01/11/2026
We are feeling incredibly sad, disappointed, frustrated and, quite frankly, angry that this has happened yet again!
Our volunteers have once again attended to our worm farms, only to discover that layers of valuable worm castings have been stolen. These castings take months to create through the ongoing care and efforts of our volunteers. They are an incredibly valuable resource for our garden, and seeing that work simply taken is devastating.
Padbury Community Garden has always been extremely generous in sharing its produce with anyone who frequents the area. We encourage people to become members through our very modest membership contribution, but we have never enforced membership as a condition of enjoying what the garden has to offer. We have deliberately taken this approach to remain true to our mission of inclusivity, particularly during these challenging times when every little bit helps.
Sadly, that generosity is increasingly being taken advantage of.
We are regularly finding newly planted seedlings blatantly dug out and taken, layers of worm castings removed from our worm farms, and established plants disappearing from our garden.
We have tried information signage, giving visitors the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they simply don’t realise that not everything growing in the garden is there for the taking. We have also introduced various other measures in an effort to prevent this from happening.
Unfortunately, nothing seems to be working.
We need people to understand that Padbury Community Garden is a shared community space, not a free-for-all.
Everything in our garden represents time, effort, resources and the dedication of volunteers who give generously of themselves to create something wonderful for the wider community.
We want to continue sharing. We want to continue being welcoming and inclusive. We don’t want to have to lock everything away, restrict access or make our garden feel less like the welcoming community space it was created to be.
But this behaviour is making it increasingly difficult to do so.
Please respect the garden, and the small community of volunteers who work so hard to maintain it. Enjoy what we share, but please don’t take things that have not been offered to you.
A little consideration and respect goes a very long way.
If it keeps going like this, we are going to lose volunteers as they feel the time they put in is not valued or respected.
We need ideas, that we can actually implement, to prevent this happening? Please share what you think we should do….
Tom French MP
Caitlin Collins MLA
Liam Staltari MLA
Councillor Russ Fishwick JP
John Raftis
Cr Phillip Vinciullo - City of Joondalup
Councillor Matthew Count - City of Joondalup
Rebecca Pizzey Central Ward COJ
City of Joondalup - Government
ZaZa's Legacy - Choking Prevention Australia
