Connecting people to people and people to place
Over the past 15 years I have been working closely with the Welfare Industry, Dept of
Education, Dept of Juvenile Justice and Dept of Housing, and have been regularly
recognised for my work in developing, co-ordinating and supervising some of their most
successful programs.
As well as building community spirit, these programs also connect people to their local
environment, transforming degraded urban areas into natural wonderlands - areas that
become the central focus and meeting places for the people.
All of my programs include the construction of ground projects, such as the demonstration
model of an urban storm water catchment and filtration system I built with young men from
the Frank Baxter Juvenile Justice Centre at Kariong.
This project was aimed at demonstrating the ease at which we can solve our current water
crises and the outcome has seen the Detention Centre now filtering and capturing much of
its storm water runoff. This program won the “Chief Executive’s award for excellence”
TOP LEFT – Young men from the detention centre begin preparing the site. You can see the empty storm water channel in the
background. TOP RIGHT- Soon after constructing a series of dry stone weirs in the storm water channel, the water seeping
from the ground soon filled the channel and it began to flow.
TOP LEFT – Storm water system under high flow. The weirs create a series of ponds that slow the flow of water and allow
infiltration into the ground. This process not only fills the ground table it also reduces the volume of flow within the channel that
intern greatly decreases urban flooding downstream. TOP LEFT – Just over a year after construction of the weirs, the channel
had developed into a natural stream, not only does it look like a natural stream it also behaves like one. The recharge of the
ground table during rain events then seeps back into the channel maintaining its flow during dry periods. The bulk of the water
in this system is stored under the ground.
I have also constructed an Urban Food Forest and Community Park at Debra Ann Dr,
Bateau Bay, where we engaged the local unemployed to design, construct and manage the
entire project. Some of the first students are now supervisors.
As part of my innovative Natural Food Production System, the site also includes the first
hanging swamp to be returned into our urban environment as part of a storm water
catchment and filtration system. The storm water system also doubles as an in-ground
irrigation system for the parklands and gardens. This project has been acknowledged by the
Welfare Industry and Dept of Housing as an exemplary model of community building.
TOP LEFT – Local residents begin the massive construction project on a severely degraded vacant block within their housing
estate. TOP RIGHT – The entire garden was hand built with around 100 tonnes of stone going into its structure, no machinery
was used during construction.
TOP LEFT – I run all my programmes as a certificate 2 course in Conservation and Land Management and adjust the subjects
to suit the ground project. I include landscape construction as part of the community garden programs. TOP RIGHT – In less
than a year the garden was complete and producing large volumes of food. You can see the terraced gardens and natural food
forest in the background.
Local police have also engaged with me on some of my larger projects where they have
recognised a reduction in anti-social behaviour within some of our most disadvantaged
communities. The reduction in crime acknowledge by the police has lead to some
discussion about working co-operatively with me in the future to develop more community
building programs.
I have developed a community network over the years and a lot of my success comes from
working co-operatively with many other groups and organisations. By developing a
community network of social services that engages directly with government departments
we, the community, can find the solutions and develop the programs and ground projects
that otherwise get tied up in red tape.
Written by
Ian Sutton