back to Home
Scroll
to Read

How Warburton was inspired to keep building resilience

The Resilience Canopy helps communities like Warburton to dream bigger by fostering capability and capacity

A case study

Prepared by The Resilience Canopy Team
Published 20 November 2025

summary

The community of Warburton saw its neighbours in Millgrove enhancing roads and trails, hosting community days, acquiring funding for backup power and other infrastructure, and much more, with the support of The Resilience Canopy.

Inspired, it decided to review, renew and strengthen its Resilience Plan (which had focused solely on emergency preparedness), with societal struggles like youth engagement and navigating tourism at the fore. Now it’s Warburton’s turn to take more meaningful steps and become an inspiration for other communities!

It’s this ripple effect among communities that will enable The Resilience Canopy to build our movement of 500 resilient communities across Australia.

Snapshot

$1 =

$9.60

For every dollar spent on disaster risk reduction, there is an estimated $9.60 return on investment. Source

27

X

Australia spends up to 27 more times more on recovery than on resilience. Source

45

%

The percentage of Australians who say the nation is more divided today than in the past. Source

Fires and

Floods

Warburton is in a high-risk bushfire and flood area, and faces other societal challenges, such as a reliance on tourism and low youth engagement.

“The Warburton community is interesting. There's a great mix of characters there. And I think there's a lot of lived experience that hasn't been fully tapped into yet. It's been really insightful to learn from the residents, hear what they think are the strengths and the worries, and really build on those existing networks, relationships, assets and capacities that are already there to becoming a stronger community.”

– Ebony Hogg, Eastern Community Legal Centre, and Resilience Canopy Practitioner

The challenges

After seeing the devastation of the Black Saturday bushfires on other Victorian communities, the Warburton Emergency Planning Group (WEPG) was established in 2012 to serve as a local voice to Yarra Ranges Council.  

This small but committed group of volunteers has been keeping the Warburton community informed, ready and prepared for extreme weather events ever since. The group’s efforts have been immense but have focused solely on the emergency management space.

In the neighbouring town of Millgrove, the Millgrove Residents Action Group (MRAG) engaged with The Resilience Canopy to formulate a Resilience Plan 2023, which was more holistic, tackling not only the flood and bushfire risks that the two towns share, but the community’s other societal stressors as well.

See Millgrove’s full resilience plan

Warburton community members watched Millgrove tick off its resilience plan items, from solar installations (thanks to a $277k grant Millgrove received) to fun, engaging community events that reduce isolation and promote community spirit (thanks to local partnerships).

Read more about Millgrove's achievements

Given the proximity, Warburton and Millgrove community members are tightly knit. And before long, The Resilience Canopy was supporting WEPG to shift Warburton to a broader, more inclusive resilience approach that enables them to address other societal stressors facing the community.

Two central challenges identified in initial community consultations are:

  • A lack of youth engagement, and
  • the duality of the town's tourism drawcard - both a gift and a challenge.

The challenges

The beauty of Warburton is that its emergency management efforts to-date have built crucial capacity and capabilities within the community, providing an ideal springboard for these more diverse actions, which will benefit everyone who lives in or visits Warburton now and for a long time to come.

One example that showcases this capacity is the radio relay tower they got installed with the support of the local council, Bendigo Bank and other bodies during their first resilience attempts. Prior to this, residents could not receive ABC National Radio, leaving them isolated and unable to be kept up-to-date.

WEPG member Gordon Buller calls the radio station a ‘lifeline’ because of the peace-of-mind it offers residents.

“The tower was very important because it gives everybody the security of knowing what the warning signs are,” he says. “That was one big achievement.”

WEPG can boast a handful of similar achievements made in recent years, and hope to apply these same skills and connections to aiding initiatives that address their youth engagement, tourism challenges, and any other priorities that emerge from the community engagement discussions they’re currently embarking on...

The Actions

To help Warburton address its broader community resilience goals, The Resilience Canopy is giving WEPG the tools to invite more people in, especially those who may not have felt like they belonged in past conversations.

Warburton has now undertaken three Resilience Canopy Deep Dive sessions to assess community risks and to plan proactively, with strengths and challenges identified through empowering, respectful community engagement exercises and discussions. 

The Actions

3. Community gardens

Millgrove's Resilience Plan has led to the development of two wonderful green spaces for the community to enjoy: the Millgrove Memorial Reserve Garden and the Avenue of Honour.

This process involved securing a land lease from the Department of Transport & Planning, funding to source the community garden materials, fencing, pathing etc., and a healthy amount of community spirit to slash, mow, and transform the property.

As a sign of their commitment, and to help build more connections and knowledge sharing avenues, Millgrove also became a member of Community Gardens Australia.

Further discussions are ongoing, but there is no doubt that this project has already improved community connection  and set them up for greater success in the near future.

2. Local renewable power

One notable achievement from Millgrove's Resilience Plan so far is the generous $277k AusNet Energy Resilience Community Fund grant...

... they received to retrofit the Millwarra Primary School - Millgrove campus/Millwarra Community Hall with solar panels and a battery.

The solar photovoltaic (PV) technology, battery storage, and inverter will provide the building, which includes a commercial kitchen, gymnasium, and event space, with vital renewable energy.

“This will make a significant difference to the school and to the community,” says MRAG Associate Member Sam Rye.

“It’s going to reduce the energy costs for running that facility ...and increase resilience to power outages.”

MRAG found out their grant application had been successful just prior to Christmas 2024.

“It was the best Christmas present I received that year,” says Sam. “It certainly buoyed all of us at MRAG and a number of other people and family in the community.”

