Eden of the East
A region becomes legible at walking pace.
A street line becomes a planning decision. An open space carries the scale of an earlier ambition. A building holds its relationship to the people and work around it. A landmark becomes a point of orientation, memory and local language.
Walking gives those clues time to meet each other.
Across 9, 10 and 11 October, two experiences offer different ways to read Latrobe slowly. A guided tour concentrates on Churchill and the plans that shaped the town. A self-guided audio journey connects a series of locations across the Valley, letting each walker choose the sequence, stops and pace.
Together, they bring the region to human scale. One step follows another. One place connects with the next. The map becomes something lived.
Churchill is a compelling place to begin because planning is part of its origin.
The town was conceived in the early 1960s as a joint project involving the Housing Commission of Victoria and the State Electricity Commission. The first proposal used the name Hazelwood and imagined a new town for about 40,000 people. Planning records describe substantial infrastructure, a defined commercial area and generous open space.
The preliminary design was produced in the office of modernist architect Best Overend. Grahame Shaw, chief architect at the Housing Commission, carried the planning work forward as the new town took shape and became Churchill.
Those names and plans can sound distant on a page. On the ground, they become questions a walker can pursue. Where did the planners place the civic heart? How were homes, shops, education and open space expected to relate? Where does the original ambition remain visible? How has the town continued to grow into its own life?
The Churchill Walking Tour on Saturday 10 October is built around those questions. Developed in collaboration with urban-planning historian Professor David Nichols, the two-hour walk visits key points in the Overend and Shaw plans and connects them with the town that stands today.
This is a distinct experience from the Churchill Guided Historical Walk already documented by Eden. That established 1.8-kilometre loop follows 19 community-history points. The October planning tour concentrates on the ideas, decisions and constraints held in the town's design.
At walking pace, planning becomes physical. Distance can be felt. A sequence of streets can be followed. Open space occupies real ground. The relationship between an original drawing and a living town can be considered one place at a time.
The walk also creates room for the town's present life. Churchill grew through the people who made homes, opened businesses, formed organisations, studied, worked and cared for shared places. The plan established a framework. The community gave that framework daily use, memory and meaning.
In pictures
Churchill at walking pace
Then the act of reading place expands from one town to the wider Valley.
Stroll the City: Latrobe Valley is a self-guided audio experience carried by an interactive map. Its form is a series of locations across the region. The full journey can be followed, or individual stops can be chosen according to time and interest.
The organisers describe an experience shaped by local voices, architects, historians, Traditional Owners and community leaders. Their contributions connect industrial heritage, evolving landscapes, architecture and community life. Each stop becomes part of a regional conversation about how Latrobe was made, how it has changed and what its places carry now.
The audio format keeps the experience open. You can move through the locations in person, listen from somewhere else or return to a stop when curiosity brings you back. The route supplies a structure while leaving the walker room to choose their own journey.
That choice matters in a region formed through many connected places. Latrobe's story lives across town centres, industry, public institutions, landscapes and the routes between them. The audio journey keeps selected places distinct while revealing their connections.
In pictures · Individual audio-tour stops not yet published
A Valley heard in place — regional context
The guided and self-guided formats create two forms of attention.
In Churchill, the guide holds a shared thread. A group moves through the same town at the same time, following planning ideas across physical ground. The experience has a beginning, an end and a conversation shaped by the route.
Across the Valley, the audio map places more of the journey in the walker's hands. Stops can be selected. Pauses can last longer. One theme may lead to another location, another voice and another day of exploration.
Both forms reward the same human act: giving a place enough attention for its relationships to emerge.
That act can change the relationship between a resident and familiar ground. A street used every week begins to hold a planning history. An open space becomes evidence of what a town hoped to provide. A regional landmark connects with a wider pattern of work, movement and change.
For a visitor, walking offers an equally valuable beginning. The region can be entered through one town, one stop and one story at a time. Understanding grows through connection, and connection creates reasons to keep exploring.
Choose the format that fits the way you want to discover. Book the Churchill tour for a guided reading of one remarkable planned town. Open the Latrobe audio experience for a self-directed journey across selected regional places.
Walk carefully. Leave time to look again. Let one clue lead to the next.
When you return to familiar ground, the streets and spaces will still be there. Their relationships may be easier to see—and the region may feel more like a place you know from within.
Plan your walk — 9 to 11 October 2026
These details are current as at 24 September 2026. Booking availability, arrival instructions and the audio experience can change, so open the linked page again before you set out.
Churchill Walking Tour — Saturday 10 October The tour runs from 12.30–2.30 pm in a group of 20. Booking is required and a $7 booking fee applies. Accessible parking and assistance animals are listed; some steps may be involved. View the tour and book
Important arrival note: the organiser's current event page names the entrance to Churchill Neighbourhood Centre, 9–11 Philip Parade, as the meeting point, while the booking page labels Federation University Library as the location. Follow the final arrival instructions issued with your booking and recheck them before travelling.
Stroll the City: Latrobe Valley — available from Friday 9 October The self-guided audio experience can be used at any time across Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October. No booking is required. Follow the full regional journey or choose the stops that interest you. The interactive tour was still marked “coming soon” on 24 September and is scheduled to become available from 9 October. Open the Latrobe Valley audio experience
Remain aware of traffic and other people, treat estimated distances and times as guides, check local conditions and take the footwear and weather protection you need for the places you choose to walk.
Sources
Current visit details remain with the two Event and platform owners. Recheck booking, arrival instructions and audio availability before travelling.