Dindi Transition formed as a result of community action to raise awareness about the transition away from native forest logging in April 2022. Local community members began organising in order to address low levels of community awareness and acceptance surrounding the likely possibility of an earlier transition away from logging than the State Government’s original 2030 timeline. The aim was to use community organising to support our transitioning community to lead the way and determine our own future.

Local organisers conducted 40+ one-on-one relational conversations with others in the community about the transition in order to build relationships, identify common ground, and generate ideas together about the future of our communities and local landscapes. We attended community planning sessions and events to listen to community concerns and gather ideas. We published articles in the Murrindindi Guide (pg. 52-54), advertised in the Triangle and the Standard, and spoke on local radio to raise awareness, invite conversation, and build community connections.

As a result of these community conversations, 9 local people came together to organise a community forum at the Alexandra Shire Hall on November 13, 2022. At the forum, attended by 80+ people, we facilitated round table conversations about the transition, collected 68 community surveys, and connected people with the existing transition support that was available. Dindi Transition became an incorporated volunteer group as a result of the forum. We followed up with community members to identify gaps in existing transition support and collaborated on advocacy to state government as a community.

Roundtable Discussions

Stallholder Discussions

Forum Presentations

Once the government’s formal community development project (part of the state government’s Forestry Transition program) launched in our region at an appropriate scale in May 2023, Dindi Transition changed the shape of their activities to prevent engagement fatigue in the community, and instead participated directly with Shaping Murrindindi’s Future’s formal interview process. We commend this collaborative public engagement effort by the state & local government that conducted 110+ community interviews and collated current place-based data.

Acknowledging the presence of SMF and the robust support now available to directly affected workers, our group has broadened our work to researching and implementing local initiatives that support circular economy, wellbeing economy, and care economy transition frameworks that are being piloted nationally and around the world in the energy and land sectors in an effort to build climate resilient communities.

We have also spent time educating ourselves and our broader community about the history of our place. Dindi Transition participates as a ‘regional hub’ of the New Economy Network Australia. We are also supported in a networking and information sharing capacity by transition education hub The Next Economy and Friends of the Earth. We are an independent, volunteer community group that is open to all people living in Alexandra, the Triangle (Taggerty, Buxton, Marysville, Narbethong) and surrounding areas (Thornton, Rubicon, Snobs Creek, Eildon etc.).