Victorian Quaker Centre offers rare glimpse during Open House Melbourne

West Melbourne’s Victorian Quaker Centre is offering a rare chance to step inside its tranquil, purpose-designed gathering space as part of Open House Melbourne on July 25 and 26.

Over two days, the Centre at 484 William St will invite visitors to reflect, listen and participate in thoughtful, creative responses to issues of housing insecurity and homelessness.

The Centre, renowned for its peaceful circular design and emphasis on quiet reflection, will host Local Positioning Systems by artists Sonia Leber and David Chesworth. This immersive six-channel soundscape, presented upstairs under the building’s overhead portal, features the voices of Melburnians with lived experience of homelessness.

It explores themes of displacement, resilience and the right to housing, offering listeners a deeply personal insight into navigating safety and support while drawing on peer solidarity.

Designed to foster shared listening in the Quaker tradition, the space reinforces the invitation to bear witness and contemplate how we might respond to urgent social questions.

Downstairs, visitors can take part in Drawing Home, a participatory project by Simon Grennan and Ilona Jetmar. Here, audiences are invited to create data drawings reflecting their own sense of home, confronting the unsettling proximity many feel to housing precarity – with even those in seemingly stable employment often just a few pay packets away from homelessness.

On Saturday, July 26 at 2pm, the Centre will host a panel discussion titled Security, Surveillance, and the Street: The recent criminalisation of homelessness.

The panel will examine recent policies that have pushed unhoused people out of public spaces, from the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns to rough-sleeping bans, contextualising the experiences shared in the soundscape and drawing project.

The Victorian Quaker Centre itself has a rich history. Quakers first gathered for worship in Melbourne in 1843. The William St building was purchased in 2015 and reimagined by Nervegna Reed + pH Architects, with two stages of renovation completed by 2020.

The redesigned space features open-plan meeting areas, a kitchen, accessible facilities and a welcoming atmosphere dedicated to the Quaker values of peace, equality, simplicity and truth.

With free entry, full wheelchair access and no bookings required, this Open House Melbourne event promises a rare and meaningful opportunity to experience a place designed for listening, reflection and social justice. •