Education facility gains momentum

Dr Stephens, along with a group of local education representatives and advocates welcomed the principal of Sydney Community College, Garry Traynor, to Roses Cafe on Monday to bounce some of his ideas off the group and see what courses could be offered.

Dr Stephens says the former Kennedy House site in Market St will house the facility. “The owners of the building have leased it to us on very generous terms and we hope to have the facility up and running by October,” she said.

“I invited Mr Traynor here today to canvass some ideas for courses that local people might want to do. We’re also going to be working with Goulburn Mulwaree Council which is very keen to promote this learning hub.

“One definite facility that we will have is a community kitchen running, in association with the Angels for the Forgotten pantry. We will also be working with local disability support groups as well as creating what is called a ‘micro business incubator’ (similar to an idea by Upper Lachlan Shire Council) where there will be some office spaces available for those who don’t want to commute to Sydney or Canberra but who can work locally instead. We really want to create a space that is owned by the community, for the community.”

Dr Stephens emphasised that in the coming months she and other committee members would be utilising the monthly markets and Council’s newsletter to ‘whet people’s appetites’ on possible courses.

Mr Traynor was enthusiastic about the learning hub’s future.

“Goulburn is a wonderful town to host such a facility. I have some fond memories of when I would visit the Paragon Cafe on my various trips south,” he said.

“Goulburn is now in a very attractive position and I can see why there are so many tree changers and new people coming into the area, who still have fantastic connections to Sydney and Canberra.

“What’s really impressed me most about this visit is the interaction between Ursula’s group and the local council and how they are so on board with this. Thinking back to SCC’s beginnings we didn’t have anywhere near that level of support!”

Mr Traynor met with Council general manager Warwick Bennett about the concept.

“In talking to the general manager, some great ideas were coming forward about how the council can be involved in this,” he said.

“In this morning’s meeting I was talking about SCC’s story and I hope that story can give some examples as to what may be possible.

“The big advantage that Goulburn has is its size. The Goulburn Mulwaree LGA has a population of about 29,000, compared with the three most local LGAs that we work with in inner-city Sydney, which all have a population in excess of 150-160,000 each.

“The fact that it is around 30,000 is good, because there have been several wellbeing studies that suggest a population of around 30,000 is a very good number in terms of the happiness of a particular region or town.

“So this community learning hub has the opportunity to take that essential ingredient and turn it into something else.

“Essentially what I was trying to impart this morning was the value of building an organisation on what it is that people actually want to do, which is come together, learn things from each other and from instructors.”