We’ve just heard word that the East Gippsland MakerSpace, located in Bairnsdale, Australia needs more members! They sent us a wonderful tour video, and their place looks simply awesome.
It’s a very large facility (looks like an old school) that might even rival some of the biggest hackerspaces we saw during our Hackerspacing in Europe tour — seriously they have a room for everything!
They have all of the basic stuff like an electronics lab, a woodworking area, a community lounge, the kitchen, a metal working area, a general arts and crafts area. But then they also have a sound booth (in progress), an aromatherapy and massage room, a pottery room, a sculpture room, a multi-purpose hacking room, the network server room, a retro arcade and computer training lab, and loads of storage!
Stick around for an official walk-through tour by the founder [Scott Lamshed]!
So, if you happen to live in the area, and haven’t heard of the EG Makerspace yet, go check it out, we would!
Wrong end of the country or I would so be on that.
Great opportunity see an Australian hacker space, they have a good spot.
Any Queensland spaces throwing there name out there?
Both Brisbane and the Gold Coast have hackerspaces. I’m not sure beyond those two though.
Thought there was one in the valley
HSBNE moved out of the valley a couple of years ago, we’re now in Hamilton near Portside Wharf. Just search for “Port Hack” on google maps :D
Note: our current space is absolutely massive, one of the largest spaces in the world, and EG MakerSpace still puts us to shame :D
Last time I checked it seemed that the Geelong hackerspace was having critical mass problems, so I’m not sure how well that bodes for this one, so far out of Melbourne.
Still, will be interesting to see how they go.
I’m quite often down this way and never even knew that there is a makerspace just off McKean St, must give it a look next time i’m down.
CNK: The best thing is if you can get local councils behind you in some way or the other. You also need to get mentioned in places where other people will see, such as on Meetup or the like, and the occasional post here on Hack-a-day also helps. ;)
“Getting out of the garage” is always the hardest part about getting a space together, and at least Gippsland have got that going for them. That forumulative first period is when it’s either make or break, and it usually all comes down to who has the time and/or the personalities involved. All it takes is something to interfere with that (eg: life getting in the way) and the movement to get somewhere dies.
CCHS (the melbourne space) was very lucky that the few events like this that happened were worked around. Even then, making it run on it’s own finances hasn’t been easy, but it’s now quite sustainable and going strong.
PS: Ballarat seems to be going quite well, so it’s definitely not all bad for regionals.
Stuart Young: What is the name of the Ballarat space? Just tried Googling, but I can’t see anything (that isn’t behind a sign-up-wall)…
You can check out the Ballarat Hackerspace at http://bhack.in.
They’re also quite active on google+ and twitter.
I would say a good presence online is important too. Doesn’t take much to get up a bit of a website with clear and inviting info, that is a big one for me. Just being able to punch a few keywords into google and come back with locations. Also as a Melbournian I am keen to have a look at CCHS at some stage.
Wow, there’s a Ballarat hackerspace! I’ll have to check them out sometime…
Just looked at their site – first hackerspace based in a gym?
Seems I got a little carried away with the word “exciting” :-) Thanks for the support Hackaday!
egMakerspace is awesome! It is actually in an old hospital, which is why they have so much space and many different rooms. It has very very diverse interests (which is awesome!), people and age groups. Definitely worth checking out if you are in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia.
“It looks like an unassuming 1950s hospital corridor, but within the disused patient wards of this old building, a group of East Gippslanders are breathing creativity and community back into Bairnsdale.”
More;
https://open.abc.net.au/posts/east-gippsland-makerspace-46rr4gj
I am proud to be a member of the EG MakerSpace, and we are very lucky to have the size space we need. We actually use a whole wing of the old hospital.
I started being involved in the sewing room, but have quickly moved into our woodwork room. There is something for everyone and we are just so lucky to have an awesome bunch of peeps that frequent the space. We have the space we just need some more members to help fill it and keep it alive…
I hope to move to Melbourne soon. Bairnsdale is a bit far out, and I suspect even Geelong would a fair hike for someone expecting to work [and settle] in the Eastern suburbs. CCHS, however, seems based in the inner Eastern suburb of Hawthorn and would probably be reachable.
Is there a list of Makerspaces I should be checking out?
There’s been a few mentions of CCHS in Hawthorn here. We have a hackaday.io hackerspace page at http://hackaday.io/hackerspace/734-CCHS—Melbourne-Hackerspace in addition to our regular website that you’re welcome to check out. Full disclosure, I’m one of the organisers.
There are several other Maker/Hacker-spaces in Melbourne, including several located in libraries and the Western Suburbs. I’m trying to find some links, I’ve got them somewhere but they’re escaping me right now.
We’ve talked about a road trip to to EG several times, but keep running into scheduling conflicts.
Size matters because workspace is a valuable resource. With only 400 square feet myself I’ve come up a bit short lately. I could use better than three times that amount of space I think. The downside to a large workspace is walking though.