Twenty years ago, ErinEarth sprang from the dreams of the Wagga Wagga Presentation Sisters. It has always been a place devoted to ecological justice and ecumenical views. It welcomes people of any and no religion. In 2017, the Sisters handed the garden over in trust to a Board and staff in the Wagga Wagga community. As they hoped at the beginning, ErinEarth still invites us all – staff, volunteers, visitors – to respond to the mystery of the interconnectedness of all things in the Cosmos, and of all species, with awe, wonder, and appreciation for our place in the Universe. And ErinEarth itself is a community; it welcomes and includes people from all walks of life, taking special care of those who are vulnerable. 

ErinEarth is a registered not-for-profit charity. We receive the bulk of our funding through the Wagga Wagga congregation of the Presentation Sisters (a religious order of the Catholic Church). Our aim is to support our entire local community; regardless of religion, age, race, gender or political background. 

We have a board of 9 volunteer directors that set the direction of our organisation. The board is supported by two volunteer committees overseeing the sustainability and spirituality aspects of ErinEarth’s work. The board and committees set the direction for ErinEarth, whereas the day to day work is carried out by the staff. 

Our aim is to respond to the call of the Earth for support, care and love. The Presentation Sisters have a major focus on social justice and made a decision in the 1990’s that we could not have social justice unless we had ecological justice as well. The role of ErinEarth is to demonstrate how we can achieve this ecological justice; living in tune with mother nature. We demonstrate this not only through practical exercises, but also through conversation that aims to nourish people in this important work, helping them to find clarity and solace in what can be a demanding and draining area. 

We aim: 

  1. to model and encourage practices of sustainable living in the context of the environmental issues now confronting the Earth to the local community.; 
  2. to provide education to children, young people and adults to enhance and protect the environment as a community of life; and 
  3. to develop an understanding of ‘the environment’ as a community of life, of which human beings are one part; ‘the environment’ is not something objective, external and separate from human beings.