Summer Family Bush Camp-out - Castlemaine / Djaara Country

Bush time.

Rest.

Family. Friends. Community.

Nature play.

Sunshine.

Dam swims.

Bushcraft.

Adventures.

Caring for land.

Caring for each other.

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WHAT

Join us for a summer family camp-out at Open Field Co-Living, near Castlemaine on Djaara country.

We will be experimenting with running this low-key gathering as a participatory 'blackboard style' festival. 
This means that the facilities and a suggested structure will be provided, but we will all co-create the experience. We want to create a culture where we all take care of each other and the spaces that we are sharing.

If you imagine it's a colouring book, we'll provide the pages and the lines, but you (we all) choose the colours and fill out the page together!

If you have activities that you would like to facilitate or offer, skills or knowledge you want to share relating to nature connection, bushcraft, survival skills, ecology, wildlife, or related themes, either let us know beforehand or just jump in and sign up on the day via the whiteboard/blackboard. We ask that each adult with capacity volunteers 2 hours of their time to pitch in and help this gathering run smoothly.

What you offer can be as silly or serious as you like. Perhaps you'd like to lead a log-balancing competition? Or, team up to build a raft to traverse the dam with? Maybe share some skills with eco-printing, spoon carving, or animal tanning? Or, lead a group of children on a curious bush wander?

Proposed Schedule

THURS
4pm onwards - set up camp
5:30 - 6:30pm - cooking and eating dinner, washing up
7pm onwards - gathering around the fire (or symbolic fire) for music, stories, etc.

FRIDAY
FRIDAY
8am - 8:30am - Morning gathering, perhaps over breakfast. Talking about our plans and activities for the day.
10am-2pm Suggested Activity: Survival Day Gathering in Victory Park
https://www.mountalexander.vic...
Otherwise: Free time. relax, play, swim, nap, set up.
12pm-1pm - Lunch
2pm-3:30pm - Activity Session 1 (Co-created by you/all of us. Would you like to facilitate an activity?)
3:30pm-5pm - Activity Session 2 (Co-created by you/all of us. Would you like to facilitate an activity?)
5:30 - 6:30pm - Cooking and eating dinner, washing up
7pm onwards - Gathering around the fire (or symbolic fire) for music, stories, etc.
10pm onwards - quiet time

SAT
8am - 8:30am - Morning gathering, perhaps over breakfast. Talking about our plans and activities for the day.
9am-10:30am - Activity Session 1 (Co-created by you/all of us. Would you like to facilitate an activity?)
10:30am - 12pm - Activity Session 2 (Co-created by you/all of us. Would you like to facilitate an activity?)
12:30pm-1:30pm - Lunch
2pm onwards - Free time. relax, play, swim, nap, tidy up.
5:30 - 6:30pm - Cooking and eating dinner, washing up
7pm onwards - Gathering around the fire (or symbolic fire) for music, stories, etc.
10pm onwards - quiet time

SUN
8am - 8:30am - Morning gathering, perhaps over breakfast. Talking about our plans and activities for the day.
9am-10:30am - Activity Session 1 (Co-created by you/all of us. Would you like to facilitate an activity?)
10:30am - 12pm - Activity Session 2 (Co-created by you/all of us. Would you like to facilitate an activity?)
12:30pm-1:30pm - Lunch
2pm onwards - Packing up camp, ready to go home. Rest, nap, play, tidy up.
5:30 - 6:30pm - For those staying for the evening, cooking and eating dinner, washing up
7pm onwards - Gathering around the fire (or symbolic fire) for music, stories, etc.
9pm onwards - Gathering is concluded and all guests go home.

OTHER INFO:

WHO
- This is a small private event. Please only share this event with friends.
- All ages welcome, from newborns to elders. There'll be something for everyone!

