Watch this space. As the glitz and glamour, multitudes and millions roll into Albert Park for the festival of the track, just 500 metres away the optics are starkly different. We present images taken last week of a squalid, sprawling encampment that has dominated a much loved but sheltered corner of Albert Park Reserve since April last year.
Residents of Fitzroy Street report that it has now been over 45 weeks since the Ngargee Tree encampment and associated antisocial behaviour created a no-go zone in this corner of Albert Park Reserve near St Kilda Junction.
Before the encampment appeared in 2024, the area was being rehabilitated and restored by Parks Victoria and a dedicated team of volunteers. The efforts included a small pond, decorative seating and revegetation to create an “urban forest” feeling, despite the location being just metres from St Kilda Junction.
Since April last year, volunteers have been officially warned to stay away from the area by Parks Victoria rangers.
This is despite the site being home to the Ngargee Tree, possibly one of the most significant trees in Melbourne. It is also a culturally significant location for the local indigenous community.
Encampment has vanished and reappeared before
In February last year, after the campers moved on around Grand Prix time, Parks Victoria crews moved in and removed “three vehicle loads of rubbish, abandoned camp materials, and many bicycles.” TWiSK report 20 February 2025
However, after reappearing in April 2025, the encampment is now bigger than ever before.
People with firsthand knowledge of the area report that the encampment is expanding, rubbish piles are higher and spreading wider throughout the area, fires continue to burn, the pond has been trashed, the watering systems wrecked, and the beautiful boomerang seats and mosaics graffitied.
“The public have lost access to a beautiful park and a significant landmark. They are too scared to enter the area,” the local source explained.
TWiSK understands that Parks Victoria are now providing drinking water to the site and as well as ‘adhoc’ rubbish collection. PV have been working with local homeless agencies and indigenous support groups.
TWiSK approached local MP Nina Taylor for a comment, this is her reply in full:
“Parks Victoria is aware of a group of people camping near Junction Oval.
“The local team is working closely with multiple authorities and specialist outreach and support organisations, including Ngwala Willumbong Aboriginal Corporation and City of Port Phillip, to develop a coordinated and safe pathway to support individuals to leave the area.
“This work is focused on achieving a sustainable outcome that addresses health, safety, environment, and welfare considerations.
“There are no plans in place for Parks Victoria to move the individuals on before the Grand Prix.”
Parks Victoria also provided this background statement, again presented in full:
“As the land manager of Albert Park, Parks Victoria is working closely with a range of agencies, including specialist support organisations.
“This work is focused on a sustainable outcome that addresses health, safety, environment, and welfare considerations.”
Out of Sight, Out of Mind?
With the Australian Grand Prix set to start in March, will the government’s “out of sight, out of mind” strategy persist? Or will the campers and their paraphernalia ‘miraculously’ disappear for a few crucial weeks around the GP, as they did last year?
Only time — and TWiSK — will tell.
