‘The Aurora Dawn’ Community Newsletter

SUMMER 2019

belong in your local community Welcome What’s on @ Aurora Welcome to the Summer edition of ‘The Aurora Coming into summer there is so much going on, CREEDS FARM LIVING AND LEARNING CENTRE SANTA IN THE PARK Dawn’ community newsletter! including the ‘Last Hurrah’ event for Sprout Hub, 2 Snugburgh Way, Epping VIC 3076 Say hello to Santa at your local park! Wollert Fire Brigade Epping North Frog Census and Santa in the park! www.creedsfarm.org.au will be giving Santa the tour of the area on the back of The end of 2019 is upon us and it’s clear it has been Check out the ‘What’s on’ guide to find out more. (03) 9023 4606 their fire truck, stopping to say Merry Christmas to all a very busy 12 months! There has been plenty of the good boys and girls. Connecting Women group construction taking place (with much to come!) and If you have any community news that you would Visit www.wollertcfa.com.au/santa for Santa’s schedule lots of community events and initiatives rolling out! like to share, or your interested in starting new Women of all ages and backgrounds are invited to join on Saturday 21 December. This year we have seen another 500 families who clubs or groups, please contact; this friendly, inclusive group. The group tend to theme have moved into their homes here at Aurora – that each catch-up. Some of the topics to date have included takes us up to an estimated 2,100 residents! Clare Swanson learning how to make beeswax wraps, R U OK? Day, Social Sustainability Coordinator Diwali and cooking activities to name a few. The group focuses on fun, friendship, self-care, craft and more! All During our spring months we are happy to see [email protected] women welcome. For more information contact Irina on the new Edgars Creek Primary School and the 0449 954 263 or [email protected] Community Centre’s build commence. The Epping Thursdays 11:30 am – 1:00 pm (fortnightly) North Scouts hosted an amazing and extremely popular Halloween event. The community Homework club supported an important mental health initiative on Primary and secondary students are welcome to R U OK?Day, and we are as proud as punch that request some assitance with reading, English, math and Aurora parkrun have launched at Aurora Village problem-solving homework. Volunteer tutors will assist Town Centre Park. the children for free. Contact homework@creedsfarm. org.au or 03 9023 4606 for more information Wednesdays, 4.00 pm - 6.00 pm (during the school term)

GALADA COMMUNITY CENTRE 10A Forum Way, Epping VIC 3076 (03) 8401 6201

Local Business Bricks 4 Kidz Lego workshops Fridays, 5.00 pm – 6.00 pm and Saturdays, NEW TO AURORA VILLAGE 10.00am – 11.00am You will have noticed we’ve had new retailers move in the last couple of months. Birthday party packages, event activations, school/ Join us in welcoming them to the neighbourhood! vacation care incursions also available Contact Ilka on 0439 383 089 NEW SUBURBAN GRILL www.bricks4kidz.com.au/wts Burgers and Shawarma under the one roof – Immunisations both are delicious! Public immunisation sessions, no appointment 305 Harvest Home Road, open 11.00 am – 9.00 pm. necessary. Second Thursday of every month. Last Monday of every month. Thursday: 10.00 am – 12.00 pm. Monday: 5.30 pm – 7.00 pm

