Bourke to bloom with new community garden

Opening the Bourke Community Garden – North West Academic Centre Director Charlene Noye, Gavin Gibbs from REDIE at Bourke, Bourke Mayor Barry Hollman, REDIE CEO Peter Gibbs, nib Chief Medical Officer Rob McGrath, nib Foundation CEO Amy Tribe, nib Foundation director Ros Toms and Dean of Nursing at the University of Sydney Brendan McCormack.. Photo TWH

Bourke’s Community Garden will be managed and revitalised, and will provide employment, thanks to a $300,000 grant from the nib foundation.

The nib foundation is providing Bourke’s Aboriginal-led employment provider REDIE with $100,000 per year over three years to revitalise the garden and stimulate community involvement.

The three-year project will have two paid positions, including a Bourke-based graduate placement, and hopes to turn the former Bourke CDEP nursery into a thriving hub for the Bourke community.

The nib foundation contributed the funds and foundation board member, Ros Toms, said it was all about fostering healthy communities and having a positive community impact.

“We are very much committed to improving the health and wellbeing of populations,” Ms Toms said. “A few years ago, we sat down and thought about where there might be a rural community that we can invest in and help improve population health, and part of that investment was the community garden at Bourke.”

“We’ve been working toward this for a long time. We’re keen to help the community come together and bring the resources to do so and the community have been right behind this.”

Read more in the printed edition of The Western Herald.

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