Want to visit Wurruk’an? Let’s build the new world together
Wurruk’an is a humble but beautiful body of land, water, and forest in the Gunai district of Gippsland, Victoria. In recent years it has become an inclusive gathering space for people seeking to pioneer and demonstrate a ‘simpler way’ of living based on permaculture principles.
Among other things, we have been running mud-building workshops and growing organic food, capturing water from the skies, learning the skills of self-sufficiency, experimenting with alternative technologies, reconnecting with nature, and moving toward systems of renewable energy. Although these are still early days, the emerging vision is aglow with promise and potential. As a strategy for social change, this small and evolving community is trying to build a new world from within the shell of the old.
You can see some photos of Wurruk’an here.
For those of you in Victoria, the residents of Wurruk’an are having an open weekend / working bee on 19-20 March – and you’re invited! I’ll be heading out, it’d be great to see some of you out there. Here are the details:
Dear friends of Wurruk’an,
It’s time for our next working bee! We’ve all had a bit of time off after last year’s incredible “Simpler Way” experiment and are ready to jump back in to some bigger projects once more.
Work will include plenty of gardening, some fermenting and pickling, some light construction work on our various “tiny houses” and the construction of some bed bunks with pioneer-style bush-poles!
Come learn about seed-saving, vinegar making, juggling, DIY architecture, geodesic domes, hand-tool restoration and a whole host of other useful life-skills in some informal workshops with the Wurruk’anians and other visitors.
There will be FREE ORGANIC FOOD all weekend, with gluten free options available too.
DETAILS:
Dates: Saturday March 19th-Sunday March 20th (arrive Friday evening if you like)
Start time: Breakfast at 8am, start at 9am, though we will start earlier if it’s hot
Accommodation: Camping on the property, though if you have access issues, let us know and we will try to arrange a bed for you. BYO tent, sleeping bag etc.
Cost: FREE!
Getting here: If you’re driving, the property is 150km or so east of Melbourne, driving on the M1, take the second exit to Moe, then turn right at the lights. Public transport is a single VLine train from Southern Cross station to Moe station, then a 4km bike ride, walk, or lift to the property.
What to bring: Tent, sleeping bag, water bottle, snacks/meal contributions (not necessary), garden tools, good vibes
If you can come, email Liam at liam.culbertson2014@gmail.com and he’ll give you the address
You can find out more about Wurruk’an here.
Hi Samuel,
Back in late 2013 you came to visit Kris’s property, which was for sale, in Central Victoria, near Clunes and Talbot. It sold shortly after and we headed off on a 5,000 km, 10 month bicycle tour, from Central Vic through to Pambula, inland to Canberra then Armidale, before reaching Brisbane and then all the way down the East coast through Sydney and on to Mallacoota, which is now our base. You might recall that we planned to do the trip with solar powered trailers and electric assist motors on the bikes. We did. The rigs weighed 130 kg’s each (excluding rider) and yet we completed the entire 5,000 km’s with battery recharge exclusively from the sun, we had no mains power recharge capability. The solar also recharged our computer and mobile phones. You can find more information about the tour on Kris’s website.
All that aside, we have been keeping abreast of the developments at the simplicity collective, still very interested to see how you are going and how the progress is unfolding.
We would love to make the journey from Mallacoota to wurruk-an, for this event, but alas, having been car free now for some 8 years, we know all too well how long it would take us to get there by bike, even solar powered!
It would be sensational if, in your invite, you could also include those of us who are not just from Melbourne, those of us that do not have the option of public transport ( because V-line buses from Genoa refuse to take bicycles on board), do not have cars (for obvious environmental reasons) and would therefore need to travel the 383 km’s to get to this wonderful event by bicycle.
Given adequate notice, we could do this and also share with others, when we got there, the amazing story of just what a human and a solar powered electric assist bicycle can do. Not to mention some wonderful cello music thrown in!
Riding bicycle’s as our primary form of transport, whilst living in a remote area and touring, poses great difficulties, as we’ve found over the past 8 or 9 years. It also provides wonderful learning experiences that those driving in 2 tonne steel cages rarely get to immerse themselves in….
It would be great to see the inclusiveness promoted above, extended to those of us that ride bicycles as our primary form of transport. They are, after all, the most efficient means of transport ever invented by humans!
Cheers
Andy & Kris
Hi Andy and Kris! Lovely to hear from you. The invite was sent to all Victorians, not just those from Melbourne, and the date was only recently confirmed so sorry, it couldn’t have been sent out earlier. We’re intending to have these open weekend / working bees on the third weekend of every month (to be confirmed) so if you’re interested to coming a long to one, let me know. We’d love to host you at Wurruk’an, and the thought of hearing Kris play cello in the Earthship and hearing stories from you both is very exciting. Keep in touch!
Hi. Pioneering spirits you are thankyou for the enormous amount of energy I receive in knowing that mankind has an alternate way of not only surviving but thriving as a whole. Love to you. From joanne lloyd