Community Mobile Library Bus Mondays, 9.00 am – 12.00 pm AURORA MARKET - EPPING Fitness and PT training session by Bodyworx Your one-stop-shop for fine Aussie-grown produce, South Asian groceries and household items. Also Tuesdays and Fridays, 9:30 am - 10:30 am offering freshly made Asian foods available in-store or to your front door delivered via UberEats. Located at 319 Harvest Home Road, open 9.00am – 8.00 pm. GIVE LAWN BOWLS A GO! Epping RSL Bowls Club is always on the lookout for men and women to join their club. Whether you want to Sport & Recreation bowl competitively, to expand your network of friends or Get to know just get in some exercise, Epping RSL Bowls Club have competitions and teams for you. WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD YVONNE FANTIN WINS ’S TOP Epping RSL have proved to be quite successful on the green. Last season four out of five teams made the PARKRUN! COACHING HONOUR! finals and took home one premiership! In fact, two We are excited to announce the launch of a brand-new Please join in congratulating Epping North (Aurora) new bowlers to the club won eight badges in their first parkrun in the Aurora Community! Parkrun is a free tennis coach, Yvonne Fantin of Topseed Tennis for being season and the Division 5 premiership – an extremely weekly timed run/walk open to people of all ages and awarded Victoria’s top coaching honour, winning the difficult feat to achieve, even for the most seasoned abilities who can choose to walk, jog, run or volunteer. 2018/2019 Tennis Victoria Coaching Excellence Award. bowlers! Crux and The Aurora five-kilometre course comprises of four laps, Yvonne was formally recognised for her programs which Our social season runs on Saturdays from May to traveling anti-clockwise on the pathway around the perimeter foster the inclusion of underrepresented groups in August. The pennant season starts with practice games of the Aurora Town Centre Park and alongside Edgars Creek. tennis, including people with disabilities, multicultural in September and finishes in March. All competitions are Bec Bullock The start and finish of the 5km course are close to the communities and children with autism. mixed and free coaching is available. playground area. Prams and dogs are welcome! It has also just been announced that Yvonne is a top three The Epping RSL Bowls Club is situated at 195 Harvest Tell us about how Aurora parkrun began? finalist in to take out the prestigious Newcombe Home Road, Epping. It has two, tiff dwarf grass greens, The idea of bringing a parkrun to the Epping North / We are delighted that parkrun will be an ongoing Wollert area came from the Lalor Running Club, following opportunity for our community. Aurora parkrun will take Medal for Coaching Excellence, which will be awarded on access to the Bistro and is in the process of building a 2 December at the Australian Tennis Awards. lovely community room. the successful establishment of two other parkruns within place every Saturday morning at 8.00 am. We hope to the municipality. We gained funding from the City of see you there! Topseed Tennis operate from Epping North and offer a If you would like to give lawn bowls a go in a friendly and Whittlesea’s Community Development Grants Program and For more information about Aurora parkrun see fun, friendly and professional training environment for progressive club, contact Marg Watson on 0403 663 the Sprout Hub Aurora Seedling Fund. Once the funding parkrun.com.au/aurora players of all ages and abilities. 508 or [email protected] was secured, we were able to focus on identifying a location This project is financially assisted by the City of To book a free trial lesson or find out more about their for the 5km course, as well as building a team of dedicated Whittlesea’s Community Development Grants Program award winning ANZ Hot Shots junior tennis program, volunteers to support us. and Sprout Hub Seedling Fund. go to www.topseedtennisacademy.com.au What is your role within the parkrun community? We are the Event Directors for Aurora parkrun, which means we take overall responsibility for the event and coordination of the event team. We had both been part of the event team at Lalor parkrun as Run Directors for a few years so we had built an understanding of how parkrun works! As Event Directors we do a lot of the behind the scenes coordination to keep an event like this happening and you will also see us regularly acting as Run Directors on a Saturday morning. How has being a part of a community group enhanced your life? parkrun has had such a positive impact on our lives. As a family of five, we start our weekend outdoors, getting EDGARS CREEK SECONDARY OVAL IS NOW OPEN active and connecting with others. The parkrun community TO THE COMMUNITY OUTSIDE SCHOOL HOURS! is very welcoming and inclusive and we have met so many wonderful people along the way. Volunteering at parkrun Whittlesea Council and the Department of Education is so rewarding and we love to give back to the community and training have a unique arrangement known as and hope that we can bring the same positive impact to a ‘Joint Use Agreement’ for the use of Edgars Creek the lives of others. Both participating and volunteering has Secondary oval. This means during school hours, the been something we have been able to get the whole family oval is for school use only but outside of those hours it’s involved in - it is so wonderful to have this activity that we do open to the public. together. The oval is a full-size AFL oval made of synthetic turf. It has 3 cricket nets, a toilet, flood lights and scoreboards. Are there any big runs you are currently training for? We look forward to you making use of the facilities. parkrun gives a great baseline to start your running journey Bookings are available after 4.00pm on weekdays and on and to build up the confidence and fitness to participate in weekends and is managed by Whittlesea Council. other events and longer distances. From regular participation in parkrun, we have both extended our running training by also being members of the Lalor Running Club. Crux had just recently completed an ultra-trail event, completing 60km along some beautiful coastline in Portland! Bec is working towards completing the Great Ocean Road 23km event next May. What else do you do in your spare time? We are parents of three young boys so we keep ourselves busy! In between the day-to-day happenings of a family of five, we love to head away on short trips together. One of our favourite holiday destinations is Port Fairy (there is even a parkrun we can visit while we are there)! For more information about Aurora parkrun see parkrun.com.au/aurora Community Life

HALLOWEEN THRILLS! Hundreds of witches, superheros, zombies and princesses came from all corners of Aurora, descending on our ‘Halloween Hub’ outside the Sales Office for the Scout-run spook-tacular! It was an unusually steamy night for this time of year and our ice cream vans, Rainbow Gelato and Dipping Dots had plenty of customers.

