• Raising awareness by providing people with information – letting people know about current environmental issues;
• Education – suggestions on how to tackle these issues; and
• Showing – how easily it can be done

• Complimentary membership, but with non-voting rights;
• Letters of support for funding applications and/or specific projects;
• Promotion of each other’s projects and activities;
• Formation of working partnerships for specific projects;
• Website links.

Current Affiliations
HOPE Toowoomba is affiliated to the Queensland Conservation Council (QCC).

Our Patron

Jerry Coleby-Williams

Jerry Coleby-Williams is a passionate conservationist, organic gardener, writer and plant curator.   He is a presenter on the ABC’s Gardening Australia show and is a director of The Seed Savers’ Foundation - a community organisation which conserves rare and heritage plants.  He is a patron of the Australian & New Zealand Solar Energy Society, a member of the Australian Institute of Horticulture and an executive member of the Queensland Conservation Council.

As horticultural editor of Organic Gardener magazine he is extensively involved in publishing and writing about gardening in Australia.  He was consultant for content and one of the writers of the book, Gardening Australia - Flora: the gardener's bible, which is Australia’s largest illustrated plant dictionary.  He is also noted for his discovery of a new plant species, the Harlequin Bell (Darwinia polychroma), which is an endangered species from Western Australia.

Jerry was trained by the Royal Horticultural Society and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; studied the flora of Western Australia through a Kew scholarship; managed both public and private sector horticultural enterprises; ran a busy garden centre and helped to establish Sydney’s Mt Annan Botanic Garden.   For 11 years Jerry managed the horticultural estate at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney.

In 2003 he moved to Brisbane, Queensland in order to establish a sustainable home and garden.  This house – “Bellis” - provides a model for ways in which urban Western citizens can reduce their ecological footprint, and adapt to climate change and peak oil.  His house generates solar power, recycles sewage and grey water, harvests rainwater, produces most of the organic fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices needed for his family of three - and even has a sustainable lawn maintained by solar powered equipment.   As a dedicated Guerilla Gardener Jerry grows and plants native and productive trees in barren nature strips and parks.

Jerry Coleby-Williams is best known for his contribution to environmentalism.   His model of sustainable horticulture provides a bridge between conservation and horticulture.  In 2009 he won the Australian Savewater Awards for the Built Environment Category. 

History of HOPE

HOPE started in Victoria, Australia in 1988; and in 1993, the Toowoomba branch was started in Queensland, Australia. That means that 2009 was our 21st year of operation! We celebrated at the AGM in November with a sausage sizzle. Michele Smith wrote the following overview of HOPE:

Hope Comes of Age
by Michele Smith

On the 14th November, not-for-profit environmental organisation, HOPE (Householders’ Options to Protect the Environment) celebrates its twenty-first birthday. It’s an impressive milestone for a group with such a modest beginning.

It started with an informal talk to commemorate World Environment Day at an adult education centre in Mansfield, Victoria in 1988. The speaker, Janet MacKenzie, had no idea that her speech, which she called HOPE, would initiate an explosion of support that would eventually blossom into HOPE Australia.

Janet’s message to those concerned about the growing global environmental crisis was simple – ordinary people can make a difference by utilising their own unique talents to raise public awareness. By creating a network of interested supporters and by initiating individual and group actions to solve local environmental problems, society’s attitude to the environment will be transformed.

Out of this concept was born HOPE’s slogan – “Think Globally – Act Locally.”

The vision and values of HOPE certainly resonated with many people, so that within a relatively short time, some 80 branches of the organisation were established in Victoria alone. It was apparent that HOPE was here to stay. To formalise its existence, it then became necessary to establish a charter. The HOPE Generator, another brainchild of founder, Janet MacKenzie, not only provides the charter but also supplies information sheets, contacts and resources to give ordinary people the options they need to lessen their impact on the environment.

MacKenzie sums it up in the HOPE Generator: “... everyone can do something, no matter how small. Maybe tomorrow they’ll do more.”

This maxim was firmly planted in the mind of Frank Ondrus when he and his wife, Mary, moved from Shepparton, Victoria to Toowoomba, Queensland in 1993. Firmly convinced of the valuable contribution that HOPE could make to a sustainable future, Frank established a HOPE branch in Toowoomba in September 1993.

He gathered a small band of loyal volunteers around him and, together, they worked tirelessly to expand their membership. Through their efforts, HOPE gradually began to mushroom in popularity throughout the state.

Over the past sixteen years, their achievements have been nothing short of remarkable.

For seven years they were associated with the Toowoomba Regional Environmental Council (TREC) with membership on the committee for World Environment Day and regular participation in various events. Through the generosity of the Chronicle, enabling HOPE to provide a weekly column in the Downs’ Star, the organisation was able to disseminate information about its activities and provide environmental information to the general public. They acquired membership to the Queensland Conversation Council and established a website through GreenNet Australia, managed by David Shipp and later, Stephen Warburton.

