In Melbourne's leafy south-east lies a scenic walk punctuated by a playground, woven between modest houses and quiet streets in Brighton.
Where Little Brighton Reserve ends, the Elster Creek Trail begins, leading the scenic 1-kilometre-long walk to Allnutt Park — a path that's frequented by runners, cyclists, dog walkers, and pram-pushing parents.
It sounds picturesque, a scene from any typical Australian suburb.
However, every time Flynn watched his neighbours walking along the trails near his house, he feared danger was just around the corner, because dividing them was a bustling street with only a basic pedestrian traffic island in between.
"People would scurry across [the road], looking super anxious, or eventually turn around because it was too busy," Flynn recalls.
After spending one-too-many days witnessing the same scene play out, Flynn decided something needed to be done: and that he would be the person to do it.
A first attempt — and a first setback
The solution Flynn devised seemed simple enough: He was going to ask his local council to consider replacing the precarious traffic island on Thomas Street with a zebra crossing.
Still in primary school, then-eight-year-old Flynn explained the issue and the solution in a letter, which he posted to his local council.
Days and weeks passed. Then he got a reply.
"They told me they couldn't, saying it was a problem for the council on the other side of the road," he says.
"It was really hard for them to work out.
"So I had to go to VicRoads, which, as an eight-year-old, it was a bit hard for me to do that."
After encountering his first obstacle, Flynn was left feeling dejected.
"It was disappointing, so I sort of gave up on it," he says.
Flynn then put his idea on the backburner — but another opportunity for change was just around the corner.
One street, two councils
As well as separating the two walks, Thomas Street also serves as the dividing line between two local government areas: the Bayside and Glen Eira councils.
"It's a busy little road. It's a bit of a rat run, with cars whizzing through there," Glen Eira Mayor Jim Magee says.
"It runs between two very busy roads, Centre Road and North Road, all the way down to the Nepean Highway, so it's a bit of a north-south rat run."
The most-recent traffic data, collected by VicRoads in 2020, found that 11,000 vehicles used the 1.6-kilometre stretch of Thomas Street where the two trails were linked.
Most of the vehicles were cars, while a few hundred trucks also used it as a thoroughfare.
Thomas Street's frequent use was partly due to a lack of traffic lights. It was only serviced by two sets at either end of the street and a roundabout — compared to the streets that lay on either side of it.
A traffic study by Glen Eira Council in 2019 found there were more than 40 people an hour crossing Thomas Street at Union Street on weekends, and 1,500 vehicles were recorded passing the location during one peak hour.
"That's a lot of cars," Cr Magee says.
VicRoads had only recorded one incident at the intersection of Thomas Street at Union Street, where the traffic islands were.
"But we knew, if people started using [the crossing] more and more, there potentially could be more and more incidents," Cr Magee says.
"So, there was an issue there, and it had to be addressed, but then we have to get permission to do it, the state government has to get involved, VicRoads has to get involved.
"It's the red tape and bureaucracy that holds a lot of these projects up."
A second chance for change
In 2021, another opportunity for Flynn to solve the problem in his neighbourhood appeared.
It was in the form of Victorian parliament's annual prize — a competition for school students to craft their own Member's Statements, telling MPs about an issue that's important in their community — and Flynn knew exactly what he needed to do.
"Most people when doing the parliament prize go for big issues like climate change or poverty. Important issues, but hard to take action on when you're young," he says.
"So the whole idea was to think small, and that's how the idea came about."
After writing the script for the video, he reached out to a neighbour who makes political advertisements to help him film it.
"I asked him if he could do me a favour and help me out with this, and he came down, we went to the crossing, he had his camera, he set me up with a little mic, and we filmed it in one afternoon," Flynn says.
Dressed in his school uniform, Flynn told parliament the crossing was "an accident waiting to happen", roping in his siblings and neighbours to demonstrate how busy the road was, and asked the state government to intervene.
"I thought, if I entered, it would at least be a great way to get my message out," he says.
"I'm not Greta Thunberg, but I took a shot."
A few weeks later, the phone rang with the news Flynn wasn't expecting to hear: His was the winning entry, out of more than 600 videos submitted across Victoria.
"I was all by myself at home, and I was just really, really excited. It was a great moment," he says.
But it wasn't just prize money that came from his winning entry.
Not long after, Flynn received an email from the local councils, telling him the wheels were in motion to make the crossing a reality.
A small change with a big impact
Unbeknownst to Flynn during his advocacy, Glen Eira and Bayside councils had been quietly chipping away at plans to have the crossing built.
"[Glen Eira] were on board with Bayside. We both wanted it," Cr Magee says.
"We knew, if people started using [the trails] more and more, there could potentially be more incidents at that intersection.
"So, we sought approval back in 2020 from VicRoads, but we didn't get our final approval from them until October 2021."
Design work on the crossing was completed in mid-2021, before the construction was completed in July last year, with the crossing becoming operational in late November.
However, it's no ordinary zebra crossing: It's complete with traffic lights and barriers, the type typically seen outside a school.
Bayside Mayor Hanna El Mouallem says that, in the short time it's been functioning, the crossing has had a big impact on the community.
"It's a win for Bayside and Glen Eira," he says.
"I was a bit jealous because I tried to do the same on Well Street in Brighton and I failed miserably, so he got a win on this one.
"For someone like Flynn — being engaged for the whole community on something that the entire community will benefit from — is just really unbelievable.
"I'm surprised it took this long, but finally it's there."
Both Cr Magee and Cr El Mouallem agree that Flynn has a bright future in politics but, for the 15-year-old, he's just happy he was able to make a positive change.
"There's been loads of things that people have done for our community," he says.
"I’m proud that when it was my turn, I stood up."
The ABC's Takeover Melbourne program gives a voice to young people across Greater Melbourne. If you would like to find out more about the next Takeover Melbourne intake, go to the Takeover website.
