Greater Dandenong City Council's previous Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) 2017-2019 included a deliverable action to ‘investigate the feasibility and opportunity for meeting and cultural spaces as a place for community learning, exploring heritage and culture, and for community harmony’.
In December 2021, Karabena Consulting, a fully Indigenous-owned consultancy business was awarded the tender contract and the consultant’s report was subsequently completed in June 2022.
Karabena Consulting acknowledges in the report the challenges of conducting the study during the ongoing social and economic impacts of the 2019-2020 Victorian bushfires, the COVID-19 pandemic, and resulting consultation fatigue following the slow reopening of Melbourne following the extended lockdown.