Our History
Our history
1972 – 1974 Humble Beginnings
The concept of a teacher’s centre to offer resources and professional development was first proposed during a public meeting in Warragul, where it received strong support. A committee, led by Jack Howe, began operating from the Sion Catholic College buildings in Warragul, staffed by volunteers. The centre grew rapidly, as many schools were poorly equipped with resources. It eventually became a model for new education centres to be established across Australia.
In 1974, the Centre received a Commonwealth grant of $175,000 from the Schools Commission to build a new centre in Warragul CBD.
1975 – 1999
Incorporated in 1975, we began as the ‘West Gippsland Latrobe Valley Community Education Centre’, a resource and professional development hub for teachers and the community. We became popular as the ‘Ed Centre’. The centre was one of only three in Victoria to be set up on this scale. The role of this centre was to provide community education facilities and to be a resource centre for teachers.
Our purpose-built Education Centre opened in Smith Street, Warragul (Federal Government Grant of $175,000 from the Schools Commission).
A new car park was built, and our services grew to support the growing number of students.
We offered Word and Data Processing familiarisation course to secondary school students throughout Gippsland. Students came from as far away as Sale and Koo Wee Rup from both government and non-government schools.
Education Centre employed five full-time staff to service the growing programs.
With the Federal Government funding cuts only 23 centres survived, and Education Centre was one of them.
We farewelled Jack Howe as Director after 13 years of service to West Gippsland Latrobe Valley Community Education Centre. Rosalie Stewart led the Ed Centre as Director position from 1988-1992.
- Commonwealth funding for Ed Centre was withdrawn.
- With Gippsland Regional Council of Adult, Community and Further Education (ACFE) joining hands, Ed Centre diversified into Learn Local programs and became the office for Job Skills Trainees.
We started:
- A volunteer orientation program
- A special intervention program for long-term unemployed
- A pilot parenting program
- We rolled out a streamlined kinder enrolment process for five kindergartens in the Warragul areas.
- Our Centre was awarded the inaugural Adult Learning Opportunity Award at an education expo for our small business management course.
- We established the Gippsland Harness Training Centre.
Jobs R Us was sponsored by the Ed Centre to connect unemployed individuals with employers seeking candidates to fill job vacancies.
2000 – 2010
Delivery of training programs at South East Melbourne at the Pakenham.
Our income from Commonwealth Grants rose and staff increased to 36 full-time and 235 part-time/sessional positions.
- ECG was successful in winning the tender for the delivery of Horticulture, Agriculture and Conservation and Land Management programs from the McMillan campus following Melbourne University’s decision to cease delivery at McMillan Campus, Warragul.
- We started delivering Equine programs and Harness Tracing at the Gippsland Harness Training Centre previously managed by Melbourne University.
- We established the Brian Clarke Award to honour the memory and contribution of the late Brian Clarke, the Foundation Principal of the McMillan campus in Warragul, to rural education in Gippsland.
Our Arboriculture courses were extended at our McMillan Campus, Warragul.
- We delivered the first Diploma in Sustainable Agriculture course to help farmers and new entrants to the industry.
- We delivered 38 local people to build job readiness through our Community Disability Employment Network (DEN) program.
- We partnered with Warragul Light Harness Club in the Gippsland Harness Training Centre.
- The bid for the McMillan campus, Warragul building was successful with 30-year lease. We won the tender to keep McMillan campus, Warragul accessible to the local community to follow education and training.
- We opened a fully operational hair training salon in Traralgon to gain accredited hair and beauty qualifications. With over 80 students commencing the courses in Hair and Beauty, Retail, Financial Services and Community Services.
- ECG commenced delivery of vocational education and training programs in Pakenham with 28 participants.
- We partnered with Fairview Homes to pilot the delivery of Certificate III in Aged Care from the Fairview premises.
- ECG and the Drouin & District Community Bank Bendigo Bank partnered to offer a Youth Employment Program (YEP) to help young people improve their employability.
- First in Australia: we launched a new two-year Diploma in Horticulture that specialized in potato production endorsed by industry.
- Indigenous Men’s Art Business: ECG secured a grant from Rio Tinto to fund a 12-month pilot project to support ‘Men of the West’, a young group of Koori artists to establish a business called the Brayakolong group.
- Delivery of programs commenced in Toora and Nyora.
- Along with the Transport Connections project of the Baw Baw Shire, ECG implemented a public transport pilot from the train station to McMillan. This important pilot provides the potential to link the centre of Warragul with the campus.
- The year ended recording 1450 students enrolling over 9500 modules.
- Over 180 students were provided with traineeship in Horticulture, Agriculture, Education, Child Care, Aged Care, Retail, Business, Conservation and Land Management and Hospitality.
- ECG and Mawarra’s Country Kitchen established a café in Warragul campus providing paid employment for people with disabilities.
- A Course First for Australia: we welcomed our first group of students to the Diploma in Sustainable Agriculture
- To meet the growing demand, we opened another Hair and Beaty Training Centre in Traralgon.
- The Local Community Partnerships (LCP) program was transitioned to the Local Learning and Employment Networks (LLENs) model.
