Welcome to the first of the Discovering Darebin walking tour series – The People of Northcote. I hope you have your walking shoes on and inquiring minds ready, as we prepare to explore some of Northcote’s key sites and buildings of cultural significance.Together, we will examine how people have sculpted the suburb from pre-colonisation to present day, leaving their mark on the physical and cultural landscape of Darebin.Before we begin, I would first like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri People, the Traditional Owners of the land on which we are gathered, and pay my respects to their Elders both past and present and emerging.This tour will take us on a journey north up High St from the Merri Creek, past the Westgarth Cinema and Ruckers Hill to the Town Hall, before finishing in All Nations Park. At each stop along the way we will be looking at how different people have come to Northcote and contributed to the evolution of our collective cultural narrative. By creating buildings or interacting with the land, different communities have instilled a “sense of place,” creating cultural touchstones, which continue to inform the identities of Darebin’s people today.As we move through the tour we will ask – what do these places mean to the people who created them, what do they mean to us today, and ultimately what will they mean for generations to come?