About Us

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At Gembrook Retreat, we invite people on to the land to encounter God in creation, and to equip each other to live a soulful life.

Gembrook Retreat is a 22 acre property on the border of Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung/Bunurong country. It is currently owned by a trust set up by Maggie Dunkle, a Quaker woman, in 2000. Maggie believed that the property should be made available for all to experience spiritual renewal through connection with the land.

We recognise and value the ongoing deep knowledge, care and spiritual connection of the traditional owners to this Country, and we warmly invite all Aboriginal people to visit and stay with us. We seek to listen and learn from Aboriginal people in order to understand and address the impacts of colonisation in our own mindset and practices.

Jane, Steve, Samara and Shannon are members of the Christian/Quaker residential community who live onsite at the Black Cockatoo House of Welcome and Blue Tongue House in Gembrook. We take care of the day to day running of Gembrook Retreat, welcoming guests and looking after the guest spaces and the land. Jane also runs Rewilding Christianity activities and offers spiritual direction to retreat guests.

In this time of climate crisis, we believe that by practising simplicity, community, land-based contemplation and engaging in the work of decolonisation, we can equip and encourage each other to live a soulful life.

People

“Attend to what love requires of you, which may not be great busyness.”

— Quaker Advice and Query no. 28

 

 

Featured
Being vegan
Being vegan

The household at Gembrook Retreat is choosing to be vegan. The residents have each come to this decision in different ways and at different times.

Reducing our single use packaging
Reducing our single use packaging

We have become aware of how plastic and other single use packaging creates unnecessary and damaging pollution. We are experimenting with a range of methods to reduce our reliance on single use packaging, starting with food.

Growing food
Growing food

At Gembrook Retreat, we believe that one way to live a soulful life is to be aware and involved in the ways we eat and source our food.