The Community Centres of Ashburton
This week, I was very pleased to attend the 40th anniversary party for the Ashburton Community Centre. I gave a short talk about how I went about preparing the Centre’s history and what I learned along the way. It’s a story that encompasses an extraordinary array of unique challenges – white ant infestations, floodings, a pandemic, to name just a few – and it really shows just how much energy it takes to establish and maintain a community centre in an ever-changing world.
[shameless plug] If you’re interested in reading the history, copies are available from the Centre and will soon be in Boroondara Library. They also have a wonderful series of interpretative panels showcasing their story that I encourage you to check out next time you’re in High Street. [/shameless plug]
You may not realise that Ashburton has three community centres, four if you include the Seniors Centre. That’s a quarter of the community centre/seniors centres in the whole of Boroondara. Not bad for a suburb of only 8,000 people.
Neither the state nor local governments planned it this way; the Centres all serve different purposes and emerged independent of each other over time. They all came about from community need and the tireless dedication of countless volunteers committed to supporting their community.
Let’s take a look.
What is a Community Centre?
A community centre is a place you go if you’re feeling lonely, stuck at home too much, don’t have many friends or family around, and feel a need to interact with other people. Now, most people do not want to admit that is why they go to the Community Centre. Their operators know this so they give you a range of classes to choose from so you’ll have something to talk about when you get there. These classes can be about all sorts of things: art, exercise, languages, writing, music playing, computer-based learning, Dungeons and Dragons, you name it – there’s a community centre somewhere that will be running it.
Tip: if you attend a Neighbourhood House, this is a community centre. The terms historically meant different things but now they’re interchangeable.
How did Community Centres come about?
The first Community Centres in Victoria began in the early 1970s from a tranche of funding called the Australian Assistance Plan. This was an initiative of the Whitlam Government to help establish community-based grassroots organisations at a time of considerable social change. Women, Aboriginal people, and gay people (to name a few) pushed for recognition and equal rights. The White Australia Policy finally ended, opening the door to more immigrants. The Whitlam Government sought to fund practical support for their initiatives.
Several enterprising women used the funding to establish spaces for women to gain skills to help them transition (back) into the workforce, give them opportunities to socially interact with other people while their children were at school, and stimulate their minds and fill their time once their children had left the home.
These places became the first community centres in Victoria.
How did the community centres come to Ashburton?
Forget everything that came before because it was certainly not because of the feminist movement like other parts of Melbourne.
The Craig Centre on Samarinda Avenue opened in 1957. The Craig family were prominent philanthropists in Camberwell and provided funding for a baby health centre for the mothers of the Alamein housing estate. Over the years, Craig Centre received some financial support from the Health Department and local council before its renovation as a kindergarten and maternal health centre in the 2010s.
Alamein Learning Centre opened in a housing commission flat in 1976. It began as an initiative of the principals of Alamein State School and St Michaels Parish School to provide support for isolated mothers in the Housing Estate. It was a baby centre for a time too. Over time, support from the Education Department helped it morph into a place for learning workplace skills, especially for social housing residents and people who spoke English as a second language.
Ashburton Community Centre stemmed from the advocacy of members of the South Ward Association. Initiated by Luba and Colin Copland to protest development of High Street in the early 1970s, by 1983 the South Ward Association boasted 350 members and endorsed local candidates for the highly conservative and Camberwell-centric City of Camberwell Council. Members began the push for a Community Centre for Ashburton in line with Camberwell Community Centre and Balwyn Community Centre. It opened in 1986.
Ashburton Seniors Centre first opened in 2001, although seniors support services have operated on that block of Warner Avenue since the 1950s. You can read more about it in my post about Ashburton’s Meals on Wheels program. The new building there now opened in 2020 and it’s operated by BASSCARE, a Boroondara-centric not-for-profit organisation providing practical and residential support for seniors.
Are community centres for profit?
Nope, quite the opposite. Community Centres run on a wing and a prayer. They would love to offer more classes, opportunities, or workshops and open longer hours than they already do. What they have to offer now is what they can afford.
Every Centre’s financial position is different but most receive some financial support from their local council. How much ultimately depends on how wealthy the Council is. The State Government also provides funding through its neighbourhood house program. This support is not at all sufficient to operate in 2026 so they also rely very heavily on volunteers to operate, with fundraising, equipment donations, members and class fees an important source of operational revenue.
Any unexpected setback – flood, fire, pandemic, what have you – can be financially calamitous and take many years to recover from.
Ashburton’s community centres all sit on Council-owned land and within Council-owned buildings. They receive an annual grant from the Council that goes towards providing wages for office staff. Alamein and the Craig Centre both receive state government financial support but Ashburton does not.
Are community centres just for women then?
No. They started out that way purely because they were run by women so could only open during the day while their kids were at school. Since most other married women did not work outside the home, they made up the clientele. They do still skew towards older women and mothers, perhaps because women are better at acknowledging they need social interaction than men.
Community centres are very keen to welcome men but they don’t really come on their own volition.
At Ashburton Community Centre, a man turns up about once a week at the front desk saying his wife sent him down because she told him that now he’s retired he needs to find something to do and get out of the house.
Are community centres just for old/retired people then?
Not at all. It’s just that they can’t usually afford to be open during the day and in the evenings when working people are more likely to be able to go.
If you’re able to get there during their opening hours, you’re more than welcome. During my time researching the Ashburton Community Centre, I met a young woman who came all the way from Footscray and calves time out of her day every week just for the Watercolour Painting class.
Alternatively, donate a chunk of money and they can open just for you!
Can I start my own class there?
Absolutely you can. A lot of tutors are on their second career there because they have an interest in teaching or recently completed some kind of qualification. If you're offering something different, they will support your class.
Other people use the Community Centre as a meeting venue to find people who also play Mahjong, write sci-fi slash fiction, love trains, anime, dinosaur model-making, flower arranging, or just want to complain about the state of the world for an hour. You usually have to pay a small fee for the room but that’s about it.
What is the role of Community Centres in the future?
Community Centres will only become more important the less funding there is available for them. Loneliness is a huge and growing problem for all ages and getting worse for every year that passes. Suburbs like Ashburton will be growing as the State Government’s activity centres develop and more social housing is built. Community Centres will have a role to play in providing support, opportunities and practical workshops that allow residents to live happy and fulfilling lives.
Community Centres have lots to offer you, so pay your local centre a visit today!
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