History of the Flame Tree Community Food Co-op
Timeline
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2007
October - Public meeting to propose a local food co-operative.
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2009
May 11 - Foundation meeting establishes Flame Tree as a co-operative with inaugural directors Alison Mcdonald, Lizzie Rose, Katrina Marshall, Marina Scozza & Amanda Harris.
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2010
February 27 - Flame Tree Co-op opens a shop front in Thirroul.
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2012
Expansion into shop frontage on Lawrence Hargrave Dr, Thirroul, first part-time staff employed to staff the shop.
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2017
Flame Tree Co-op moves across the road to its current location.
Our Story
In October 2007, two Thirroul locals held a public meeting to gauge interest in setting up a food co-operative that would create a way to buy local, organic and sustainable products with as little packaging and waste as possible. Alison and Kerry put out a dozen chairs at the community centre, and were shocked when the hall quickly became standing room only. A group of those in attendance agreed to meet fortnightly to work towards building the food co-operative.
After a year and a half of researching, thrashing out ideas, workshopping the community’s vision for the co-op’s principles, the Flame Tree Community Co-op was legally established at a foundation meeting on 11 May 2009. After almost another year of figuring out how to get unpackaged produce to the Illawarra, collecting unwanted timber to build shelves, consulting with Alfalfa House, Blue Mountains and Manly co-ops, fundraising, building wider community support through market stalls and events, setting up a weekly buyers’ group to test out the supply chain, building a shop database and a website, working bees, construction weekends, and finding an affordable premises, the Flame Tree Community Co-op opened in Thirroul on the 27th of February 2010. Alison Mcdonald, who had put forward the origanal idea at that first public meeting, became an inaugural director, along with Lizzie Rose, Katrina Marshall, Marina Scozza and Amanda Harris.
The co-op’s first premises was the cheapest rental we could find in Thirroul - a small space behind a dress shop, with access down a side lane. In 2012, the dress shop moved out and the two-year-old Flame Tree Co-op made the bold decision to rent the shop front as well as the back room. This expansion put us on the main street and made us accessible to a wider range of shoppers. For several years directors and other active members had kept the co-op going as a fully-volunteer run organisation. In addition to roles overseeing stock ordering, finance, insurance, IT systems, building, email, and events, our volunteer co-ordinators including Lizzie Rose, Louisa Smith and Mariel Hiney-Wilms kept the shop buzzing with shop volunteers running the till and making the community welcome. With the move to the new shop, it was time to take on some paid staff to open the shop as often as possible.
In 2017, the Flame Tree co-op ran a big fundraiser to make it possible to move across the road to its current location, and to shore up the ongoing sustainability of the co-op. But even today, all of the behind the scenes work continues to be done by volunteers, all co-ordinated by the volunteer Directors. In 2024, members continue to support the ongoing work of the co-op.