Celebrating food, community gardens and conviviality

The Network

Community gardens are places where people come together to grow fresh food, to learn, relax and make new friends.

The Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network connects community gardeners around Australia.

The Australian Community Gardens Network is an informal, community-based organisation linking people interested in community gardening across Australia.

Aims

The aims of the network include:

• facilitating the formation and management of community gardens and similar social enterprise by making available information and, where possible, advice
• promoting the benefits of community gardening and urban agriculture.

Objectives

Within the limits of its capacity, the network will:

• advocate on behalf of community gardeners
• provide information on the website that is adequate and accurate
• provide presentations and advice to local government, other institutions and communities interested in establishing community gardens
• document the development of community gardening in Australia
• provide a list of contacts through which the public may contact community gardens.

Structure

The network:

• maintains this website as a source of information
• maintains an email distribution list for notification of events and information relevant to community gardeners
• has contacts in different states
• is a voluntary organistion without a budget and with limited capacity to provide more than an information service
• is an informal organisation without office holders
• maintains no financial membership
• relies on informal members and participants to provide information and to organise activities
• may, in some regions, organise events.

Background

The Australian Community Gardens Network was started by Dr Darren Phillips in 1996.

Darren’s idea was to set up an Australia-wide network of people interested in community gardens, city farms, urban agriculture and community education centres.

He organised contact people in different states who could provide information on community gardens and notify enquirers where they could find the gardens. The website now fulfills some of those functions, however there remain contact people who may be able to provide other advice within the limits of time and cost availability.

Check out this fabulous network with massive information for every Australian State.