2024 CGA National Gathering

• Event date:
  09/11/2024 at 9:00 am
• Event end:
  10/11/2024 at 5:00 pm
• Click on the 'Book Now' button to register
  How to book
• Ranging from $35-50 plus booking fee
  Event cost

Come and experience a fabulous two days with Costa Georgiardis and the team from Community Gardens Australia at The Nerang Country Paradise Parklands on the Gold Coast. Join with your fellow community gardeners from around the country to experience speakers, workshops, tours, panel discussions, demonstrations and more!

Catering

An amazing community lunch will be prepared as well as morning and afternoon tea are included in the ticket.

Bring along some of your produce to share and we’ll have a food swap at the end of the day.

Range of experts

There will be a great range of experts to learn from, hands-on workshops and many opportunities to connect with folks from other gardens.

Keynote speakers:

• Morag Gamble (Permaculture Education Institute)
• Guy Ritani and
• Toad Dell (PermaQueer).

will inspire us with discussions around social permaculture and inclusiveness in the garden.

Workshops:

• growing food for wildlife
• social media hacks for your garden
• sawfly larvae, soils and
• legislative changes affecting your garden

are just some of the workshops that will be available in the afternoon.

Everyone is welcome and the event is fully accessible.

What to bring

• please bring your own water bottle
• keep cup and
• bag for some goodies
• bring some goodies to share on the swap table at the end of the day
• remember you will be spending some time outdoors so dress appropriately for the weather and don’t forget your sun protection.

Program

• 9:00 am: Welcome to Country and introduction
• 9:30 am: Guy Ritani and Toad Dell — inclusiveness and diversity in the garden
• 10:15 am: Morag Gamble — Permaculture in community
• 10:400 am: Morning tea
• 11:15 am: Mini workshops
• 11:45 am: Cooking demo and lunch preparation with Alana
• 12:15 pm: Lunch
• 1:00 pm: Workshops: 
       – Social media hacks for your garden with Naomi Lacey
       – Growing food for wildlife
       – Tour Nerang Gardens
• 2:15 pm: Workshops:
        – Sawfly larvae with Brian Donalson
        – Tour Ediblescapes with John  Palmer
• 3:15 pm: Afternoon tea
• 3:30 pm: Workshops:
        – Office of Fair Trading Qld
        – Soils with Col Johnson
        – Community garden thought forum
• 4:30 pm Closing session 
• 4:45 pm Community Garden Awards & Networking.

Our sponsors

Thanks to our sponsors for their generous support:

• City of Gold Coast
• WaterUps — a provider of wicking beds
• Koh — eco-friendly cleaning products
• PiP Magazine — sharing practical and inspiring stories about living more sustainable using permaculture principles
• Queensland Water & Land Carers is the peak body for natural resource management (NRM) volunteers
• National Horticulture Roadshow — grant funding received for CGA state and national gatherings.

Community Gardens Australia would like to acknowledge and thank the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) for their support for our upcoming events.

The National Horticulture Roadshow is being delivered by the NFF, in collaboration with the NFF Horticulture Council, with funding from the Australian Government DAFF through the Showcasing Australian Horticulture grant, as part of the Support for Regional Trade Events program.

Meet our speaker — Morag Gamble

Morag is a global permaculture ambassador, speaker, educator, designer, gardener, and trust-based philanthropist.

Three decades ago she co-founded Brisbane’s Northey Street City Farm and soon after, the Australian City Farms and Community Gardens Network (now Community Gardens Australia).

Morag is the founder and director of the Permaculture Education Institute — teaching permaculture teachers on six continents. She shares permaculture abundantly through her blog and YouTube – Our Permaculture Life. She leads the Ethos Foundation Charity supporting refugee women and youth to access free localised permaculture education and resources.

She hosts the Sense-Making in a Changing World Podcast including a special Urban Agriculture month series each year. And you can join her monthly free Permaculture Film screenings and Permaculture Masterclasses.

Morag also mentors Permayouth, and enjoys life in her ecovillage home with her family on beautiful Gubbi Gubbi country.

Meet our speaker — Guy Ritani

Guy Ritani is a proud Takatapui Maori storyteller, permaculture educator, food systems advocate & climate justice organiser. Guy is also co-founder of the Youth Food Collective and co-founder of PermaQueer. He was also the inaugural MacDoc Foundation 2023 HERD Agrarian Fellow.

Meet our speaker — Toad Dell

Toad Dell is an Irish/English queer permaculture designer and co-founder of PermaQueer. Toad also sits on the board for Permaculture Australia.

Location