Taken from the writings of Russell Anderson, Peter Hamilton, Roni Starr and Sam Madeley, Nimbin News, Pan Com Newsletters, Relaunch Pan Com Meetings, Myles Beaufort, Emma Toner and Jeni Kendell.
For people reading this who haven’t heard of Pan Community Council (Pan Com), it was first set up in the 1980s to be an active local advocacy body representing Intentional Communities in the Northern Rivers who were in broad cooperation, sharing labour, skills and knowledge, and greatly helping to advise and lobby State Government and Councils regarding housing on communities and the formation of the new model of Multiple Occupancy and new Building Codes.
By the late nineties there was burnout and a lack of volunteers, a narrowing of scope and shrinking numbers of people available to do the work.
The early post-Aquarius vision in Nimbin was that capitalism may not be with us much longer. That it would soon reach its limits and we needed to create a social alternative which developed in a way that was a fundamental rethink.
Pan Com fitted into that vision as a new social movement trying to articulate that people living in community could make a significant contribution to showing society how to function harmoniously, and that this could be achieved sustainably and at a reasonable cost.
Members met regularly, discussed what formed a successful community and decided together the answer was good communication and consideration for the future of the children, and surviving into the new century as elders. They discussed the day-to-day running of communities and also talked of themselves as an activist group trying to enhance the present and envisage the future. There was fun too.
The ‘Homebuilders Association’ could have up to 25 people arrive at a pre-arranged place, pick up the building materials and build walls, roofs, verandahs etc. in a day or a weekend, with the beneficiaries providing food, fire, music and dance. It was wonderful!
In May 2025, Jeni Kendell, Paul Tait and a group of people from the Nimbin Aquarius Foundation held the first ‘Aquarius Talks’ on Land sharing, Affordable Housing and Community.
There was such encouragement on the day from Professor Wendy Stone from Swinburne University and Nick Sable from Common Equity NSW that we should take our ideas further. That the “time was right and the door was open” to realise what could be some extraordinary outcomes.
From accidental (there are no mistakes!) talks, tea and brownies with Emma Toner and Myles Beaufort who really wanted to take these ideas further, the relaunch of Pan Community Council was born.
Since then, during this year, we have had many meetings and great sharing of ideas. What challenges are communities facing now? What could co-operation between communities realistically help with? What would make you personally want Pan Com to exist again?
From there we had 100% acceptance from meetings to reform Pan Com and, at our last meeting, have just chosen a President, Secretary and Treasurer so we can come under the auspice of Nimbin Aquarius Foundation Inc.
This will allow us to do GoFundMe, to pay for the Pan Com website and Members’ Forum and also apply for grants. Donations will be gratefully received and we will be setting up membership soon.
There have been many good people who have come to the meetings and are ready to form circle groups, discuss further and organise appropriate action.
The following ideas have come from Pan Com brainstorm sessions:
- Preserve and strengthen existing communities and help create new ones with shared ethical values.
- Create a knowledge archive and history of what has gone before over the last 50-plus years.
- Hold regular meetings and gatherings of fun, fire, food, face-to-face connection and solidarity.
- Capture the shared values that have come from 50 years of experience.
- Create a skills exchange and register.
- Recreate interest in restarting the ‘Homebuilders Association’.
- Create “The Best of Community” Manual, capturing the practical wisdom of harmonious, ethical communal living, community care and mutual aid.
- Create affordable pathways for young people to become community members.
- Look into various modern ways of rural land use of MOs, CTs and create input into new ways, models, policies and experiences that fit the world we live in now.
- Bring lived experience to Councils and governments, identifying barriers and opportunities around planning, land access, regulatory red tape, housing reuse and disaster recovery.
- Look at rules and by-laws, how they are applied and how new people are vetted.
- Emergency response and risk management.
- Obtaining insurance and making insurance affordable.
- Group banking for mortgages, vendor finance, community banking, selling and housing valuations.
- The difficult things too including troublemakers, some renters, weekend members who aren’t involved, empty houses and safety.
- Conflict resolution and management, grievance processes, fragmentation and collaboration.
- Ageing in place with young and old helping each other, purpose-built houses for elderly people and respite houses for carers and family visits.
- Local Council changes and the rise in charges.
- The hemp industry and modern agricultural use of communal land.
- Annual fees and ways of working them off through volunteering.
- Digital information available for everyone, sharing information and forums on “how to”.
- Intergenerational skills sharing, experience, knowledge and belonging, both locally and around the world.
- Maintaining a balance of ages in communities.
- Specialised aged care homes including the possibility of buying property and setting this up. Brian Forbes has told us of his wonderful yurts which could be purposed for this use.
- A local palliative care home modelled on ‘Wedgetail’.
- A Community Rental Plan through Common Equity NSW.
In the Northern Rivers, Bellingen and many other places where we have now had Multiple Occupancy for a long time, we have much to be proud of. We need to be proud of our successes and of how we are dealing, and have dealt, with problems.
As Myles Beaufort said, “The people most likely to help you when there is trouble are those in your local community. Robust communities give us all power and we don’t need to be dependent. With all of us together we can identify problems and solutions.”
What we have is each other, our communities, and the need to make them strong, ethical and on-going.
Pan Com is up and running again. The time is right and the door is open. Contact: PanComCouncil@protonmail.com
