Listening Tour Week 12: VIC
Listening to local leaders reimagine equity, identity, and wellbeing one place at a time.
Where we travelled: Warrnambool, Hamilton, and Shepparton. Regions where people wear many hats, and collaboration is core to what people do.
Where we listened:
✅ Western Region Alcohol and Drug Centre (WRAD) – Warrnambool
✅ National Centre for Farmer Health – Hamilton
✅ Standing Tall mentoring roundtable – Hamilton
✅ Kaiela Institute & Empowered Communities – Shepparton
✅ Community roundtables hosted by SouthWest Community Foundation – Warrnambool & Hamilton
In Warrnambool, WRAD shared its evolution from a grassroots initiative in the 1980s to a critical regional health service offering holistic, trauma-informed care. Still led by volunteers and governed by community, WRAD’s strength is its focus on need, not behaviour, and its commitment to being a service for and of the community.
In Hamilton, the National Centre for Farmer Health is demonstrating what rural health reform can look like when driven by local knowledge and tested solutions including peer-led mental health models and scalable, evidence-based outreach.
Just down the road, Standing Tall brings together educators, mentors, and service clubs to support local young people through one-on-one mentoring. It’s a long-running, locally sustained effort, and a powerful reminder of how much can be achieved with trust and consistency, even when funding is piecemeal.
📍 A major feature of this week were the two regional roundtables hosted and co-convened by the South West Community Foundation in partnership with Deakin University and local partners in both Warrnambool and Hamilton. These gatherings brought together local councils, not-for-profits, philanthropies, education providers, health services, and volunteer networks.
Every voice in the room was grounded in local knowledge and shared commitment. The discussions were practical, focused, and full of goodwill. The energy in both rooms was unmistakable: We’re already collaborating. Let’s take it further.
In Shepparton, the Kaiela Institute and Empowered Communities shared the Goulburn Murray Regional Prosperity Plan. A First Nations-led roadmap for economic transformation, cultural strength, and community-designed governance. It’s ambition is to create an equal space in society for Yorta Yorta and First Nations people’s distinct value, ideas and world views. With the support of the First Nations Assembly and Treaty process, this plan aims to deliver $150M in regional value and 500+ jobs by 2036.
📣 Words that stayed with us:
“It’s exhausting to find the next $10,000 to keep the doors open.”
“We carry the work our grandfathers and grandmothers did so the next generation isn’t isolated.”
“Government doesn’t reward success it only funds crisis.”
“We can’t go back. We can’t stay where we are. How do we go forward?”
“Everyone’s wearing more than one hat. That’s just how things get done here.”
💡 What stood out?
Across these regional communities, we saw leadership that is strategic, deeply local, and quietly relentless. We saw organisations doing more with less, and a deep hunger for systems that respond to what’s already working, not just what’s broken.
In Shepparton, the Goulburn Murray Plan is setting the standard for regional development driven by First Nations governance and long-term investment.
In Warrnambool, WRAD is a living model of sustainability and values-led service.
In Hamilton, community mentoring and health solutions are already embedded, they just need backing.
And in both roundtables, we saw the South West Community Foundation stepping into a powerful convening role, building the trust and shared vision needed to act collectively and courageously.
🔁 What ties it all together?
Localism. Generosity of spirit. Communities that aren’t waiting to be saved they’re building futures, together.