keep the bastards honest, Sue Bolton has launched her campaign to be elected as the federal MP in the seat of Wills. A Kaffiyeh-clad Bolton can be spotted mos…

06/02/2025

Venus has often been thought of as Earth’s sister planet, and eons ago they may have had comparable environments. But thanks to a runaway greenhouse effect, Venus’s surface is now hotter than even Mercury’s, about 460°C, with a thick, acidic atmosphere. There are other peculiarities: Venus’s day (243 Earth days) is longer than its year (224 days); and, spinning counter to most of the other solar planets, Venus has the Sun rising in the west.

Despite these eccentricities, humans persist in sending rockets to Venus; as this goes to press, Rocket Lab is launching the Venus Life Finder mission to search for complex organic chemistry, and perhaps even life in some form, within the high-reaching clouds of Venus (which are much cooler than the surface).

By Vlack February opens with a magnificent lineup in the evening twilight: Saturn, almost-New Moon, and shining Venus. This tableau of two planets and Moon, slightly reshuffled, will repeat on Febr…