Our relationship with the City of Banyule extends back quite a few years, with VAN founder Charles Pakana being a resident of that city for nearly 20 years and, even further back, his mother having been born in Ivanhoe (a suburb of Banyule) in 1930.
In 2020, Charles was elected as the inaugural Chairman of the newly formed and City of Banyule-auspiced Barrbunin Beek Aboriginal Gathering Pace in Heidelberg West (City of Banyule). In 2023, he was announced Banyule Citizen of the Year, the first Aboriginal person to receive this honour.
Since mid 2024, Banyule has provided Victorian Aboriginal News with a static home base – a far cry from the mobile van-based home it has maintained since founding in 2020. That new home base is located in the Heidelberg West Mall (pronounced “mal”, by the way) and consists of two shared desks in the high profile hub of Shop 48 – The Harmony Centre.
