Sometime in the future. Chunks of the city of Naarm had been transformed by the rising sea levels. Like many cities globally, this town continues to endure the effects of climate change. Its bustling and busy streets had now become a precinct of canals, lagoons and waterways. Much of the flood is at the heart of the metropolis - the Birrarung Marr - 'the river of mists and shadows. Named in the Wowurrung language by the traditional custodians of the land - the Wurrundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, it has a history of floods. Sometime in the late 2030s, the Birrarung kept roaring.  It was, after all, a city built on a flood plain.