According to Frank Ondrus, “We pounced on opportunities that presented themselves and then did them when no one else would.” In this way, they acquired project funding, resource grants and more recognition as a viable environmental organisation.

Some of the funding allowed the publication of the Ecology Audit booklet in 1999. Four years in the making, it was the result of the hard work of Sandra Lackie, Christine MacGillivray, Mary Ondrus and Sue Pechey and, with the help of Stephanie Crundwell, was released as a second edition in 2005.

The HOPE newsletter, edited by Robyn Whale, and, more recently, the E:news bulletin were also the results of the funding, and, through them, HOPE’s message reached more people with a resultant explosion of membership and supporters.

In 2000, HOPE Victoria asked the Toowoomba branch to take over the running of the organisation, and, since then, it has gone from strength to strength, receiving its Incorporation as HOPE Australia in 2007. Frank’s position changed from convenor to president.

Part of its success is due to its networking, an essential component in the realisation of HOPE’s vision. It is linked to almost 30 environmental agencies through its MSP program (Mutual Support Partnership) and has numerous links to government agencies as well. “It is important to maintain good relations with our partners. We can promote the environment by tapping into our layer of agencies,” Ondrus explained. “And we are mindful of a good rapport with government agencies (because this gives us) access to resources.”

There is no doubt that Frank Ondrus has been the driving force behind the success of HOPE Australia. He has nurtured the organisation from the beginning and has been relentless in the pursuit of funding and support. The ensuing projects that the organisation has taken on have been prodigious and include the Organics Expo (2002), Biodiversity Expo (2003), Earth Charter Forum (2006), Keep Qld GM Free (2006) and Walk Against Warming (2007). Its biggest project thus far is the promotion of the State government’s Low Carbon Diet program which is its current project and a real feather in HOPE’s already impressive cap.

HOPE’s future looks very bright with many projects on the drawing-board. Its continued success still relies on the support of its many volunteers and more volunteers are always needed.

By lending your support, you, too, can make a difference.

Think Globally – Act Locally.

Future HOPE

As the need to conserve energy and resources becomes more crucial, HOPE is striving to maintain a state-wide network of members and supporters, who will spread the philosophy of HOPE in their local areas. You can help, too!

You are invited to become a member of HOPE and help us to promote sustainable living practices in your community. Membership is free and open to anyone who is interested, including individuals, families, businesses and organisations.

We can’t rest on laurels – the future needs you and me to be active from now on!

Text based on the ‘HOPE Generator’ by Janet Mackenzie, founder of HOPE

Management Committee Members

Andrew Nicholson is the Vice President of HOPE. Andrew has trained in environmental science, environmental education and social work, and over the last 10 years or so has worked variously as a social worker and relationships counsellor and a community environmental educator for local government, academic and adult training organisations. In the context of present national and international concerns over climate change Andrew has a keen interest in promoting individual, organisational and community environmental awareness and ecologically responsible behaviour. His particular current interest in this area lies in finding ways to integrate ecologically responsible behaviour into the search for individual happiness and enhanced quality of life that is increasingly esired and pursued by many people in the affluent, developed world. Andrew works and lives in Toowoomba with his partner and 11 year old son.

My name is Miriam Sharp and I am secretary for HOPE. I became a member 5 years ago, and have been actively involved since the beginning. 3 years ago I accepted the role of secretary. My husband and I live in Toowoomba. About 6 years ago I moved here from the Netherlands. Our personal efforts to reduce our ecological footprint include walking or riding whenever and wherever we can, saying no to plastic shopping bags, and turning of appliances at the wall.

Nigel Kimball is Treasurer. He is Managing Director and Principal Consultant for Yarramine Environmental. Nigel has been at the cutting edge of natural resource and environmental management in Queensland for the last 10 years. He has played influential roles primarily in natural resource and environmental policy, where as a former Environmental Policy Officer for the Queensland Farmers' Federation he worked on the initial policy and design of the organisaiton's Farm Management Systems Initiative, and for the former Crow's Nest Shire Council where he worked on their award winning "Project Green Nest". Nigel has a Bachelor of Environmental Management (Hons) from the University of Queensland and is currently studying for his Masters in Project Management from the University of Southern Queensland. He is of a rural background having grown up on a property in the New Englang region of NSW, and he still maintains a connection to the family's horse breeding and irrigation business located on the Sunshine Coast. With his wife Amanda and son Fletcher Nigel resides in Toowoomba.

Stephen Warburton is HOPE's website manager. He is Digital Marketing Manager of Oaks Hotels & Resorts and general internet lover (loves the internet. not a lover who can be found on the internet). He has lived all over the east coast of Australia is now settled happily in the Sunshine Coast.

Contact Details

If you have any queries, or to become a member of HOPE Inc or to offer your support, please contact:

Frank Ondrus (President)
HOPE Inc
PO Box 6118
Toowoomba West QLD 4350
Ph. 07 4639 2135

Office:
22 Vacy Street
Toowoomba QLD 4350

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Remember, you CAN make a difference - Think globally, act locally