Birth I was born at the Mercy Women’s Hospital, East Melbourne. I respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Owners, on the land where I was born, the land of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Bunurong Boon Wurrung, people of the Eastern Kulin nation. And I pay my respect to their Elders past, present and emerging. On this…

Letters from the Field Each week I write a small observation from community projects, craft work and about the people I meet along the way. Subscribe to get our the latest stories in your inbox. Recent letters:

Partnerships here are built on practice, not branding. This page is for organisations, churches, groups, and practitioners interested in collaborating on grounded, relational community work. Partnerships may involve co-hosting projects, developing training or immersive learning experiences, mentoring volunteers, or piloting small, responsive initiatives. The focus is on work that is trauma-aware, practical, and shaped by…

There is a familiar charge that arises whenever work is done in open, community-based spaces without tightly prescribed roles or outcomes: that it lacks rigour. That it is soft, improvised, or overly permissive. That without clear protocols, fixed boundaries, and visible authority, nothing substantial can be held. This charge misunderstands what rigour looks like when…

In open, community-based settings, stories of abuse often arrive in fragments rather than full accounts. This reflection explores an experimental approach of bridging, scaffolding, and edging toward what cannot yet be held all at once — allowing agency, time, and repeated return to gradually reveal layers of meaning without forcing disclosure or resolution.

Where Across suburbs, churches, and kitchen tables—wherever bread could move from “extra” to “needed.” What We Did This wasn’t my project—it was hers. A woman came with a simple idea: collect bread on the weekends and give it to people who needed it. My role wasn’t to lead, but to walk alongside her while she…

G’DAY, FRIENDS CALL ME “CHRIS” Did you know living in poverty is work? Have you heard of a schizophrenic family? Are you aware of the violence inherent in the system? Has wealth overcoming your Would you give up everything to be wealthy? If you answered ‘No’ to any of these questions, you need me! My…

I’ve been in ongoing conversation lately with a family. Separately. Carefully. Slowly. They are circling the same truth: abuse by the mother. But they are not standing in the same place. The father doesn’t tell the story all at once. He lets it come out in pieces. And something strange happens in our conversations—he borrows…

I’ve never seen anything change as fast as a community project. Not weather. Not moods. Not politics. Community projects shift faster than language can keep up. It’s like the moment something becomes “established,” it starts to destabilise. As soon as you think you know what it is, it becomes something else. The centre moves. The…

How a Project Shifted When We Followed Someone’s Way Pete’s story isn’t something I observed from a distance. It’s something we built inside of — often without knowing where it was going. When Pete first came to Food Not Bombs Hobart, the project itself was fragile. I was losing members. I was holding too much.…

A simple table, a few items, and an invitation to choose. The Giveaway Table explores how dignity, trust, and care can emerge through small, unstructured acts of generosity.

This site isn’t offering answers or instructions. It’s a place for noticing — moments drawn from lived experience that invite you to slow down and enter gently.

For a long time, music felt like something you had to earn. Lessons. Stages. Confidence. Permission. This mission starts somewhere else. I will sing with anyone. Not to make you a performer. Not to polish you into something shiny. But to meet you where you already are — and see what sound lives there. Sometimes…

Dougie D’s Street Choir There’s a special kind of music that grows out of real life — the rough edges, the quiet heartbreak, the belly laughs, and the small victories that happen around a soup kitchen table. That’s exactly what Dougie D’s Street Choir is being built on. Doug has had this dream simmering for…

As the founder of an organization dedicated to supporting marginalized communities, I’ve had the privilege of meeting individuals with extraordinary stories. Recently, I had the honor of supporting someone who had been a trailblazer in the Australian gender equality movement of the 1970s and 80s. This remarkable person, who had identified as a transvette in…