Eagleby Together

Community snapshot

South of the Logan River, Eagleby is a culturally strong and vibrant community, rich with wetlands, bushland and places where families come together. It is a place where children are surrounded by connection, culture and care, and where innovative models of playing and learning are being led from the ground up. At the heart of this work are welcoming community spaces like Jinndi Mibunn, where children, families and community gather, learn and grow together.

Population

~14,289

Location

Just off the Logan Motorway, neighbouring Beenleigh

Unique character

Bordered by the Logan River creating a tranquil community for children to play and Elders to yarn.

Strengths

Cultural strength Environmental pride Strong community connection

Origin Story

Established July 2022

Rooted in cultural leadership and community voice, Eagleby Together’s work is centred at Jinndi Mibunn, the Eagle’s Nest, a place of safety, belonging and nourishment. Eagleby Together is weaving community, culture and systems into a connected whole. Here, you can often smell the fire burning and hear the birds singing from the wetlands as they pass through, while children play nearby and Elders gather with community in circles under the trees. The sights, sounds and spirit of Eagleby are never far from the work.

Early Signs of Success

A Birth-to-Death Roadmap has been created with indicators to guide change. Eagleby Together has taken leadership in areas such as Closing the Gap and child safety reform. The Jarjum Voices program has amplified the perspectives of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, who have shared that they are “hungry to learn our culture” and that strong learning happens outside, especially when connected with Elders.

Through partnerships with multiple schools, Eagleby Together’s practices and guidance are rippling outward – shaping how cultural learning, child voice and community-led systems reform are embedded across Logan Together’s Focus Communities and the wider region.

Innovative projects and collaborations like the Community mural and garden and Joomunjie Land at Eagleby South State School are sparking creativity, play, community pride, wellbeing, and belonging. Alongside this work, food support initiatives have ensured families in need are cared for.

Ways of Working

Eagleby Together works in culturally engaging ways, using play, song and dance to connect both children and adults out on Country. This is further supported through learning circles and collective art, which create space for reflection, shared learning and planning.

The Steering Group has become the trusted local leadership body in Eagleby. Its way of working, known as “Big Circle, Small”, ensures conversations happen at the right scale and rhythm, feeding into each other like raindrops pooling into shared action.

Community Voice

Eagleby community speak of culture, flexibility and integration. They describe the importance of a connected, clear and holistic health and learning system that supports thriving children, strong families, safety, jobs and housing. Together, these priorities point to a shared vision for a healthy and safe community.

Priorities & Collective Plan

The Eagleby Together Steering Group brings together local people, organisations and community leaders who care deeply about Eagleby’s children, families and future.

The group helps hold a shared vision for Eagleby and creates a space where community voice, local knowledge and data can come together to guide action. Its role is not to speak for everyone, but to keep listening, keep testing ideas with community, and help make sure local voices shape the work.

The Steering Group works in a way known as “Big Circle, Small Circle”, reflecting the different conversations needed to move the work forward. Sometimes the work needs a larger conversation, with many people in the room. At other times, it needs a smaller yarn with the right people, at the right time. This way of working respects the different relationships, rhythms and readiness across the community.

Between regular Steering Group meetings, smaller conversations and working groups can form around key priorities or projects. These conversations help ideas grow, strengthen and connect back into the broader work. Over time, they create a shared picture of what matters most for Eagleby’s children, families and community.

In September 2022, through conversations with community, the Eagleby Together Steering Group identified three focus areas as a strong place to start working with government, services and other partners.

1. Community Designed Learning

Eagleby is a community rich with knowledge, culture, creativity and lived experience. Community Designed Learning recognises that learning can happen in many ways, across many places, and through many relationships.

This approach is inclusive of the 100 languages of learning, a culture of research, a culture of investigation, and co-constructing learning alongside children, families and community. It values curiosity, creativity, culture, observation, storytelling, play, problem-solving, nature, relationships and hands-on experiences as important ways of learning.

Schools and education institutions, including the Eagleby Learning Centre, do wonderful work for many school-aged children. At the same time, some learners may not easily fit within existing systems. This can be due to age, attitude, the impacts of trauma, equal access, apprehension, or other life circumstances.

Community Designed Learning creates opportunities to explore lifelong learning options that are connected to Eagleby’s natural and social environment. These learning pathways can be shaped around the strengths, interests and needs of local people, especially those who may need a different way in.

Over time, this work aims to support learning that is meaningful, community-led and formally recognised, even when that learning happens outside traditional education settings. It offers a way to honour different kinds of knowledge, strengthen confidence, and create more inclusive pathways for children, young people, families and community members to grow, contribute and thrive.

2. Wellbeing, Health and Safety

Eagleby is bordered by two rivers, includes the wetlands, and has open community areas and spaces in the middle of the suburb. These spaces are important to the community and always have been.

A focus on walking, play, organised sport such as Rugby League, future opportunities connected to local waterways, and spending time in these natural environments – individually or through learning groups – can support holistic health and wellbeing.

The aim is to establish a community education program that embeds a sense of security, where the community looks out for one another and helps ensure each other’s safety. Alongside a community education program, having people walking about and purposefully scanning the environment can help ensure a safe place for the whole community, anytime and anywhere, including through play and exercise.

The environment will also benefit from people’s ownership of it. Further, there are clear links to education provision, which can then flow on to employment and the associated return on investment.

3. Community Connections

Eagleby is a place where people should be able to be born, live meaningful lives, work, be supported in old age, and be buried without having to leave this place.

The community has long felt ignored, which has also had the benefit of creating a strong, united community. It is now the right time for planned whole-of-government strategic investment to provide the infrastructure, work opportunities and support services required to achieve this objective.

This commitment is to all community members throughout life. The outcomes connected to each of these three focus areas are being mapped against the ages and stages of development, from pregnancy to passing and beyond.

What's Next

Eagleby Together is grounded in culture, guided by community and already delivering tangible outcomes. It is showing what community-led, culturally grounded systems change can achieve. With strong leadership, a living connection to Country and momentum for growth, Eagleby is ready for deeper investment to secure lasting outcomes for children, families and the wider Logan region.