What was once a neglected community garden in Crestmead is being given a new lease on life.
While vegetables are beginning to sprout at the Crestmead Community Garden, Jinang-Jinang cultural education founder Ethan Watego sees the project as an opportunity to cultivate something even more important.
In partnership with community organisation Merciful Servants, Mr Watego is helping transform the site into a community hub focused on cultural learning, youth engagement and social connection.
The community-led project is more than a garden.
For Mr Watego, it is about creating a space where culture, community and sustainability come together.
“Prior to me starting my business, Jinang-Jinang, I was the First Nations police liaison for Logan and Scenic Rim. I wanted to continue investing time and resources in the community,” Mr Watego said.
“The space itself became sort of neglected unfortunately and I wanted to get that space back up and running again,” he said.
Since taking on the project, volunteers and community members have begun transforming the site, recently gathering for an open day featuring a community barbecue and planting vegetables, herbs and flowers.
“We’ve got a few different lettuces and potato and carrots and lots of little plants in the ground now,” Mr Watego said.
While growing fresh produce is an important part of the project, the Jinang-Jinang founder sees the garden as a practical way to address broader community challenges, including cost-of-living pressures.
“Having the investment in the space means … people could come through and just take what they want at no cost,” Mr Watego said.
“We want community to be able to come and take from this space and ease up some of the burden on their financials.”
The project is also deeply connected to First Nations values and education.
“Culturally, being Indigenous, our fundamental values is being on Country and looking after the space so that we can utilise it throughout the seasons,” Mr Watego said.
He hopes the garden will become a place where young people can reconnect with nature, learn practical skills and engage with culture through hands-on activities.
“Making sure that we’re instilling good practices for our youth, for our bubs to be able to want to invest more time in healthy eating and healthy activities.”
Future plans include cultural workshops teaching young people how to craft and throw boomerangs, along with partnerships aimed at delivering youth training opportunities.
“The biggest thing is just creating a nice safe space for multiculturalism to thrive so we can all come together, try each other’s food, learn how the gardening side of things is so similar but also so much different to our different cultures.”
He envisions men’s groups, women’s groups, cultural activities and youth programs all operating from the site, creating a community hub that brings people together through shared experiences.
For Mr Watego, the garden’s success will not simply be measured by what’s growing in the soil, but by the relationships, cultural understanding and sense of belonging that grow alongside it.
Community members interested in getting involved can follow the Crestmead Community Garden social media channels for upcoming events and volunteer opportunities.
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