Smiling little faces delighted in scaring each other, making new friends, filling their lolly bags and making some ‘ghost’ lollipops. Even some of bigger kids (adults) got in on the action, flaunting their impressive makeup application skills! We have always been able to count on the Wollert CFA to support our community events and Halloween was no exception. Our volunteer firefighters showed our little monsters around the fire truck and were on-hand to demonstrate the hoses and cool a few of us down!

Next stop – the Trick or Treating trail! Plenty of the builders in the display village were excited to get on board and hosted trick or treat stops along the path. We also had lots of lovely residents who decorated their homes for little ghouls visiting near Treetops park. Parents and children were so thankful for all the fun – you could feel the community spirit in the air! A staggering 250kg of lollies were given out on this trail. We’re pretty sure the kids are still on sugar highs!

Huge congratulations go to the Epping North Scouts. The Scouts spent so much time planning the event, organising decorations, reaching out to the community for assistance and running the evening. On top of that, Scouts cooked more than 200 sausages and veggie burgers and coordinated the craft activity! What an amazing team - thank you!

If you, your child or someone you know wants to have more adventures with Scouts, please visit https://scoutsvictoria.com.au Community Life

TRUST YOUR GUT AND ASK R U OK? TAKING THE HARD HAT TOUR THROUGH THE WE BID A FOND FAREWELL TO Thursday 12 September was R U OK? Day, a national NEW RETIREMENT LIVING COMMUNITY AURORA’S SPROUT HUB day of action that reminds us that every person and The first Hard Hat Tour for customers at Sherwin Rise at After three years, the Sprout Hub community activation every conversation counts. Staying connected, having Aurora was held on 17 October. A group of Expression will be wrapping-up on 20 December. The Sprout Hub meaningful conversations and reaching out to people of Interest holders and interested customers joined was opened next to the Aurora Sales office in 2016 to you see who are struggling is something we can all do. Lendlease staff for a project update followed by a site support the emerging community in the early stages of To highlight this important campaign, many groups in tour. They got the first views of the villa that will become the development. Since then, the community has grown our community put on events including: the temporary Clubhouse and Manager’s Office, then from five residents to approximately 2,050! a tour of the Stage 1 construction site. Visitors were • Free coffees when you bring a friend at Diletto café impressed with all the information provided by the The lovely Sprout Hub staff have hosted many family- project team and enjoyed the ‘early’ look through the friendly activities, supported great community initiatives • Sausage and milkshake conversation café at Edgars home. Development Manager, John Ryan, spoke on via their Seedling Fund Community grants, served up Creek Secondary. Prior to the event Headspace also the sustainability offerings such as the planned 350kW snacks and coffees and have always been up for a chat! visited to shed some more light on mental health and community solar power system, which was eagerly The team have been great at introducing residents and how to help a mate. embraced by the future residents. connecting people with local services.

• Staff R U OK? morning tea/coffee at There are five villas that will be complete and ready for Since the project began, the Aurora community have Harvest Home Primary residents in February 2020. had some impressive community and economic • R U OK? presentation by student mental health outcomes, including; ambassadors at Al Siraat and shared yellow Interested parties are invited to get in contact with Arvy cupcakes at the Sales & Information Centre if they would like to • 2,090 people attending 175 different activities and book in for a Hard Hat Tour. events • R U OK? morning tea for Women’s group at Creeds Farm • $16,423 awarded to local community groups via The Seedling Fund • Gratitude wall at Galada Community Centre • 56 per cent of people said the Sprout Hub provided • Hot breakfast for family of CFA Wollert more opportunity for social connection. Thank you to all of those who participated. It’s a great demonstration that we belong to a special community Come and join us for a ‘Last Hurrah - Sprout Hub Project who looks after each other. Celebration’ on Saturday 7 December, 11.00am-1.00pm to celebrate the festive season and remember all the fun we’ve had over the years! We will have games and give- aways for the kids.

