This is a special issue of our newsletter! The reason being – we’ve finished our EcoCentre and we’re celebrating!

This issue of Ecovillage News is dedicated to our new EcoCentre. We feel that the lessons and decisions we made during the construction process will be useful to others who wish to build ecological buildings. We produced a special colour booklet to coincide with the formal opening of the EcoCentre (though, sadly, in the event printer problems meant it wasn’t available on the day itself). We included it with our compliments in the printed newsletter, and hope that you found it interesting reading.

Further copies can be obtained from the GENOA office for $3 each (plus postage).

Launch parties
We had two launch parties for the EcoCentre. The first was for our community – Crystal Waters – and we used it as an opportunity to raise funds for the community Co-operative. The second was a more formal affair, and we were lucky enough to have a past student of Max’s – the Honourable Rod Welford, Queensland’s Attorney General – here to officially open the building. We also invited local dignitaries such as the Queensland State Government representative for this area, Carolyn Male, the opposition Federal Government representative, the local Councillor, all of whom came. We also invited people who were involved in the building process – the architect, tradespeople and craftsmen, and representatives of various local businesses and organisations.

Carolyn Male, the Qld Government’s MP for this area, Rod Welford, Qld’s Attorney General, Minister for Justice, and ex-student, and Max Lindegger, at the opening ceremony of the EcoCentre last month.

We put on a Crystal Waters feast – fresh bread, a variety of cheeses, jams and preserves, salad and juices - all grown and/or produced at Crystal Waters. It was a chance for us to show the world what an ecovillage can offer, and I think it is safe to say that it went down pretty well. In fact the enthusiasm was such that a number of guests were very keen to buy quantities of our food, and many took home food packages for later consumption!

Max Lindegger made a short speech in the EcoCentre, which was followed by an audiovisual presentation showing the ‘old’ and ‘new’ Crystal Waters.

Finance
As regular readers will be aware, we have attempted over the last year to get some kind of government or institutional funding for our EcoCentre. It seemed ideal for so many grants – rural based, educational, environmental, economy boosting in an high unemployment area — but somehow we never seemed to fit the criteria. Apart from the Qld Government’s rebate for the PV panels on the roof, we received no support from government. (Significantly, the donations we did receive came mostly from ex-students — our strongest supporters!).

Councillor Pauline Clayton, our local government representative, was delighted by the Crystal Waters’ sour dough bread and rosella jam combination.

A lesson learned
And yet we have managed to build the EcoCentre despite this — and we feel this is an important lesson for ourselves and for others. It is all too easy to say ‘we can’t do it’, to be defeated by a series of setbacks or a lack of government or institutional support. Our EcoCentre proves that it can be done without such help!