Freda St John Watkin at the launch of Trains Not Tolls, Fitzroy Town Hall, June 2013

Freda St. John Watkin passed away on 9 May 2014 after a battle with cancer. Freda was the secretary and public face of YCAT from 2008. She was also well known for her many other roles in the community, including as a installation artist working in photography, digital imaging, video, painting and printmaking.

Yarra Campaign Against the Tunnel (YCAT, now Yarra Campaign for Action on Transport) started in 2008 as a community reaction to the East-West Road tunnel proposed in the Eddington Report.

After the road tunnel proposal was thrown out by the Brumby Government for lack of a business case, the local campaign went very quiet. YCAT continued as a community platform to promote public transport over road funding.

No one could have predicted the perfect storm of conservative irrationality that would sweep the East-West Link back into consideration by the big end of town in 2013. Continue Reading…