Selby Community House

Description

Agent TypeOrganisationActivities & OccupationsCommunity organisationsHistoryThe Selby Community House was the first community house to be set up in the then Shire of Sherbrooke in the Dandenong Ranges. It was inspired by a social movement towards grass roots community development which occurred concurrently with the counter-cultural movement of the 1960s and 1970s. This movement included the women's liberation and environment movements, the anti-Vietnam war movement, student protests, third world independence movements and aboriginal activism for land rights. In 1973 the Federal Labor Government created the Australian Assistance Plan for community development, and its first offices were in the region of outer eastern Melbourne including Sherbrooke. Its aim was to empower local people by assisting them to set up their own needs-based programs for the development of their communities. The first task undertaken was to assess the needs of residents, and a survey was undertaken which eventuated in a Children of the Region Task Group. Ideas from this process stimulated more action, and in June 1975 a playgroup for 30 children and their parents was set up in Minak House, an old family house within the Minak Reserve in Selby. The Minak house quickly became a centre for local community action known as the Selby Community House. As the first community house in Sherbrooke, it was a networking focal point between community members, a place where they could meet and coordinate. It generated better communication between residents and local government.

From: Selby Community House: The first ten years from 1974, Jocelyn Aytan, 2009
The Selby Community House was the first community house to be set up in the then Shire of Sherbrooke in the Dandenong Ranges. It was inspired by a social movement towards grass roots community development which occurred concurrently with the counter-cultural movement of the 1960s and 1970s. This movement included the women's liberation and environment movements, the anti-Vietnam war movement, student protests, third world independence movements and aboriginal activism for land rights. In 1973 the Federal Labor Government created the Australian Assistance Plan for community development, and its first offices were in the region of outer eastern Melbourne including Sherbrooke. Its aim was to empower local people by assisting them to set up their own needs-based programs for the development of their communities. The first task undertaken was to assess the needs of residents, and a survey was undertaken which eventuated in a Children of the Region Task Group. Ideas from this process stimulated more action, and in June 1975 a playgroup for 30 children and their parents was set up in Minak House, an old family house within the Minak Reserve in Selby. The Minak house quickly became a centre for local community action known as the Selby Community House. As the first community house in Sherbrooke, it was a networking focal point between community members, a place where they could meet and coordinate. It generated better communication between residents and local government.

From: Selby Community House: The first ten years from 1974, Jocelyn Aytan, 2009

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Date1974-

University of Melbourne Archives

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Selby Community House