Robbie Hunter Print Page

The plaque commemorates Robbie Hunter, the Chief of the Parkies, who died in 1996.

Cleve Gardens was a place where aboriginals could meet and catch up with the news of relatives and friends. The park had even won official recognition as an aboriginal meeting place by being listed in the Aboriginal Historic Places Register.

In 1994, the Kennett Government knocked down a toilet block in Cleve Gardens, as part of its clean-up campaign for the impending Formula One Grand Prix.  While sounding uncontroversial, the demolition was the destruction of a modern sacred meeting place for the Koori people who gathered there.  The toilet was painted with the Koori (aboriginal) flag.

With the redevelopment under way, Kooris moved across the road to the more secluded Catani Gardens. But many felt their community and link with the past was lost. In 1997 the "parkies" reunited for the unveiling of a cultural marker bearing symbols of the traditional Koori owners of the site - the Bunurong and Wurundjeri peoples.

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