Moora Moora Cooperative Community

Moora Moora is one of the longest-established cooperative communities in Australia. We are a diverse group of people of all ages choosing to live together, in a social structure offering both privacy and community. Our aims are to live with nature, to live together co-operatively and to integrate learning and education into all aspects of our lives.

Our land is on a mountain top 70 km from Melbourne, Victoria’s capital city. Three quarters of the land is eucalypt forest, maintained as a wildlife reserve. We do not allow cats and dogs on the property to protect the abundant native birds and animals. A Conservation Covenant on our forest ensures no future development in our forest.

One quarter of our land is used for pasture, organic farming and viticulture, woodlots, permaculture and horticulture. Small groups cooperate in participating in these activities and we all work together to care for our land and infrastructure on monthly workdays. We love having volunteers to work with us.

We have thirty dwellings arranged in six clusters, which are sited along our mountain plateau. Our community buildings occupy a central position, with three clusters to the north and south. Each cluster is comprised of four to six houses. Each cluster has developed its own distinctive culture, within the framework of the whole community.

Our Community Centre , ‘The Lodge’ is a large two story building that we use for meetings and formal and informal activities. Our Octagon has similar uses, and our Old Cafe serves as an informal gathering place for hobbies and conviviality.

The Lodge and Octagon are also the bases for our Learning Centre, which runs and hosts workshops and conferences for people or organizations aligned with our values.

Decision-making occurs at monthly meetings. Many other community activities are carried out by committees, including Learning Centre, Membership, Finance, Works, Social, Reachout, Land Management and Emergency and Safety Planning.

We have been an off-grid community since our inception, using solar, wind and a small hydro system. Eight of us were arrested in the late ’70s for opposing grid power coming to our mountain. We now have a solar farm servicing buildings and cars, and a number of our members are involved in the solar field.

Many of our members have been living at Moora Moora for thirty or forty years. As they become elderly, some move from the community down to our local town, from where they can continue to be involved. This means that there are usually homes available for sale to members who share our values and want to work to help us further grow Moora Moora.