Although it will be sad to say goodbye, there are a number of community hubs nearby including Creeds Farm Living and Learning Centre, and the Galada Community Centre, plus the new Edgars Creek Community Centre (currently under construction) will be coming soon. Schools & Education Sustainability & Environment

BUILDERS APPOINTED TO CONSTRUCT NEW GRASS FIRE ADVICE FROM WOLLERT CFA NEW SCHOOL Would you know what to do if a grass fire occurred in the area? Last summer both Mernda and South Morang The Government announced that it is on track to deliver experienced grass fires on their urban fringe. Wollert has Edgars Creek Primary School located in Wollert, with the a history of grass fires during summer and if live next to recent appointment of Ireland Brown Constructions Pty Ltd. grassland, parks or paddocks, for your safety we need The builders will bring to life the architecturally designed you to understand your risk and plan ahead. Grassfires school that will inspire learning and cater to the diverse can start anywhere and spread quickly. needs of local students, providing them with what they need to thrive and be actively engaged with their • If you live next to grassland and a grassfire starts, education. EDGARS CREEK COMMUNITY CENTRE walk at least two streets back from the fire. Minister for Education James Merlino acknowledged UNDER CONSTRUCTION • If you live two or three streets away from grassland that “Victoria’s population is booming, which is why We are pleased to announce the Edgars Creek and a grassfire starts, stay where you are - grassfires we’re building 100 new schools and upgrading even more Community Centre is under construction! Construction are unlikely to spread into built-up areas. schools to meet the needs of our growing communities.” will be carried out by Melbcon - an experienced • Never drive if you can see smoke or fire. Thick “This exciting appointment means families across the contractor that has delivered many educational, health smoke will make it hard to see and traffic jams and state are a step closer to getting the great local school and aged care facilities and community hubs. They also accidents are likely. facilities their kids need to thrive.” built Edgars Creek Secondary College. • Roads must be kept clear for emergency services. The school will join the existing Harvest Home Primary Once complete, the Edgars Creek Community Centre School and St Mary of the Cross MacKillip Primary will include: It’s also a great idea to make sure you have the School located within Aurora to cater to the growing • Three kindergarten rooms (with three-year-old and Vic Emergency app installed on all of your smart phones needs of the community. We look forward to watching four-year-old kindergarten programs on offer) and tablets so you and your family can stay safe. progress on this exciting new facility unfold. • Two maternal child health consultation rooms VOLUNTEER TUTORS WANTED! • Dedicated maternal child health program room EPPING NORTH FROG CENSUS • Consultation room for allied health services Creeds Farm Learning Centre are looking for volunteers Thursday 5 December, 7.30 pm – 8.30 pm to assist primary school-aged students with their • 100-person hall which can be used for community education through their Homework Club. You don’t need and cultural events Edgars Creek, Lehman’s Farm Park to be a qualified teacher to volunteer, you just need some • Community meeting rooms and kitchenette Corner Broadleaf Drive and Zinnober Lane, Epping North. patience, enthusiasm and to enjoy working with children. The Edgars Creek Community Centre will be part of the Join Management Committee Waterwatch Tutors will focus on reading, English, maths, and problem main education and community precinct within Aurora. for a night of frog discovery. Learn to recognise different solving. VCE students welcome. This precinct will be a high-quality, fully integrated frog calls and help collect important citizen science data The Homework Club is managed by a qualified teacher, precinct catering for the education, active recreation, for the frog census including using the Water social and community service needs, for Aurora residents all volunteer tutors require a working with children check Frog Census app! There will be a presentation and a and the local community. and a police check (paid for by Creeds Farm). You will walk along the Edgars Creek looking for frogs. need to be available during school terms on Wednesdays The multi-million dollar project has been made possible from 4.00pm – 6.00 pm. thanks to a Lendlease, Council and State Government This is a free event. Children are welcome. To register your interest, email Max Sargent at partnership. Lendlease is proud to be a part of this Bookings essential via www.mcmc.org.au [email protected] or call 03 9023 4606. project as we continue to develop the Aurora community. This event involves walking (at times in the rain) so The Edgars Creek Community Centre is due to be please bring weather appropriate clothing for the event. completed in May 2020. (Frogs love rain so don’t be put off by a rainy evening, this event will still go ahead.) This event is funded by Melbourne Water CRAIGIEB

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belong at Aurora

Email: [email protected] Web: auroravic.com.au Facebook.com/auroravic Phone: 1300 859 217 Aurora Sales and Information Centre Corner of Craigieburn Road East and Edgars Road, Wollert, VIC, 3750