Listening Tour Week 7: WA
PLACE Listening Tour | Week 7: Holding the Line, Growing the Good Life
Last week across WA, we met communities doing what they’ve always done, leading change in ways that centre culture, connection and care. From Derby to Pingelly, grassroots work led by Elders, ACCOs and Community Resource Centres are driving quiet but powerful transformation.
Powerful Words That Stayed with Us:
“We put ourselves where our kids want us to be.”
“We don’t own the community. They can speak for themselves.”
“Nothing is wasted between the air and the soil, we have all we need.”
“The most important benefits are not quantifiable.”
Our Journey Map:
WA: Derby Kimberley Region • Pandanus Park • Mowanjum • Pingelly • Brookton
Community Insight: What Works
In Derby, the Emama Nguda Aboriginal Corporation (ENAC), Ngunga Group Aboriginal Women’s Corporation (NGAWC), and Anglicare WA are reshaping the future for young people and families from healing spaces and night patrols to peer-led education and on-country learning. The Derby District High School partnership is uniquely demonstrating what's possible with local wrap-around support such as multi-age programs that transition young people back into the classroom and youth accommodation, yielding 90% school attendance. People are building programs that respond to its community members, not just service categories.
“We found our stride when we aligned our voices with our community members.” Ben Burton, CEO, ENAC.
Over the two and half days in the Kimberly we also met with the Early Years Partnership (EYP) and visited partner communities Mowanjum and Pandanus Park. With strong local leadership and cross-sector collaboration, these communities are working to improve the wellbeing, health, development, and school readiness of children aged 0–4 by centering families in decision-making and fostering genuine community partnerships—particularly around food security.
A visit to Wendy’s permaculture hub in the region also challenged us to think differently. On a quiet patch of remote bushland, Wendy has built a living classroom in sustainability, using waste, weeds and weather to demonstrate that nature is not something to fix, but something to follow. The Emama Nguda Healing Space is redefining what healing looks like - not clinical, but cultural. The Ngunga Group Womens Aboriginal Corporation adopting a seasonal approach to education, learning and responding to what comes alive.
In Pingelly, a powerful aged care initiative is redefining what it means to age in place. The Staying in Place project, sparked by two serious local road accidents, asks a profound question: how do we ensure people can live, age and die with dignity in their own communities? The model connects virtual care, local workers, tech-enabled homes and social support through a community-governed lens.
Moments That Mattered
Seeing Derby youth led peer-to-peer education models, achieve school success that shape their futures.
Visiting healing spaces, where intergenerational knowledge, tools and practice is passed down through sacred song.
Hearing about Pingelly CRC’s community-led aged care model that has thrived through encouraging people not to underestimate their skills and knowledge.
Learning from Wendy’s permaculture model - where waste becomes insight, and nature sets the terms.
Derby’s “Back Block Heroes”, everyday community members holding the line for kids, families and culture.
A community lunch hosted by Linkwest that brought together the local Pingelly residents to share what matters about ageing in place.
A colourful food pantry in Brookton supporting people with kindness through tough times.
Throughout Week 7, we were reminded that healing, learning and leading don’t always happen in buildings with logos, they happen around fire pits, in backyard gardens, and on the land. The people of WA are weaving resilience with resourcefulness, resisting fragmentation, and proving that subsidiarity and solidarity aren’t just policy principles. They can be brought to life through deep commitment to place-based and community-led change.
Top Reflections
Derby shows what’s possible when local people are trained and trusted to lead.
Place-based infrastructure remains challenged not because ideas are lacking, but because sustainable investment is missing.
We saw that the work is steady, deliberate and driven by people who know what their communities need, often powered by a commitment that outlasts the funding cycle.
WA communities often feel invisible in national policy spaces, yet they are running some of the most promising, culturally embedded, and community-owned solutions in the country.
As PLACE’s Listening Tour wrapped up, Board Director Fred Chaney AO reflected, “Government is often the obstacle to getting sensible local based solutions happening. We saw good people doing good stuff. People are the agents of change.” Our week in Western Australia reinforced that real impact comes from a connected, community-led approach, not a single-lane focus. “You can’t work with a child without working with their family and community. Change happens when all parts move together.” Sean Gordon AM, PLACE Chair.