- We were honoured to win the ACFE Board’s 2009 ACE Koorie Provider of the Year Award.
- We contributed to the Bushfire recovery through the Jobs Fund Bunyip Ridge Bushfire Recovery project which enabled three teams of ten people to develop employability skills through working directly with the community and individual landholders in Labertouche.
- We formed new partnerships with ACES Sale, Community Colleges East Gippsland, Corrections Victoria, Victoria Police Morwell and Warragul, Mawarra, the Shires of Baw Baw, South Gippsland, Bass Coast, Latrobe and Cardinia, South Gippsland and Bass Coast LLEN, Isa Skills, Beewise Consulting, the Bendigo Community Bank Drouin, Business Learning materials (BLM), Kilmany Uniting Care, Bass Coast Community Health, the Stride Foundation, Community Colleges Victoria, Community Colleges Australia, Jesuit Social Services, Auswide, AMES, Telos Partners, Skills Plus, Djerriwarrh, and Westpac Bank.
- We opened our Pakenham Campus in April 2010 at 45b Main Street Pakenham.
- In South Gippsland and Bass Coast Region, we partnered with PICAL in Cowes, Corinella Community Centre, Foster Community House and the Meenyin Art Gallery in order to deliver programs and services. In addition, we delivered accredited training and community development programs in Nyora, Korumburra, Toora, Mirboo North, Dunbalk, Wilson’s Promontory and Grantville.
- We delivered programs to almost 2005 students.
- Education Centre Gippsland Community College Independent School (ECG College for VCAL students) commenced delivering Foundation and Intermediate VCAL program at Warragul campus.
- ECG College was registered as an independent school opening in July with 25 students.
- Pakenham campus training centre re-located to 55 Main Street Pakenham for students from across Pakenham, Berwick and the
- Dandenong to attend classes.
- ECG was awarded top ACE Provider of the Year at the Wurrkeker Awards in Melbourne. The second Wurreker award for ECG.
- $1.1M refurbishment of the McMillan campus opening a new school for VCAL students ‘ECG College’.
- Following a decision to cease delivery of programs at iGain in Morwell, ECG stepped in to ensure i-Gain students continued their courses.
- Discussions commence to merge Education Centre Gippsland (ECG), Adult Community Education Sale (ACES) and Bairnsdale Adult Community Education (BACE). BACE Changed their name to Community College East Gippsland (CCEG) ready for the merger.
- The Trade Training Centre Warragul, a partnership between the Secondary Colleges in Baw Baw, GippsTAFE, Apprenticeships Group
- Australia (AGA), ECG and NCDEA, with Warragul Regional College as the lead was formed.
- ECG supported 200 trainees through their traineeships and apprenticeships.
- We introduced VCAL in South Gippsland (Leongatha McMillan Building) providing a recognised full-time option for young people who have left school early. Twenty-five young people have enrolled and commenced their VCAL with us.
2011 – 2020
- We launched the new name ‘Community College Gippsland’ in March as a result of the ECG Ltd (ECG) & ACES Sale merger.
- We ran 110 accredited courses from Certificate I through to Advanced Diploma level. We moved into the ACES building in Sale to deliver our growing range of courses
- The Diploma of Beauty had its first group of graduates complete in July in both Traralgon and Warragul.
- Wonthaggi site opened in June – and closed in Nov with major challengers emerging to scale back the operation.
- A nursery was established by volunteers at Labertouche in response to the Black Saturday Bushfires and this nursery was relocated to the Warragul-McMillan Campus during 2011.
- We partnered with Landscape Victoria, the peak body for the landscaping industry, to host the first landscape tradeshow in Gippsland at the McMillan Campus to bring industry representatives, landscapers, businesses, trainers and students together to share
- information about the process for gaining registration to conduct landscaping works.
- After 14 years of service to schools in Latrobe Valley and West Gippsland, due to the limited number of active relief teachers and decreasing demand from schools, Casual Relief Teacher Agency was closed.
- Our first Red Angus cattle arrive as part of the new beef breeding and training stud funded by the William Buckland Foundation.
- Women from CCG’s Koori Education Unit, the Brayakoloong Centre at Warragul volunteered to sort and pack toys and gifts at the Salvation Army’s Morwell office.
- Copy Centre celebrated 10 years in the Smith Street shop.
- Community College East Gippsland (Bairnsdale Adult Community Education) – closed
- CCG moved its Pakenham campus into the Outlook Community Centre on Toomuc Valley Road.
- We acquired BJ Networks Consulting at Leongatha, which specialised in traineeships across Gippsland and managed 210 trainees in business, hospitality, and warehousing and logistics until their graduation.
- Purchased a new fleet of vehicles
- Awarded record 806 nationally recognised qualifications.
- State Government cuts to VET sector funding hit hard making a major restructuring critical. Some programs were ceased and staff numbers were reduced.
- Government funding cuts resulted in Sale campus closure followed by Traralgon and Morwell campuses by the end of the year.
- Trade Training Alliance (WGTTA) for Horticulture and Agriculture was opened at the McMillan campus.