MRAG is now setting its sights on a whole community retrofit program and is in the process of preparing grant applications – both whole community and trial program applications - to support this.

MRAG’s Innovation Working Group is also in the midst of developing an innovative hydro project plan. Watch this space!

The Actions

1. Regular light show

MRAG formed invaluable partnerships with Bendigo Bank and Yarra Ranges Council to turn this creative community idea into an annual reality.

Commencing in 2024, the event features two light shows that vibrantly showcase the community: one on the history of Millgrove and another on Local Legends.

The first two iterations drew impressive crowds, locals and tourists alike, which boosted Millgrove’s profile and local economy, and helped create a safe, welcoming space for the community to come together.

Two years in and it is already one of Millgrove’s most hotly anticipated days in the calendar.  The community plans to make this an annual tradition every April. If you would like to attend the next one and see Millgrove’s community coming together, check out the Millgrove Residents Action Group Facebook page for more information.

The Actions

Continuing the journey! Developing a new community plan...

Having made great progress on its Resilience Plan, MRAG could have chosen to rest on its laurels. Instead, the group used its momentum to complete Millgrove Community Plan 2025, the township’s third major plan.

The Resilience Plan 2023, which MRAG formulated with the support of The Resilience Canopy, is embedded in the dynamic, evolving Community Plan, along with the future vision of Millgrove, based largely on community consultation.

Highlights include six key vision project areas...

  • Create Village Atmosphere (Shopping zone): Revitalise and reimagine the shopping precinct, bringing warmth and community to the heart of Millgrove. Proposed actions for this include erecting coverings over shops, adding more welcoming seating, and sharing home grown produce via a free food cart – with a ‘take what you need, leave what you can’ system.
  • Upgrade Memorial Reserve (Recreational zone): Breathe new life into this natural space for the community to enjoy and take pride in its ongoing care. Actions include a rotunda and gabions at Memorial Park (this Plan includes a 3D model of the park), develop wetlands, and to create a miniature railway.
  • Potential Lake, Playground & Community Hub Area - To restore and create new areas for community gathering and connection, by creating a Heritage Sawmill Museum, restoring Millgrove Lake, and establishing an adventure playground.
  • Community Gardens - To create spaces that foster local food production and strengthen community connections. Includes education and training.
  • Community Resilience Emergency Hub - To strengthen the community’s resilience with a well-resourced hub, with improvements to back up power and renewable energy.
  • Safety & Well-being - To promote unity, equity and enhance overall community well-being. Includes carryover from the Resilience Plan (e.g. resilient housing, community awareness) and other general improvements.

The Community Plan has been printed and disseminated to people of interest, including representatives in local, state and federal government, and was presented to all Councillors of the Yarra Ranges Council in July 2025.

Impacts: what worked?

“The Resilience Plan allowed MRAG and the township to dream big, in addition to providing valuable contacts.”

— MRAG President Maureen

The impacts of Millgrove's Resilience Plan are clear: all nine community priorities have either been actioned or are being worked on. This has already led to direct results like enhanced trails, better signage, greater emergency awareness, vital renewable energy infrastructure, community events...the list goes on.

But the transformation goes deeper than this. As evidenced by its Community Plan 2025, community members are building on this momentum, using the tools, skills and connections we helped provide to continue to help Millgrove grow.

As a result, the community has been transformed into one constantly striving to thrive, not just survive.

The Resilience Canopy is proud to keep supporting Millgrove when needed, but even prouder of seeing the community build greater confidence and knowledge to overcome challenges on its own.

The Canopy is also proud to have helped Millgrove instil our resilient community principles – Connection, Respect, Empowerment and Wisdom (CREW)...

Learn more about C.R.E.W. here.

Impacts: what worked?

  • Connection
    MRAG’s partnerships with local groups like the River Valley Church, Koha Community Café, Upper Yarra Rotary, the CFA, Millwarra Primary School, and the local council have helped build strong community initiatives like free meal programs and well-organised events.  Connections with major organisations like AusNet Energy have led to meaningful and tangible change.
  • Respect
    Community voices are central to decision-making. As such, MRAG made sure to conduct frequent consultations and sessions to ensure diverse opinions were heard, recognised and respected. Respect for MRAG and Millgrove have been further aided by winning coveted awards like Community Group of the Year 2024 and Citizen of the Year 2025.
  • Empowerment
    The Resilience Canopy program helped empower community members in Millgrove by giving them the skills and resources to develop and action their Resilience Plan. The successes there helped create this springboard for what is now Millgrove’s Community Plan. And with this group of empowered locals taking effective steps in building community resilience, the sky really is the limit.
  • Wisdom
    It’s hard to beat experience when it comes to building wisdom... With each plan and project this community collaborates on, the more wisdom it accrues. This extends right through from informal discussions with neighbours and locals to the understanding of what’s possible and what to prioritise, the art of grant writing and negotiations to conveying key messages with stakeholders.

Looking ahead...

Millgrove will keep taking meaningful steps on its remaining Resilience Plan projects...

...such as converting more of the community to renewable power and completing its remaining emergency preparedness tasks.

Then there is its Community Plan 2025, which features plenty of priorities to keep MRAG and the community busy.

We're excited to see Millgrove go from strength to strength in addressing more of its key priorities, and to see more Canopy Communities follow in Millgrove’s footsteps to lead their own continuously evolving resilience journeys.

This is how we create a ripple effect of change embedded in communities across Australia for many generations to come.

Looking ahead

"Take the journey, stay positive and have faith in those who are walking with you."

— MRAG President Maureen