The Centre has been managed by Gina Dougall for the past 10 years. During this time, the organisation has grown enormously thanks to our fantastic team of talented and committed staff and volunteers. Our current employees are listed below:
Gina Dougall – Centre Manager
Gina has worked at Banksia Gardens since 2001 and has thoroughly enjoyed being part of the fantastic growth of the Centre over these years. She has a background in recreation management, community health and juvenile justice. Gina has just recently married Nick who has made her life fun. She has three children, lives locally and loves her job with a passion. She looks forward to growing Banksia into the most successful Neighbourhood House in Victoria.
Samantha Donaldson – Administration Manager
Samantha came to Banksia Gardens Community Centre in 2000 and over this time has watched its amazing development into the thriving and buzzing Centre it is today. Starting at Banksia Gardens as a Work for the Dole participant, Samantha soon became the Administration Assistant, and in her current role as the Administration Manager she oversees and maintains the day to day operations of the Centre and provides direct support to the Centre Manager and all Project Managers. She is currently studying a Diploma of Business Management with CWCC and RMIT. Working at Banksia Gardens has allowed Samantha to pursue her passion in graphic design, creating the new 'look' of the Centre. Samantha lives with her husband, is a proud mum to their young son.
Natasha Harby – Administration Assistant
Natasha commenced at Banksia Gardens in 2004 as a Work for the Dole participant, and we loved her so much she joined the team as the Administration Assistant completing a Certificate III in Business Administration through traineeship. She provides direct support to all Banksia Gardens staff. Natasha lives locally with her daughter and partner.
Jaime de Loma-Osorio Ricon - Community Development Coordinator
Jaime's first association with Banksia was as a volunteer tutor while he was working for Hume City Council. Since his first day as a volunteer, he thoroughly enjoyed the Centre's atmosphere. Jaime currently works full time as Banksia's Community Development Coordinator. Jaime has been the driving force behind the redevelopment of the Centre to become the Hume Eco Demonstration Centre. As part of his job, he is also responsible for the Banksia Gardens Study Group and numerous other projects. Jaime's interests are quite diverse and include social and environmental issues, science and languages. He is a dedicated runner and most importantly, the proud father to his son and baby daughter.
Nick Mac Hale – Community Connections Project Manager
Nick is the Community Connections Project Manager at the Banksia Gardens Community Centre. Originally from Ireland, Nick moved to Australia in 2006 and previously worked with the YMCA and Centre for Multicultural Youth here in Melbourne. His passion for community work stems from his involvement with the organisation Sport against Racism Ireland (SARI). In his time with SARI, Nick experienced the power of sport to bring communities together through the shared language of sport. Nick thoroughly enjoys working at the community centre; and with the local community members at the Banksia Gardens public housing estate. Finally, Nick is an avid runner and enjoys beating his colleague Jaime in fun runs on a regular basis!
Kedar Acharya – Community Connections Project Officer
Kedar works at Banksia Gardens Community Centre as the Community Connections Project Officer. At the age of 4, he was evicted from Bhutan and settled in a refugee camp in Nepal where he lived for 18 years. Kedar arrived in Australia in September 2009. He began working at the community centre in October 2010. For many years Kedar worked overseas with a number of community organisations; he is passionate about supporting community and thoroughly enjoys his role at the Banksia Gardens Community Centre. Kedar coordinates 3 programs at the Centre: Banksia Gardening a social enterprise, the Banksia Food Market and the Settling Down Project.
Fiona O'Grady – Hume Playgroup Strengthening Project Coordinator
For the past 20 years Fiona has worked in the Arts, Culture and Community Development sectors as a program development manager, project manager, events producer and instructor. She has worked successfully in large cultural organisations and as a freelance project manager and producer for smaller community organisations. Over the last five years Fiona has actively sought to apply her project management skills and experience to the community sector. She has worked in a number of community settings with CALD communities of all ages and has developed a passion for engaging with these groups to facilitate genuine growth, development and empowerment. Having had a long association with Banksia Gardens Community Centre delivering education programs and community projects, she is thrilled to be part of the Banksia Gardens team in her current role as Hume Playgroup Strengthening Coordinator.
Shelley Hewson – Playgroup Support Officer
Shelley has been working in early childhood and adolescent programs for a number of years. Having provided therapy, counselling, case management and education to children, young people, professionals and families in a range of settings and services. Shelley has had the honour of living and working in communities on the traditional lands of the Ngaanyatjarra people in Western Australia, with the Anangu of remote South Australia and the Ngarrindjeri in the Murraylands of rural South Australia. Shelley is passionate about a child's right to play and providing safe and supportive places and spaces where children can dream, explore and connect to community, in order to be the leaders of tomorrow. Some of her favourite things are blowing bubbles and rainbows!
Fusun Gumus – Playgroup Development Officer
Fusun Gumus has been involved in playgroups for over 11 years. She was the president of a playgroup in Meadow Heights where she was a volunteer committee member. She then went on to facilitate the Hume Parent Advisory group for nearly 3 years. She is now part of the Banksia Gardens playgroup team as the Playgroup Development Officer. Fusun lives in Hume and has three school aged children. She has a passion for travelling, and does so often with her family.
