Hawker Community Repair Cafe

01/06/2026

The Shed, out at Fyshwick, is a great place to drop of your unneeded reusable items and a great place to buy things from to avoid buying new.

And someone recently took home a holey jumper and darned it!

We're happy to teach darning at the repair cafe on 21 June, 10-1, Hawker International Softball Centre

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18jxFjNvie/

A couple of weeks ago, the wonderful Naomi asked if she could have this jumper, full of holes and destined for the scrapheap.

LOOK WHAT SHE DID! 😍

The Shed | Open 7 days
Mon-Tue 9-3pm | Wed-Fri 9-5pm | Sat-Sun 8-5pm
4/1 Dairy Rd, Fyshwick

23/05/2026

Love Cafe Stepping Stone and getting your stuff repaired?
Now two of Canberra's six repair cafes are run next door!
While perhaps not as professional and lovely as CSS, the Hawker Repair Cafe has yummy hot food, a popular sausage sizzle and cakes plus cold and hot drinks thanks to the Softball ACT cafeteria, the Hawker Mens Shed and our sponsors and supporters. We're next on on 21 June 😍

The first Toolbox Repair Cafe in our lovely new digs is happening THIS SATURDAY, March 28, between 2pm and 5pm (though if you come too late we won't have time to start the repair, so do plan to be there by 4:30pm at the latest).

We're now in Dickson for Repair Cafe events, in the Common Ground Hall, 8 Hawdon Place (right next to Cafe Stepping Stone. They close at 3:30pm though, so if you want to get a fabulous ☕️ and 🍰 , come early!)

YUUUUGE list of repairers this week! Take a look:

IT hardware and software: Albert
Small electrical: Ian, Graham, Kim
Small furniture: Ken
Textiles, fabric, darning: Beth, Lile, Kathy, Maddie
Knife and blade sharpening: Kim, Paul
Costume jewellery: Lile
General repairs and tinkering: Dave, Paul, Julian
3D printing of small parts: Alex

We hope to see you there! 💚

---
HOW IT WORKS
Repair Cafés: Where volunteers fix your stuff - for free. You bring your broken or other not-working-properly item along; we match you with a volunteer repairer who can hopefully diagnose the problem, and complete the fix for you.

A full list of repairers is made available close to each date, and usually includes fabric mending (eg hemming, patching, darning), small electrical (eg lamps, kitchen appliances), knife sharpening, and general tinkering (eg gluing back small pieces). Sometimes we have more specialized help like phone and computer repair, 3D printing of small parts, and costume jewellery repair.

Repairs are free (occasionally you may have to bring or buy your own replacement part), and labour is donated out of kindness 💚 More info, including House Rules: https://www.communitytoolboxcbr.org/repair-cafe

Ours is just one of the repair cafés that take place in Canberra - find a full list here: https://seechange.org.au/repair-cafes

03/05/2026

Some updates to the list - a new location for our friends at the Toolbox Repair Cafe 😍

Us at Hawker? We're on again on 21 June 😁

15/03/2026

Thanks to all our visitors, stallholders, repairers and all the volunteers, today was another great day of community, repairs and locally made awesomeness.

We'll be back in another few months. So start saving your hard-to-recycle items, put your broken things somewhere you'll be able to find in July and we'll see you then!

15/03/2026

𝗛𝗮𝘄𝗸𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗳𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹-𝗠𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝘀 - 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆! 🔧🪛⚙️✂️🪡🧵
Hawker Community Repair Cafe is hosted by Hawker Mensshed and it's back from 10am to 1pm at the Canberra Softball Centre on Walhallow Street, Hawker.
𝘝𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳: your toys, small furniture, small electrical items (they also test and tag), lawn mowers, leather goods, bikes, clothes, leather goods, garden tools and to sharpen knives. Advice can be provided regarding Apple devices and apps.
𝘓𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭-𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨: eco friendly handmade gifts, toys, jewellery, textiles, garden ornaments, home produce, flowers, soaps, pre-loved tools, art, plants, books, puzzles, bric-a-brac and more.
𝘗𝘓𝘜𝘚: Hawker Recycling Station (Lids4Kids Zero Waste Warrior Tub swap and go exchange), a JP available to witness documents, live music, sausage sizzle, cake stall and hot drinks!

