By Dongyun Kwon
Following a 50th anniversary open day in April, Moora Moora Co-Operative Community hosted one more event to celebrate the significant milestone of the 50th anniversary.
Moora Moora 50th birthday party was held over the weekend from Friday 1 November to Sunday 3 November.
Moora Moora Co-Operative Community is an intentional community established in 1974 on top of Mount Toolebewong near Healesville and is now home for around 45 residents who live sustainably in the 30 households and six clusters, all surrounded by forest owned by the cooperative.
Moora Moora co-founder Peter Cock said the community was set up with the purpose of living with nature and each other along with learning in the process.
“I did my PhD on the topic to make sure the place had a chance of surviving, so I looked at 50 different communities and saw what worked and what didn’t work,” he said.
“My motivations were involved in the anti war movement and I was sick of protesting to ask the government to do stuff, so I was thinking about what I could do, what contribution I could make for what I was concerned about, the isolated and increasing instability of the nuclear family, and our alienation from nature.
“We used to live in communities, tribes and extended families and I wanted to try and work towards trying to intentionally create that sort of a community for the future and for my kids.”
About 100 former and current residents turned up to celebrate the history of the community together.
Rebecca Urie, who has lived in the community for about eight years, was one of the event organisers for the special birthday party.
She said the party was full with music, food, story telling and tour as well as reminiscing of the last 50 years and contemplation for the next 50 years.
“On Friday night, the event started with a welcoming ceremony and the lasagna dinner. We shared the stories about early days or things that have happened more recently, around the bonfire,” Ms Urie said.
“On Saturday, we walked and toured the clusters for people who might not have been here for a while, giving them a chance to walk around again to see what’s the same and what’s new.
“Another really special thing was watching a documentary. One of our current members, who is a documentary filmmaker, put together a documentary about the early days of Moora Moora and we watched it together.”
There were lots of other activities including a T ball match, which is a Moora Moora’s birthday party tradition, a workshop to look back at the history of the Moora Moora and discuss the plan for keeping the community for the next decades.
Former Moora Moora member Dale Howard, who lived in the community between 1997 and 2011, came from Port Macquarie, New South Wales to attend the 50th birthday party.
After he left Moora Moora, he lived in Healesville and then moved to Port Macquarie three years ago.
Mr Howard said he felt a “warm feeling” coming back to Moora Moora.
“It was a nice place to live. It was a wonderful social experience living close to other people that have really close relationships. It was hard to leave,” he said.
“I’ve got good friends here and I love the environment, the views, forest and the peacefulness of it.
“I’ve got so many good memories and I love walking around, remembering places on the property.”
Mark Gunther is originally from the USA, who has Australian citizenship now.
He moved to the Moora Moora in 1976 and still lives there.
Mr Gunther said he liked the idea of a community owned property where people share responsibility, work and friendships.
“I’ve always loved the bush and the outdoors. I was looking for a place to build a house,” he said.
“We had looked down in Tasmania and decided that we wanted to stay in Victoria and [Moora Moora] was a good option because it wasn’t extremely far away from Melbourne.”
Mr Gunther and his wife built their house from scratch in the Moora Moora Community with second hand materials.
“I didn’t hire a builder to build it. I designed it and I built it,” he said.
“My wife and other members of the community helped me build the house.
“It’s a fantastic place to bring children up. I had two daughters who grew up as adventuresome, energetic and physical people because they grew up in this kind of environment.”
Mr Gunther’s oldest daughter is currently a manager of the Melbourne High School Outdoor Education Centre and teaches outdoor activities like canoeing and mountain biking.
