Our History

Timeline

1975 The origins of Mount Eliza Neighbourhood House date back to the activities of the Mount Eliza Caring Group, which comprised of members of Mount Eliza churches, who had been carrying out caring activities in the community since 1975.

1979 The need for a wider range of community services was recognised and as a result of a social survey carried out in conjunction with the Sociology department of the then Caulfield Institute of Technology and a subsequent public meeting, a community contact centre was established.
Originally known as Mount Eliza Community Contact, the first programs started on October 1st 1979. They included discussion and craft groups and a drop in centre operating at 130 Humphries Road for half a day each week. Subsequently an additional drop in centre was established in the Mount Eliza Hall in Canadian Bay Road on a similar basis

1980-1983 There were no staff at this stage – the centre was totally dependent on volunteers responsible for implementing specific areas of activity. The first community information leaflet was issued in 1980 and in 1981 the first voluntary co-ordinator was appointed.
Recognising that permanent facilities were necessary and following negotiations with the Shire of Mornington and Municipality of Frankston, the Mount Eliza Community Contact were provided with a permanent room adjacent to the planned senior citizens centre. With this change the first elected Contact Committee came into being and the official opening of the building took place in October 1983.

1984 By mid-1984 almost 200 residents were involved in Contact activities which now included after school and holiday programs for children, games programs, a book exchange, exercise programs and a community information leaflet.

1987-1987 saw further expansion of the building due to program and administrative needs and was done with the financial support of the councils and the Regional Council for Adult and Further Education (ACFE). In the following year the first paid co-ordinator was appointed.

2010-2016 There were further building works in 2010 when the centre was enlarged and modernised with 2 good sized rooms, a small computer room, 2 offices and a reception desk. In 2011/12 a fenced playground was added and the kitchen upgraded and enlarged in 2015.

There have been a few name changes also from Mount Eliza Community Contact to Mount Eliza Village Neighbourhood Centre Inc. then to our current name Mount Eliza Neighbourhood House. Programs have also change over the years with an emphasis on computers and technology for a number of years. The old favourites have continued and include: exercise classes, craft, chess, mah-jong, book club and walking groups. The House also hires out rooms to local community groups for meetings, activities and training programs.

In 2019 we celebrated our 40th anniversary. We had over 100 people attend our celebratory morning tea and it was so wonderful to see so many new and old friends attend.

In 2020 we were only open throughout February and March before we went into lockdown for the year due to COVID restrictions.

Now in 2021, we are open again and are offering a new activity program that has changed due to restrictions.

We are looking forward to what the future brings!