"There is no community without communing" - Nora Bateson

Before anything else happens ... community arises from a multiplicity of 'meetings' between people. Meetings where we begin the process of simply acknowledging whatever level of relationship currently exists between us.

What if we choose to think about community as a process of noticing the relationships we want to look after? Relationships we want to be engaged in - with place, with each other, with the differing ideas we hold about living alongside one another around these wetlands.

How might we look after community if we see it this way? How might we value community? How might we notice when 'it happens'..., how might we then allow it to express a vitality capable of not only care but also of adapting to change.

Perhaps part of the answer to these questions would be to create social spaces where we could meet and share our varied responses to a changing world. Spaces where we could give the time to listen to each other, to hear the stories of living our lives…

One way of holding such a multifaceted conversation is a Warm Data Lab (*). These have been described as a place where “you can have the best, most unexpected, after-dinner conversation you have ever had ...” No 'debating', no agenda, no pursuing of 'outcomes' - just a welcoming yarn we all create together on that day.

The City of Cockburn is supporting residents to hold a series of such conversations between the end of August and December 2025. Each is a stand-alone event but they also have the potential to connect over time for those who can attend more than one.

Come along and find out what they can offer, everybody is welcome. Enjoy meeting some of your fellow residents, have a yarn, share a cuppa and a bikkie/muffin afterwards.

( * The word 'Lab' can bring up the image of white-jacketed technicians examining material in pristine rooms... in this case it refers to something very different! A Warm Data Lab does not have a hypothesis or a set of rules. It’s more of a social space of open-ended enquiry and mutual learning... and, hopefully, some fun!)