Commonground founding members worked in the Community Sector and had been involved in a range of Social Action groups addressing various social issues of the time. Most such groups were poorly resourced and struggled to work at their optimum effectiveness. In contrast, well funded organizations had access to greater services to support them and opportunities for reflective time out, training, consultation, facilitation and other resources.

It was decided to provide a resource in the country to directly support groups and organizations working, (broadly speaking), for nonviolent social change. The intention was to help such groups maximize their particular social change endeavors.

In parallel to the idea of developing a resource centre and support services for the community sector and social change movement was a growing interest in the contribution of Intentional Communities to Social Change. We felt that, for the sake of the planet, humans needed to learn how to live more co-operatively and lightly on the land and to share their resources. We decided to live as an Intentional Community while developing the Social Change resource services.

The 95 acre property near Seymour was bought and the legal entity of Commonground established in 1984. With much passion and idealism, a great deal of naïve optimism, and not much else we began creating the realities of our vision.

We raised funds from many sources and built a 102 s building for use by both residents and guests, grappled with the complexities of living in community, raised our children together, ran the Commonground venue and facilitated a wide range of workshops and training - no trouble at all!

It has been, and continues to be an incredible journey.

Vision: A just, nonviolent and sustainable world based on collaborative processes.

Aims
1. To place Commonground’s resources at the service of creating our Vision.
2. To develop a vibrant Intentional Community.
3. To work collaboratively in order to maximise the impact of our endeavours.