Keeping Wollangarra Second Hand and Solid

Wollangarra is an independent, non-profit outdoor education centre that fosters a partnership between young people and Victoria’s mountains. Established in 1989, the centre is situated on a small remote river flat of the Macalister River near Licola, East Gippsland.

Wollangarra’s unique pioneer-style homestead was built by hundreds of volunteer adults and young people as a place to learn and demonstrate the value of living a simple yet purposeful, hands on lifestyle. The infrastructure was built using volunteer labour and almost entirely secondhand materials (even down to the nails!). There is no electricity and the main access onto the property is by flying fox over the river. Wollangarra acts as a base for school and holiday programs, as a home for our volunteer staff, and as a tangible space for young people and their families to be engaged in a genuine community.

Wollangarra operates a three stage program:
Stage 1 - Initial contact for young people and forms the bulk of our programs, including school camps and holiday programs open to the general public. Stage 1 - Meeting the Mountains, offers young people from 14 –17 years the chance to discover the joy of hiking in our beautiful mountains. Young people journey in small, well organised, and fully supervised hiking groups. With these expeditions Wollangarra hopes to encourage an awareness of our environment and lay the foundations for continuing with further programs.

Stage 2 - Helping the Mountains, is a unique opportunity for young people who have enjoyed their Wollangarra Stage 1 to come back, further their relationships within the community, and participate in meaningful ecological work in the mountains as well as practical projects around the pioneer style homestead and property. In the past, Stage 2s have worked on building and maintaining hiking tracks, rebuilding sections of old high country huts, or undertaking re-vegetation projects in important conservation areas. This is all done with the assistance of Wollangarra staff members and sometimes professionals in the field (like Parks Victoria Rangers, stone masons, or local walking club members).

Stage 3 - Adopting the Mountains, is a dynamic, strong community of active young people aged between 17 and 25 who engage in self-directed, purposeful and practical conservation and recreation activities in Victoria’s mountains and at home. Wollangarra provides a volunteer facilitator for this stage and ensures that safety requirements are met; the community of young people take care of the rest.