About Us...

About Us...

[ Membership ] [ Committee ] [ Meeting Minutes ] [ Constitution ]

Overview of the Council

The Gungahlin Community Council Inc. (Council) is an incorporated, voluntary, not for profit, community-based association operating within the Gungahlin District of the Australian Capital Territory.

The Gungahlin district covers an area in the north to northwest of the Territory between the ACT/NSW border and the Barton Highway, Federal Highway/Northbourne Avenue to the South and East, including the village of Hall.

The Council is formally recognized and receives partial funding from the ACT Government (Chief Ministers Department) as the peak community representative body in Gungahlin representing the interests of the residents and community of the Gungahlin district.

Objectives

The Gungahlin Community Council core objective is: "To preserve and improve the social, cultural, economic and environmental well being of Gungahlin and the Gungahlin Community."

To achieve these objectives the Council undertakes to:

• consult with members of the Gungahlin community; represent the Gungahlin community, and lobby authorities on the community's behalf;
• provide a non-political environment where members of the community can express their aspirations, concerns and suggestions;
• provide a public forum where members of the community can obtain information, support and opportunities to network with others;
• advise, support and/ or assist any organisation with compatible objectives to those that have been adopted by the Council;
• liaise with members of the public, legislators, officials and community representatives; and
• to provide appropriate information and opinions on matters relevant to the Gungahlin community.

Membership

Membership of the Council is open to any person who is 16 years or over, who meets the following criteria:

• Any person living in the Gungahlin district;
• Any person owning property in the Gungahlin district;
• Any person working or conducting a business in the Gungahlin district;
• Any representative of a social organisation or interest group servicing the Gungahlin district;

The Gungahlin Community Council does not have membership fees and any individual that meets the membership criteria for the Council may approach the Council and seek guidance, support, assistance or advice.

Committee

The Council has an Executive Committee that is elected annually at the Annual General Meeting by the members of the council. The Annual General Meeting is normally held in August each year.

Any member of the Council may nominate for a position on the Executive Committee. which comprises the following positions:

• President
• Vice President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Ordinary Committee Members
• Public Officer

All members of the Council committee are volunteers.

The committee manages the day to day operations of the Council. This involves attending meetings to represent the community, dealing with phone calls, faxes, letters and making submissions.

Meetings

The Council conducts monthly public meetings which occur on the second Wednesday of each month (excluding January).

Meetings are open for all members of the public to attend to attend and issues that are not on the agenda, can be added prior or during the meeting.

Executive Committee administrative meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month. Upon request individuals may attend these meetings as an observer or discuss specific matters with the Executive Committee.

Newsletter

The Gungahlin Smoke Signals (affectionately known as  "Gunsmoke") is the community newsletter published by the Council. Content of the newsletter is regionally focused to the Gungahlin District.

The content is a mixture of submitted articles of regional interest, community announcements and advertising from Gungahlin based businesses. The Newsletter is largely self funding with the advertising space covering the printing costs.

Generally there are 6 bi-monthly editions per year with additional "special editions" published as needs dictate. Distribution is over 10,000 copies to virtually every household and business in the Gungahlin district. The Council gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Gungahlin Lakes Social Club who pays for the distribution of the Newsletter.

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A Brief History of the Council

At the end of March 2002 Gungahlin celebrated its 10th anniversary. During the majority of this time the Gungahlin Community Council Inc. has provided a public forum where residents can obtain information and voice their ideas, preferences and concerns. The Council's formation followed a meeting held on the 16/3/93 at Zinnia Place in Palmerston. Robert and Lyn Floyd, Robert Rosenstraus, Alyn Doig, John Hosking, Mal Bull and Ian Ruecroft attended the meeting. At this meeting it was decided to call a public meeting in an attempt to form a local community council to act on residents' behalf.

The first meeting of Council was held on the 19/4/93 at John and Roma Hoskings' home in Halifax Close Palmerston, with more that 30 people in attendance. The meeting moved to support the formation of the Gungahlin Community Council (GCC) and elected an Executive committee to draft a constitution and arrange for incorporation of the GCC. Almost every person at the meeting lived in, or was building in, Palmerston (as there were no other areas of Gungahlin developed at that time).

Since the first meeting of the GCC, meetings have been held on the second Wednesday of the month from February to December. Meetings were initially held at the Hoskings' home until the Palmerston (temporary) hall was completed in February 1994. During 1995 meetings were held in the temporary Nicholls Community hall, which was located in Anne Clark Av Nicholls. When the permanent Nicholls Community House was completed, in early 1996, this became the meeting venue.

During 2000 GCC meetings were relocated to the Gungahlin Marketplace (Level 1), which was made available by the Marketplace management. In July 2001 it was decided to relocate the meetings to the Gungahlin Resource Centre, where it is hoped that some stability could be maintained in a central location.

The GCCs' local newsletter is "Gunsmoke" which is a play on the words "Gungahlin Smoke Signals". The newsletter was first published in September 1993 and consisted of 2 (A4) pages that were folded and stapled before being hand delivered to homes that "looked finished". Gunsmoke 7 (Oct 94) was the first A3 configuration; it consisted of only one page folded. Gunsmoke 14 (Oct 1995) was the last newsletter delivered GCC members, by this time there were 4,600 copies and it consisted of 3 (A3) sheets folded and stapled. From Gunsmoke issue 15 onwards deliveries have been by courtesy of the Gungahlin Lakes Golf and Community Club. Gunsmoke 65 had 8,900 copies distributed. The Editor of all Gunsmoke issues up to the present has been Roma Hosking. Roma has spent many long hours recruiting articles for the publication and balancing printing costs against advertising revenue and community values.

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