- Connecting schools and training organisations across West Gippsland, we opened our ICT Centre funded through the WGTTA.
- ECG College opened its second campus at Pakenham to deliver the VCAL program with 35 students.
- Following $77,000 grant from Regional Development Victoria and volunteer labour from local people we started a community garden at our Leongatha campus.
- Leongatha Community Garden was opened with a hot house, meeting room, kitchen, playground and indigenous garden now run by a community-based committee.
- We celebrated our 40th year of operation.
- Established a Hair and Beauty School and re-opened training salons at Warragul and Pakenham.
- Two of our equine centre horses won first place in their events at Cranbourne races. The prize money was used to purchase a state-of-the-art sulky.
- We formed new partnerships with Yooralla, Mawarra and Outlook to deliver accredited training programs to disability clients.
- To include the benefits of social inclusion and its support to disadvantaged learners CCG gained ‘charitable status’ for the organisation.
- We commenced its first independent VCAL College as a senior secondary school alternative at Pakenham with 45 places for direct enrolments
- . delivering VCAL at Foundation, Intermediate and Senior levels at our new ECG College campuses at 126 Princess Hwy Pakenham and Howard Street Leongatha campuses.
Our Copy Centre team were finalists in the Baw Baw Shire Business Excellence Awards
- ECG College introduced two new class groups ‘Kick Start’ and ‘Young Mums’ through the use of online resources and assessment.
- Collaborations began with Abbey Garden Aged Care Facility to provide on-site learning opportunities for our students of aged care, horticulture and hairdressing.
- Together with our community, we have established a farmer’s market on our Leongatha campus.
- Our Koorie students of ECG College, with the support and guidance of Community Elders, organised and hosted a public gathering commencing with a smoking ceremony for the raising of the Koorie flag.
- We opened a community café at Warragul campus to provide healthy meals to students and staff at cost price.
- Commenced hosting the Leongatha Youth Clinic, providing a drop-in health care option for the young people of Leongatha, including our students.
- Our Vocational Education and Training in Schools (VETiS) Taster program was successfully piloted and delivered to ECG College students.
- Launched our ‘Kick Start Your Career in Disability’ program supported by Latrobe Valle Authority and the disability service providers of Gippsland.
- We launched our Philanthropic Fund, giving people the opportunity to invest in potential and make learning accessible for students.
- A new Cadet Director initiative was launched and welcomed our first Cadet, Wendy Cook on a 12-month placement.
Our Community Café staff provided a total of 2921 meals to Warragul and Longwarry Food Relief charities to support those impacted by COVID-19.
Our student Colleen Forbes was awarded the Learn Local Ro Allen Pre-accredited Learner Excellence award presented by the ACFE Board.
Recent history
2021
During lockdown, our Community Café team created 1374 meals for people impacted by COVID-19.
- We introduced Friends of CCG as a way to stay connected and encourage our caring community to support our students in ways that matter.
- One of our Learn Local students was recognised as a finalist in the prestigious Victorian Learn Local Awards.
2022
- Our new website was launched mid-year to increase our digital footprint and to communicate with wider community.
- We established the prestigious Community Builder Award to honour the memory of our former Board Member, Terrylene Marks.
- After many years of operation, we were sad to see the closure of our Gippsland Harness Training Centre at Logan Park Warragul
2023
- ECG Secondary College Leongatha commenced its transformation of the campus by demolishing the asbestos building and revamping the classrooms and facilities with the installation of newly constructed modular classrooms.
- ECG Secondary College opened its Dandenong campus in July 2023 to deliver Years 11 & 12 at 290 Thomas Street Dandenong, enrolling 20 students.
2024
- As initiated by the CEO, Dale Gemmell, we introduced tuition fee-free courses ‘Free CCG Courses’, under Disability, Early Childhood Education and Care, Individual Support (Aged Care), Individual Support (Disability), Salon Assistant and Horticulture program areas.
- As an effort to raise brand awareness by reconnecting with the community, engaging influencers, and showcasing the strength of partnerships with stakeholders, we held Discover CCG Day.
- We celebrated the grand opening of ECG Secondary College Leongatha campus’ new building. ECG marked a significant milestone for the school with the installation of newly constructed modular classrooms.
- Under Learn Local we launched ‘Explore A Career in Early Childhood’ program in partnership with Baw Baw Shire Council, Latrobe Community Health Services and ACFE Learn Local.
- We created a mutual partnership between the West Gippsland Health Care Group (WGHG), ACFE Learn Local, Latrobe Community Health Service (LCHS), Warragul Community House, Job Find, and Community College Gippsland (CCG) to support entry-level career opportunities for West Gippsland Healthcare Group and launched our first ever ‘Launch Your Hospital Career’ program.
- With community collaboration, we unveiled a new sensory space at Warragul campus to support our student wellbeing.
- ECG Secondary College Warragul and Leongatha campuses opened doors to Years 9 and 10 students.
2025
ECG Secondary College Dandenong welcomed Year 10 students while Pakenham campus started delivering Years 9 and 10 classes.