About Us
Late in 2000, three friends (Brenda Conochie, Rob Gulley and Rachael Roberts) decided a shopfront community environment centre was needed in Perth. The vision was for a campaign centre and eco-products store to support the community to live in a way that respects our environment and future generations.
We gathered others to form a community association for this purpose. With help from the ACF (Australian Conservation Foundation) we leased a former fish & chip shop plus house and backyard, in the heart of Maylands, only 150m from the train station, and 8 minutes from the city.
In March 2001 the shop was packed for its launch, with special guests Judy Jackson - a Nyoongar elder who has since passed away; Dr Judy Edwards - Maylands MP and (then) Environment Minister; and Peter Garrett - then ACF President and Midnight Oil Singer. Generous well-wishers helped with the private commercial rent, and the first furnishings and office equipment.
From 2002-mid 2004, funding from WA's SEDO (Sustainable Energy Development Office) & the AGO (Australian Greenhouse Office's) Cool Communities program paid for a retrofit of the old house with solar power & hot water, insulation and energy-saving devices - to show what can be done with an old house - and for a series of workshops (and rebates on energy efficient purchases) for the public to learn about energy efficiency.
Since then, we have operated on an entirely voluntary basis (though with some sponsorship) running the shop; growing rushes, she-oak and paperbark trees from seed we collect and planting them out on the eroded Maylands foreshore; running compost systems, a big worm farm and compost workshops; hosting teaching students; and giving talks to community groups on sustainable living.
Our aim is to both 'walk the talk' and 'talk the walk' on climate protection, river care and other sustainability issues. With a roster of 15 volunteers over any one fortnight, we keep our doors open Mon-Sat 49 hours a week, and run a stall at City Farm Organic markets every Sat. morning. Our tent is often found at fairs, fetes and festivals as well. Our volunteers will try to help you with your queries or give you other useful contacts.
Step in for information, action or involvement and then step out and walk more lightly on the planet!
Constitution
All incorporated community associations have a constitution, drafted with great care by its early members, and occasionally modified over time if necessary. Ours commits us to trying to protect and restore the natural environment of Western Australiathrough community education and involvement. It also lays down how we should elect our 10 committee members and how often they should meet, etc.
Environment House Constitution.doc 60KB MS Word
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Membership
Is open to all who endorse our constitution, and have their application approved by the Committee. The fee is $10 per year.
Contact Us if you're interested in becoming a member.
Volunteers
Environment House runs on 'vollie-power'. We need around 20 at any one time - people who can spare half a day per fortnight or more serving customers in our eco-shop, doing office work, or working out the back in the vegie patch or native plant nursery. We try to ensure that job-seekers can add new skills and/or computer programs to their CV's by the time they leave. We're keenest to have vollies who are in a position to commit themselves for at least 6 months, as it does take a while to learn the ropes.
Contact Us if you're interested in becoming a volunteer.
Sponsors
Environment House been a grateful recipient of sponsorship from civic-spirited individuals, the WA public (via Lotterywest!) businesses and occasionally a local, state or Federal government grant. See our sponsors' logos at the bottom of the home page.
We're working hard, through the shop, to increase our self-funding capacity - but our survival and growth so far has been due to that special blend of volunteer effort and financial contributions. We rent our premises at commercial rates but are hoping to find the means to buy it.
As a registered environment centre, donations are tax-deductible. Cheques/money orders should be made payable to "Environment House tax deductible fund". Donations via credit card (in person or by phone - ask for Brendaor Rhonda) are also very welcome. Please contact us if you're willing to join the little band of monthly rent donors - some of whom have been doing it from the beginning and could use a break! Of course shopping here - or even better, becoming a 'regular' - is a great way to support us too!
Community Partners
Environment House works in cooperation with:
The public, Our most important partner! - around 20 visitors per day come through the door.
The City of Bayswater Apart from its direct financial support, we have co-ordinated the planting of 2000 native trees/bushes/sedges along the Maylands riverfront, in cooperation with CoB's Environment Officer and supplied volunteers for a Council foreshore planting in September 04. Thousands more sedges and casuarina trees have been planted throughout 2005, along the Maylands foreshore and on the Maylands side of Ascot Island.
Conservation Council of WA Environment House is now a member of this statewide 'umbrella' organisation and receives much-appreciated support from its staff.
Anti Nuclear Alliance of WA and People for Nuclear Disarmament EH provides office space and equipment for these groups, as well as space in the shop for its petitions, its anti-nuclear T-shirts and its books and DVD's.
Local Wetland Friends groups As well as adding to numbers at Friends of Baigup wetland over the years, EH promoted community involvement in the hands-on work at the Eric Singleton Bird Sanctuary for several months in 2004. With the Maylands Residents and Ratepayers Association, we helped to launch a new group, Friends of the Maylands Peninsula Foreshore (FoMPF) in November 2004, to care for the foreshore between Bath St jetty and the Maylands Golf Course.
Maylands Interagency Group EH participates in this social welfare network which has also developed 'Imagine Maylands' an initiative for the "social redevelopment" of Maylands.
Men of the Trees As well as buying most of our 2004 supply of native seedlings from MoTT's wonderful Hazlemere nursery, some of us participated have participated in the the Festival of the Trees, and in a rural tree-planting weekend.
Alternative Technology Association We team up with the ATA at the Perth Sun Fair held in Aprileach year at UWA. We sell ATA products from our shop and other stalls.
SEDO Sustainable Energy Development Office We distribute thousands of copies of most of their excellent published materials on energy efficiency in the home.
Swan River Trust and Swan Catchment Centre We distribute many of their excellent pamphlets and booklets.
Maylands Residents and Ratepayers Association (MRRA) We have a mutually supportive relationship with this local community association, which has a strong conservation ethos. We give talks at its meetings occasionally.
Edith Cowan University Faculty of Education EH has now hosted 3 groups of second-year students (studying to be K-7 teachers at Joondalup) for 'community pracs'. They have worked with Brenda and Rob and prepared some greateducational activities for children attending with their parents at our Spring Workshops, at school fetes and at Maylands Peninsula Primary School pre-school and KIDS Open Learning School. It has been a mutually rewarding experience. 2 more batches will come in 2006.
Bayswater Community Bank This bank provided $2000 in sponsorship to EH and gave us a great deal on our EFTPOS.
Australian eco-wholesalers We retail the products of a growing number of eco-wholesalers, both community and business-based: EnviroClean, RELN (worm farms), Eco-Organics (Bokashi fermentation compost bins) Tinderbox (skincareetc.) APACE and Men of the Trees community nurseries, CALM books, ATA books and ReNew magazine, ACF's diaries and calendars and Habitat magazine, etc. etc.