WHERE
- 27 Muckleford School Rd, Muckleford (Castlemaine / Djaara Country).
- We are a private property on an open flat paddock, 5kms from Castlemaine train station, and 1.5 hours from Melbourne.
- Neighbouring the property there is 50 acres of bush reserve to explore with plenty of wildlife, birds and critters
- Camping is recommended in the partially shaded 'sapling grove' on the north / east side of the property

WHAT TO BRING

- Camping equipment: tent, mat, sleeping bag. You may want to bring additional shade
- Food for breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks and an eski to store it in - cook your own food whenever you wish, or team up with friends to cook communally
- Cooking equipment, eg. stoves, pots, cutlery and bowls
- Chairs, picnic blankets, cushions
- Your own extension cord and power board if wishing to use your own powered appliances (eg. kettle, toaster, rice cooker)
- Craft materials, musical instruments, bushcraft tools, boardgames, etc.
- Clothing for messy, hot or wet outdoor activities including swimming: hat, sunscreen, drink bottle, backpack for adventures
- Caravans and campervans are welcome, but the flat parking area is unshaded
- Please don't bring alcohol, awareness-altering drugs or cigarettes. No smoking on the property.

FACILITIES PROVIDED
- Compost toilet
- Hot shower
- Fresh drinking water (rainwater)
- Sheltered outdoor kitchen including 2 electric stoves, washing up tubs, tables, spices, oil, etc.
- Large sheltered, fire safe shed area for gathering
- Electricity
- Kitchen bench tops and tables x 4 (you may want to bring your own to use during peak cooking times)
- Large swimmable dam with a beach and shade, lovely to swim in and bigger than an olympic swimming pool!
- Communal fire area and fire safety equipment
- Firewood

WHEN
From Thurs 25th 4pm until Sun 28th 9pm.
- You are welcome to arrive and leave at anytime, if you arrive by bike or if you park your car in the designated parking area (unshaded).
- If you park your car in the camping area and intend to sleep in your car, you must stay put until 2pm Sunday, for traffic management and safety reasons
- If you live locally or are not able to camp, we ask that you still commit to being part of the full 3 day experience as much as you can. This helps to create a feeling of togetherness and cohesiveness, in that we are all present and creating this camp together.

CONTRIBUTION

We are offering this as a low-key community event. However we are asking for a small financial contribution to cover the costs involved in providing facilities eg. land, shelter, water, electricity, toilet paper, firewood, insurance, and event organisation.

- $30 per car - this includes driver and passengers, children etc.
- FREE for passengers, cyclists, or first nations folk. Please select one 'No car' ticket - it includes children/bike passengers.
- We want to keep this gathering intimate and manageable, so tickets limited to 20 cars. Get in quick!

- We are experimenting with this unusual way of pricing, and we understand it may be a little confusing.
- The car-based ticket means that if you're coming in one car with your loved ones, it's essentially the same as a 'family' or 'group' ticket
- If you come by bike, by foot, public transport, or even by hitch-hiking, the free ticket is a way of celebrating and acknowledging your efforts to reduce our collective carbon footprint!
- We are hoping that it will encourage thoughtfulness in carpooling, and choosing modes of transport that are planet-friendly
- No day tickets are available

FIRE SAFETY
- No personal fires permitted anywhere on the property.
- We may decide to have one communal fire in the designated fire safe area, depending on the risk level on the day
- Cooking on open flame gas stoves is only permitted in the designated fire safe area (under the shed roof).
- No cooking using open flame stoves on total fire-ban days. You will need to use the electric induction cooktop instead.

We are covered by public liability insurance, but please take responsibility for your own safety and those under your care.

SWIMMING SAFETY
- The dam is unfenced. All children under 16 must be actively supervised by an adult at all times near or in the dam.
- A person with First Aid & CPR training (Nicola and/or others) will be on site at all times.

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We acknowledge the Dja Dja Wurrung people, the custodians of this Djaara country on which we gather. Sovereignty was never ceded. We particularly acknowledge that this event is taking place on dates that commemorate a time of colonial settlement of Australia, so this may be a particularly painful time for First Nations folk, and not seen as a time for celebration. As settlers, we will try our best to honour and respect the land as we gather, and be awake and aware to this complex and painful history.

To make sure our actions align with our intentions, 50% of profits from this event will be donated to Pay The Rent:

https://paytherent.net.au/