The Eddies by Carla Gottgens

Croydon South 20-minute neighbourhoods Project. The temporary wayfinding paintings are located along the Tarralla Creek Trail, the Eastfield Dog Park, Cheong Park, and Bayswater Road.

These colourful and vibrant stencils by artist Carla Gottgens draw upon the local geography of the Tarralla Creek.

Acting as wayfinding signs, they appear along the Tarralla Creek Trail, the Eastfield Dog Park, Cheong Park, and Bayswater Road heading towards the Eastfield Shopping Centre.

On display from July to September 2020.

About the works

Words from the artist that inspired the works

“The eddies are a design based on the eddies of the Tarralla Creek. The object eddies including marsh frogs, feathers and leaves, are a combination of design ideas drawn from the Tarralla Flow findings and natural observation. After heavy rain, when the creek is high, there are eddies in larger and smaller pockets as the water weaves around objects and bends, and where it picks up fallen articles and sweeps them along with the creek’s course.” - Carla Gottgens.

Artist bio

Carla Gottgens is an active public artist creating commissioned works for councils and exhibitions across Australia. Her professional work spans photography, painting, sculpture and multi-media installations. She has created sculptures for City of Casey, Adelaide Airport, Strand Ephemera Townsville, Lorne Sculpture Biennale and is currently working on three permanent art pieces for Leeton in NSW. Gottgen’s multi-disciplinary practice includes the delivery of workshops for students and adults. The artist has completed numerous murals for councils, including Maribyrnong, Moreland, Monash and Maroondah.

Image gallery

The Eddies by Carla Gottgens

The reasons for the site locations

The site locations for the stencil paintings are based on their significance to the Croydon South community.

The Tarralla Creek Trail is a beloved cycling and walking track to locals. The creek is located in an area of local and regional importance as it sits adjacent to the Eastfield Shops, Croydon main street, and accommodates part of the Carrum to Warburton Regional Cycling Trail. Currently Melbourne Water are undertaking the re-naturalisation works of the Tarralla Creek; through the ‘Reimagining Tarralla Creek’ program, the works aim to enhance the natural environment; create a place for community to connect to nature and one another; improve connectivity; create a space for arts culture and education; and deliver a resilient and maintainable waterway. The creek holds a strong cultural significance for the Wurundjeri People.

The Eastfield Dog Park has proved to be a popular destination for Croydon South locals and their pups. The Neighbourhood Snap Shoot community art project, showed Council just how much the locals love their dogs; they became the stars of the photos. The stencils have been painted in the area surrounding the dog park to invite people to connect with Tarralla Creek, which is only a stone through away. The area is located ~800m from the Eastfield shops via the Tarralla Creek Trail and borders Eastfield Park which possesses a vast array of indigenous vegetation.

Cheong Park is named after the Cheong family which donated land for a park to the Council in 1952. The Cheong family was active in local sporting clubs and some descendants are still connected to the area.

Cheong Park continues to have a strong connection with sporting clubs today, including the Croydon South Football Club, South Croydon Cricket Club, South Croydon Flames Netball Club, Cheong Park Gem and Mineral Club. Cheong Park is now one of Maroondah’s busiest sports ovals, with Cricket and AFL in the respective season as well as the well utilised pavilion, with both sport and community groups (e.g. U3A Croydon, Friends of Cheong Park) using the facility on most days of the year.

The Eastfield Shops can be accessed by foot along Bayswater Road footpath. Stencils have been painted along the path to connect the creek, with the park and the shops. Eastfield Shops is a local shopping centre loved by many of locals and the surrounding community. It has been the focal point for the state-funded Croydon South 20-Minute Neighbourhood project.

About the 20-Minute Neighbourhoods

The 20-Minute Neighbourhoods project is about ‘living locally’ - giving people the ability to meet most of their daily needs within a 20-minute walk from home, with access to safe cycling and local transport options. It is also about fostering a sense of community within the neighbourhood. The 20-Minute Neighbourhood Pilot program was launched to test the practical delivery of 20-minute neighbourhoods through place-based planning.

Croydon South was one of three pilot sites selected by the Department of Environment, Land, Water, and Planning (DELWP) across metropolitan Melbourne. The project pilot concluded in March 2019; lessons from this were fed back into the current Croydon South Place Activation project which is being delivered from March 2021 to August 2021. Through the ongoing global experiences with COVID-19, there has been a renewed focus on supporting local living and the impact strong local networks and facilities play in creating resilient communities.

This project is funded by Department of Jobs, Precincts, and Regions and Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning to trial learnings from the 20-Minute Neighbourhood Pilot Program.