Strathnairn Arts is a not-for-profit arts association supported by the ACT Government that provides working spaces and facilities for a range of artists and crafts people and community groups. It is located adjacent to the first stage of the Ginninderry project. The Association has been engaged with the project team since 2013 to ensure a close integration of the Arts facility with the new residential community. Find out more here
The Ginninderra Project has convened a People and Places Group (PPG) to share information and to ensure community views are heard in planning for West Belconnen.
The PPG has been meeting since 2014; it provides a forum to bring together a representative group of the community to inform the development of West Belconnen. The group:
The PPG membership is drawn from the following groups, businesses and individuals:
The Ginninderra Catchment Group is an incorporated umbrella group of community volunteers working in the water catchment of the Ginninderra Creek.
The primary focus of the Group is advancing the health of the Ginninderra Catchment through effective engagement with government, agencies, business, schools and the catchment community. It has a strong commitment to community education and capacity building and seek to create diverse opportunities for people to become involved in catchment management, decision-making and on-ground action. View more.
The Ginninderry project has been working with the Catchment group over a period of years; this has resulted in a series of joint projects including a rehabilitation planting program for Ginninderra Creek west of the ACT/NSW border, water quality analysis and participation in a frogwatch program. The Ginninderra Catchment Group has also taken on the job of coordinating the Ginninderry Bush on the Boundary group.
Ginninderry has teamed up with the Ginninderra Catchment Group to help sponsor a West Belconnen Branch of The Frogwatch Census, the highly successful annual frog monitoring program, and have provided funding assistance to the catchment group to undertake a biodiversity survey of the Ginninderra Gorge area.
It is hoped that, subject to rezoning approval, the Ginninderra falls, located on Ginninderra creek in the NSW portion of the project area, will be able to be reopened to the public as part of the total 577ha Ginninderry Conservation Corridor. The Falls were open to the public until about 2002 when access had to be closed due to public safety concerns. The Falls and the associated Gorge are a magnificent natural asset and the is a high level of community interest in having them re-opened. The Ginninderra Falls Association was formed specifically to pursue this end.
In order to facilitate future planning for the falls and to ensure that the range of opinions as to how they should be treated are input to the process Ginninderry has convened a Ginninderra Falls Working group. The group is chaired independently by the Ginninderra Catchment Group and includes representatives from the catchment group, The ACT Region Conservation Council and the Ginninderra Falls Association and aboriginal representatives.
UnitingCare Kippax is a local, community-based organisation that offers care and practical assistance to people. It works in close co-operation with Kippax Uniting Church to offer true holistic care. Ginninderry has had a close association with UnitingCare Kippax since opening the project office at Kippax in February 2013.
This has included UnitingCare representatives on the People and Places Group, assistance and participation in employment and training programs, and sharing office space – surplus space at the Ginninderry Project Office has been made available for use by several UnitingCare Kippax community support programs.
Belconnen Community Council (BCC) is a voluntary, not for profit, community-based association operating in the Belconnen district. This area covers all of the existing suburbs of Belconnen and will encompass the new suburbs at Ginninderry in the future. The Ginninderry project has kept the BCC up-to-date with planning and activities at Ginninderry with regular briefings to BCC meetings since 2011. BCC is represented on the Ginninderry People and Places Group.
Belconnen Community Service (BCS) is a regional community service established in 1975 by the people of Belconnen. BCS provides a wide range of high quality, integrated and inclusive programs and services to individuals, families, children and young people in the Belconnen Region.
The Ginninderry project has connected with BCS in the development of community facilities and programs for the project area, in job training and employment schemes. The Ginninderry project is in discussion with BCS on the possibility of them having a role in delivering services such as transport to residents.
The mission of the Conservation Council, a non-profit organisation, is to achieve the highest quality environment for the Canberra region. They do this through advocacy, campaigning and community engagement with the aim of working to achieve a better future for the ACT’s environment. In line with this role the Conservation Council has closely monitored the Ginninderry project as it progresses through the various planning and environmental approval processes. The Conservation Council is represented on the Bush on the Boundary and Ginninderra Falls Working Groups and this and other linkages provide for a regular flow of information between the project and the Council, which first commenced in 2011.
The Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment and Society is a place where economists, hydrologists, historians, ecologists, foresters, geographers and climatologists all work together seeking solutions to some of contemporary society’s most significant challenges. The Fenner School provides a forum for the rigorous exploration of diverse ideas, perspectives, and methods of identifying and solving problems at the interface of the natural and social sciences, including the humanities, as they apply to the environment and sustainability.
The Ginninderry project offers a number of opportunities for research into processes and relationships associated with a newly growing urban area and several research initiatives, sponsored jointly by Ginninderry and the Fenner School, are underway.
The Frank Fenner Foundation is a unique institution that aims to fill a gap in the public dialogue, understanding and policy response to human-driven and global-scale threats to Earth, its life forms and systems. It is named after the late Professor Frank Fenner AC in recognition of his lifelong commitment to the health of humankind and of the natural environment. It is an independent, non-profit organisation with active links to the research, education, government, commercial and community sectors.
Ginninderry has partnered with the Fenner Foundation and is to be the home of an Australia-first initiative called the EcoriumXChange, which will examine the human place in nature and encourage understanding of the dependence of healthy human societies on healthy ecosystems.