Listening Tour: Mallee and Wimmera
25 - 28 March 2025
Over three powerful days in the Mallee and Wimmera regions, we witnessed what transformative, place-based change really looks like—led by communities, grounded in culture, and driven by deep relationships.
We visited and learned from five standout initiatives:
Wimmera Southern Mallee By Five
Our Place Robinvale
North Central Local Learning and Employment Network (LLEN)
Hands Up Mallee
Connected Beginnings Mildura
Together, they are reshaping systems to better support children, young people and families across health, education, employment, inclusion, and justice—showing us what’s possible when change starts in place, with people.
"The rivers travel across the country, and so do our stories”, said Uncle Peter Peterson during his smoking Ceremony and Welcome to Country with Aunty Janine Wilson on Latji Latji Country. The PLACE Listening Tour began with deep respect for Country, culture and community. “The how matters just as much as the what."
What we heard, felt, and learned
1️⃣ Community-led = Community-fed
We heard consistently that community-led initiatives run on volunteer time, care and quiet contributions – working bees for land regeneration, school breakfasts, community-built recreational assets like lakes, grassroots fundraising, and use of private assets to achieve community-led goals. Volunteerism is a backbone of place-based work in the Wimmera Mallee region yet remains undervalued in formal funding models. It’s time we recognised it as an essential infrastructure, not just goodwill.
2️⃣ Funding must go beyond crisis
Too often, investment only arrives after systems fail. But communities like Hopetoun and Robinvale as well as many others, are showing the power of proactive, preventative investment—quietly doing the work that keeps people well, connected, and included.
3️⃣ Place means different things in different places
The definition of “place” needs to reflect the lived experience of local people—not just administrative boundaries. One-size-fits-all approaches don’t work for small rural towns, where local context is everything.
4️⃣ Real change means real shared leadership
We saw community and government agencies embedded in decision-making together, led by Aboriginal voices, parents, carers and young people. Red Cliffs’ integrated early years hub was co-designed from the ground up—with love, culture and purpose at its centre. A shining light of when shared decision making is genuine in its relationship with community.
5️⃣ Data without voice is like a map without a compass
If your struggles aren’t in the dataset, do they even count? Communities are calling for investment that listens—not just measures. Investment decisions based on administrative data risk leaving ‘whole of communities’ behind. Families and local leaders told us: “We need access to data, as well as a seat at the table.”
6️⃣ Enterprise must be part of the solution
There was a loud call from communities for enterprise that sustains, not just supplements. Grants come and go - but what if place-based work had its own business model? From community-owned co-ops to shared transport solutions, we saw clear examples of how social enterprise and community wealth building are vital to long-term sustainability.
7️⃣ Men’s groups, mums’n’bubs cuppas, and language clubs are pathways to belonging and trust-building
Small things are making a big difference—safe spaces for dads, soft entry points for isolated young migrant parents, and cultural connection through shared weekly creative activities and story sharing projects in Robinvale like the Spoken English Cafe Project. These aren't just programs, we heard they are pathways to belonging and trust-building.
Our first stop of the PLACE Listening Tour reminded us of what’s possible when we invest in people and place - not just problems. Sean Gordon, PLACE Chair, reflected, “When you let communities lead, you get different results.”