14/03/2026

Have you seen these signs?
Hawker Mens Shed made them from recycled political corflutes (thanks to Peter Cain MLA and ) and reuse them for each repair cafe.

Last weekend they put out 60 all around Belconnen 😍🥵

I've been playing "spot the sign" all week!

But anyway. I've missed the main point. We're on today! 10-1. Hawker International Softball Centre.

14/03/2026

Top things to do in Canberra this weekend
1. Tonight - Skyfire
2. This afternoon - find all your broken stuff (pictured, a broken brooch that needs super gluing)
3. Tomorrow - 10-1, Hawker International Softball Centre: bring your broken stuff for repairs by donation and bring your pocket money to peruse the amazing stalls full of locally made goodies and some food while you wait.

14/03/2026

We can repair bears, dolls and other textile toys in our sewing room.

Sometimes though the fabric has deteriorated beyond our ability to repair, like this 40+ year old teddy from synthetic material. For this, we have our recycling station available. Gold Coin per item or $5 per bag.

When? tomorrow! 10-1
Where? Hawker International Softball Centre

14/03/2026

Our lovely hosts Hawker Men's Shed have plants for sale at the repair cafe, just in time to refresh your garden this 🍂 autumn.

Got a stash of excess garden pots? You can donate these for reuse for free at the Hawker Community Garden pot swap beside the toilet block at the Hawker Shops. Or our recycling station will do that for you with your other recyclables for a small fee.

When? Tomorrow! 10-1
Where? Hawker International Softball Centre, Walhallow Street, Hawker

10/03/2026

Do you just bin your hard to recycle items or can you join us saving the planet little bit by little bit?

All these things can be recycled at our repair cafe recycling station 10-1, 15 March at the Hawker International Softball Centre.

We're asking for a Gold Coin per item or bring a whole shopping bag full for $5

We accept in our household/ personal category items that are recycled by BRAD, the Banish Recycling and Diversion program, Lids4Kids, Recycle Smart and local street pantries:
* Balloons
* Batteries
* Beer clips (plastic)
* Blister Packs
* Bottle lids (plastic clean milk, yoghurt, soft-drink and water ones)
* Bottle top lids (plastic)
* Bottle tops and ring pulls (metal)
* Bottles and cans (10c type)
* Bread tags (plastic)
* Coat hangers (metal only)
* Coffee capsules (aluminium)
* Computer equipment (small) e.g. mice, keyboards, webcams, cables
* Contact lens packaging (similar to blister packs
* Corflutes
* Corks
* Correction fluid pots and tape (empty only)
* DVDs, CDs, computer games
* Food – sealed packaged pantry foods in date
* Mobile phones
* Office supplies (metal)– paperclips, staples, bulldog clips, hole punchers, staplers
* Plant pots (plastic)
* Polystyrene
* Printer and toner cartridges
* Rubber bands
* Smoke detectors/ alarms
* Soy sauce fish
* Sprays or pumps from cleaning products
* Takeaway/ single-use coffee cups and lids (washed)
* Takeaway/ single-use cutlery, straws, plates, bowls, cups, etc (washed)
* Toiletries – new, unused and sealed (toothbrushes, toothpaste, roll on deodorant, floss), or shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser, handsoap pump bottles with a reasonable amount left
* Twist ties & wire (metal)
* Vapes
* Webster Packs
* Writing instruments (pens, highlighters, biros, mechanical pencils and markers)
* Lightbulbs
* X-ray films

We cannot accept:
* Books – donate to Lifeline, OpShop or giveaway
on Buy Nothing for now.
* Food that is out of date or past its best before.
* Glue sticks, wooden pencils, erasers, rulers and
cutting implements
* Soft plastics – return these at the supermarket or
sign up to ReSmart for collection from home.
* Sponges and kitchen brushes

Our recyclers, the Hawker Community Repair Café and Hawker School P&C are not responsible for the data protection of waste (destroy sensitive data before drop off).