2019/20 committee
Ambassadors
- Garden Ambassador — Costa Georgiadis
- Permaculture Ambassador — Hannah Moloney
- Sustainability Ambassador — John McBain
The core team
Meet our team who volunteer their time to grow community gardening around Australia…
President — Naomi Lacey
Naomi is a permaculturalist who is passionate about promoting healthy food systems, sustainable lifestyles and cultivating community. She helped to establish the first community garden in the satellite city of Palmerston near Darwin and from there became involved with Community Gardens Australia (CGA) in 2015 then taking on the role of President in 2019.
Naomi believes that community gardens have a pivotal role to play in ensuring better health outcomes for Australians, building community, addressing the climate crisis, reducing waste and educating people.
Awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2019 to learn from community garden networks around the world, Naomi’s vision for CGA is to build the organisation into one that supports the growth and needs of community gardens around Australia, providing them with education, support, resources and sustenance to continue their work and therefore their positive impact on the communities they reside in.
You can contact her at: president@communitygarden.org.au
Secretary — Josh Barnes
As Secretary, Josh is the receiving officer for all official communications.
He is a passionate about community building through gardens and believe in the power of the collective formed through our national network.
He lives in Darwin and is a member of the Mulch Pit permaculture community garden. By day he works in universities on equity access programs.
You can reach him at: secretary@communitygarden.org.au
Treasurer — John Brisbin
Based in Far North Queensland, John is a passionate cultivator of community. He is always ready to discuss change-agent strategies over a table of garden-grown goodness.
Membership Coordinator — Jane Mowbray
Jane Mowbray has been a community gardener and seed saver for a couple of decades. She joined her local community garden in Sydney hoping to find or recruit more seed savers but instead she became a dedicated community gardener. Jane believes there is nothing that provides a better sense of belonging to a community and to the wonders of the natural world than being part of a community garden.
You can connect with Jane at: membership@communitygarden.org.au
ORDINARY MEMBERS
Karen Gardham
Karen is a passionate climate change campaigner motivated to create change for good. She has a background in environmental policy making, project management, community organising and campaigning across different sectors. She has also mentored young people and helped run an award winning social enterprise.
Karen was on the senior management team of the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens – the peak body for the community gardening movement in the UK, and now known as Social Farms and Gardens – where she managed a team of community workers supporting the community food growing sector across England. She is committed to the role of community gardening in building connections and bringing us closer to nature and each other, and the role of Community Gardens Australia in facilitating this.
You can connect with Karen at: karen.gardham@communitygarden.org.au
State representatives
ACT
VACANCY
New South Wales
VACANCY
Northern Territory
VACANCY
Queensland
Gavin Hardy
Awesome would be seeing every Queenslander easily accessing their community garden, food forest, or orchard to grow and harvest local fresh produce, learn new skills, meet other folks, play in a natural setting, celebrate life, and just relax.
For 25 years I’ve been designing, building, managing, writing, researching, advocating & participating in community food initiatives. This year (2020) I have been nominated for a Churchill Fellowship to investigate community food forests and community orchards around the world. I’m based in Brisbane but I have a wide view of all community food projects across the length and breadth of Queensland. So, get in touch and let me know how I can help you grow your project.
You can connect with Gavin at: qld@communitygarden.org.au
South Australia
Christy Spier
Christy shares this role in SA with Alex Miller. They facilitate the SA Community Gardens Network Facebook Group and two annual gatherings for gardens to share their experiences.
Christy works as an Adaptive Communities Coordinator for Green Adelaide and facilitates the SA Urban Food Network. She contributes to her local community garden, The Goody Patch where she can and fosters a local neighbourhood network to build local food resilience.
Alex and a wonderful team were instrumental in establishing one of Adelaide’s newest gardens the North Brighton Community Garden. She is collecting urban food stories for the SA Urban Food Networkwhile planning future study in urban agriculture.
If you are not on Facebook, you can connect with them at:
sa-rep@communitygarden.org.au
Tasmania
Jo Dean
Jo is a permaculturalist based in Northern Tasmania who works closely with commnity groups in the region and abroad sharing her passion for living in a way that enhances community resilience.
She has a background in Landcare and garden-based community development, with a specific interest in family/community scale organic food production, mostly focusing on working with nature to create a dynamic, healthy soil biome. Jo loves to share her passion for growing health-giving food through education programs in schools, colleges, community settings, universities, and through short videos.
“There are so many benefits for community when people have the desire and skills to grow their own food. We should never underestimate the capacity of a community garden to meet the needs of individuals. By spending time in the great outdoors, meeting like-minded people, keeping physically fit and connecting with community, a community garden is a wonderful meeting place where people care for each other and share in a way that benefits everyone. I love it! :)”
You can connect with her at: tas@communitygarden.org.au
Victoria
Lorna Martin
Why I love Community Gardening…
Is it the people you meet, the healthy fresh organic food you grow, the fresh air & exercise, the educational programs to teach others, the fun events and tours, or the delicious meal shared with members of other community gardens? It is all of these. It is also knowing that time spent growing our own food in a community space enables the sharing of knowledge through workshops & events, the exchange of excess produce through food swaps, and socialising with like-minded people of all ages and abilities. We all benefit physically, mentally, and socially.
Connect with her at: vic@communitygarden.org.au
Oscar Danvers
Oscar has a Bachelor Degree in Sustainable Community Development focusing on urban agriculture and community gardens, as well as 20 years’ experience growing home veggie gardens. Oscar works for Australian Ecosystems and Biofilta who are industry leaders in the Australian urban agriculture industry.
He is also the owner of Urban Food Revolution, a company that provides clients with urban agriculture solutions. Oscar has also worked with a number of community gardens on various projects, and he is currently studying for a Master’s Degree in Sustainable Agriculture focusing on urban agriculture.
Passion for urban agriculture is an understatement: I am obsessed.
You can connect with Oscar at: oscar.danvers@communitygarden.org.au
Western Australia
Chris Smyth
Chris helped set up Murdoch Community Garden in 2013. He manages the administration side of the community garden’s activities, helps out with garden maintenance, and makes preserves and other foodstuffs from the garden produce.
You can reach him on: wa@communitygarden.org.au