Our Team
Meet the Founders
Andrew McLean
Andrew is the original vision holder for Eco Villages Australia. He currently works as a mobile mechanic in his own small business.
In many ways, this project was born out of frustration. I had a successful business, investments, cars, a beautiful house in the suburbs, stuff... lots of stuff. It was everything my high school teachers would have classified as a successful life, yet in my heart I knew that there was more to life.
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I have three adult children, I am one of five kids and I am the eldest of about 45 grandchildren. I went to boarding school and have been involved in community development most of my life. I instinctively knew that community was the missing ingredient. I started writing the original "Seeding Document" for this eco village: a dream for a better, more connected life.
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I am so passionate about this. I truly believe that everything can be fixed through community. We are not meant to be alone. Bringing up children in a box in the suburbs is a recipe for disaster. It's not normal, folks.
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Bringing people together in community is now my life's work. It's a labour of love and I look forward to working with others who know that collaboration is so much more powerful than competition.
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Claire Ogden
Claire is currently working as a full-time volunteer for Eco Villages Australia. She has spent the last nine years running the small business, "Claire's Circus School" and volunteering in envrionmental groups to address climate change.
I've always had a passion for social justice since I was a young child. Fairness and kindness are two things I value highly and have spent many years advocating for. Through activism, I've developed a deep understanding of social movements and the democratic process. It gives my life a lot of meaning to make an impact while also learning and having fun.
After years of pushing for political change, I'm excited to engage in the ultimate political action: to live in an empowered, eco village community.
The eco village will be a place where we determine how we live and how we express our unique, creative selves in harmony with the natural world. My dream is that one day we will have a network of properties that are collectively owned by Eco Villages Australia and members could have some flexibility to move around the properties, subject to available space. I'm very interested in how structure and clarity can sit alongside freedom, autonomy and choice. Balancing these elements can allow us to be self-responsible and have joyous, connected lives.
There is much suffering to be found in the world but there is also much beauty and joy. We can co-create the world we want to live in, one eco village at a time.