David Farrington – PRISM 10 Coordinator
David has spent the last 12 years in the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) field across in a variety of leadership, health promotion, community development, management, consultancy and research areas and having a lot of fun doing it in the Europe and Australia and enjoying international work. He now has a focus on particularly working with same sex attracted and transgender young people in Victoria, helping the new generation of our culture and their communities to advance their human rights, educational and cultural projects as well as researching mental health and wellbeing. David is the Coordinator of the Banksia Gardens Prism 10 project in many ways sits at the center of these dynamics with an emerging LGBT community in the Hume region and a new and increasingly visible young generation now experiencing their own unique challenges and opportunities.
Adnan Nashashibi – Work Experience Coordinator
Adnan's background is as a Landscape Architect. Adnan came to Australia from Palestine in November 2008 where he worked as Director for National Parks, and prior to that at International Ranges. He arrived with his wife and family and moved to Meadow Heights where he found life difficult for the first 6 months as he was unemployed. He then mowed lawns for 3 months before he embarked on a landscape project with a builder, landscaping 13 units. Adnan came to Banksia in September 2010 and has been involved in a variety of work skill projects which include the design and development of the beautiful gardens that now surround the building. Adnan supervises and trains young people interested in maintenance and the building industry, and is a valued member of the Banksia team.
Rana Tbaileh – Banksia Gardens Stronger Foundations Project Coordinator
Rana moved to Melbourne from Palestine in 2008 as a skilled migrant. She was first involved in Banksia as a volunteer tutor, soon becoming the Stronger Foundations Project Coordinator. Rana holds a Ph. D Degree and has extensive experience in the education field, spending 13 years as a university lecturer, scientific researcher, and high school teacher in science and maths. Rana values and appreciates working for the community and she demonstrated her patience during her work as a manager in the department of primary industry in her country and recently during her work for the community. She enjoys the friendly, team spirit environment that shines at Banksia Gardens, and is looking forward to future development both personally and professionally through working with us.
Miriam Johnson – Computer Tutor
Miriam Johnson has been training students in computers for 10 years, with the past 6 years at Banksia Gardens Community Centre. She started her working life as a nurse and has extensive experience in the community sector. As a nurse Miriam had little knowledge of computers. She trained as a programmer and was opened to the amazing potential of computers through working in the community on a number of projects. Miriam strongly believes her two fields are not so disparate as good health is about connectedness and computers are a great way for people to connect. She looks forward to meeting many more new people and introducing them to computers and easing their transition into the cyber world.
Sanja Poric – Children's Services Tutor
For the past 13 years Sanja has worked in early childhood services which provided her with an insightful experience and a strong commitment to these fields. She has experience in children's services working with children ages from 0-5 years, having held positions of Child Care Assistant, cook, qualified child care worker, Assistant Centre Co-ordinator and for the last 6 years as a Kindergarten Teacher. Sanja's social and friendly nature means she has the ability to connect with children and families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, forming respectful, trusting and professional relationships. She values the task of building community involvement, which she sees as part of working in early childhood setting.
Sanja has been working at Banksia as a tutor, teaching Introduction to Child Care. This introductory course outlines the Early Childhood profession, employment opportunities and current policies and practices, and is also currently employed by Victoria University, teaching Certificate III in Children's Services and Diploma of Children's Services based at Banksia. Sanja's knowledge and experience has led her career into teaching adults. With this new passion, she endeavours to achieve high levels of early childhood educators in the future and to ensure that all children in early childhood education and care settings experience quality teaching and learning.
Peter Lazarus – Environmental Sustainability Tutor
Peter started at Banksia in the homework club tutoring in maths and science. He has been contributing to the homework club for three years. Peter also developed and runs the ten week Sustainability class at Banksia. The purpose of the class is to help the local community understand the many aspects of sustainability, and to be able to apply the ideas to their own lives to save money, and contribute to the wellbeing of the planet. Peter is very keen on living in a sustainable way. He brings his own experiments and experiences in improving his home to the course. Peter graduated with a diploma in Electronics Engineering and has worked in the computer industry for forty years. He has a masters degree in Information Technology from RMIT.
Abdi Aden – Youth Worker
Abdi started here at Banksia as a student attending the homework program and after graduating high school in 2007, continuing his studies at university to study Human Movement. During that time he was employed by CMY (Centre of Multicultural Youth) to run an indoor soccer program for the youth. A short period later Abdi went to work for the Big Issue coordinating a Homeless Street Soccer program. In early 2010 he joined the Banksia Gardens team to facilitate the homework program and the school holidays program. Abdi is also involved in an exciting program called Hume Youth Action Group. It is a program where it gives voice to the youth and gets them directly involved in changes they want to see made within their community. It is an exciting program which we hope to achieve many wonderful things here in Hume. This program is part of the many exciting programs that are here at Banksia Gardens Community Centre.
Zuhal Boyaci – Playgroup Facilitator
Figen Arslan – Playgroup Facilitator
Alicia Mateo – Yoga Instructor
Joanne Mackey – Exercise Instructor
Puspa Acharya – Cleaner
Roy Bunney – Cleaner
