Discussions began around late 2007 when Dungog and District NeighbourCare saw the need to support the welfare of a section of males in the community.

The idea was to set up a “Mens Group”.  Menshed Australia Inc. was the governing body at the time and was asked to be supportive of steps to start a “Dungog Menshed”. Initially the premises available and considered suitable was the Caretaker’s cottage at the showground. However, when the present premises became available it was quickly accepted.  Presently Dungog Menshed Inc. is located in the former Hunter Water Workshop premises in Simmonds Lane. It has proved to be very well suited to the needs of a men’s shed having once been a workshop itself.

Since inception, Dungog Menshed Inc (DMI) has acquired a very good range of equipment enabling operations to go ahead as had been planned in initial establishment meetings that were held since it all got going around 2007.  Dungog Shire Council, Dungog and District NeighbourCare, Hunter Water, Menshed Australia and many individuals are to be thanked for their part in making it happen.

The men’s shed movement began in Australia in the 1990s at Goolwa in South Australia. Australia has become a leader in the spread of the movement throughout the world.  A men’s shed plays an important role in men’s health. That’s a core function.  It is a community based non-commercial and not-for-profit operation.  It is governed by a constitution and has a committee elected by the members.  In the constitution it says this about the shed’s purpose:

To provide for the health and wellbeing of a member.

To create an environment to bring men together, help them to do practical things that are of interest to them.

To provide physical and mental activities for members.

To support the local community by way of assisting projects that the community needs and to maintain a range of skills the community requires.

To build a sustainable resource so that the association is self-supporting.

Today, the movement in Australia is overseen by the Australian Mens Shed Association (AMSA). Membership of AMSA is not required to set up a Menshed but DMI is currently affiliated with AMSA as there are benefits to be so.  Notable are the benefit of affordable insurance for members and a place to go if we need support of any sort. AMSA administers the grant program of the Federal Government known as The National Shed Development Program (NSDP). We are up to Round 30 now of that program.  It’s a competitive program but DMI has been successful a number of times.  There are other grants available open to the movement and DMI was successful in obtaining grants in past years that were needed to set up initially.

When I first visited DMI in 2019, I was astonished at what I saw.  For a little country town like Dungog, the equipment that had been obtained for the workshops was well beyond my expectations. There is a woodwork shop, a Metalwork shop, a leatherwork shop and there is storage space, office, ablution and kitchen facilities.

Presently we have 31 members.  Annual membership fees have not increased for some time now and have been held at $40 per year. Two-thirds of this goes to AMSA as insurance premiums for members.  That sound a lot, but it is a pretty good deal and that is because of negotiation by AMSA. Of those annual fees there is some left over for operations of the Shed as since we are expected to be a self-supporting entity we do make and sell for our own income.  The Dungog and district community too has helped us.  I cannot count the number of phone calls I have received offering equipment and material donations.  We do appreciate this.

Open days are three per week Monday Wednesday and Friday from 9am to 1pm.  Some projects take us away from the shed premises themselves. For example, just now we are to do some improvement work at the showground, and some work in conjunction with Sculpture on the Farm here in Dungog.  Major projects have come in at a few thousand dollars.  But all things considered, it is a great help to the community as we do not charge anything like regular labour charges.  We don’t want to do this, it’s not why we are there.  Small jobs or big jobs, we do them if we can, but we are not able to accept work that could take away from local businesses.

DMI is all volunteer run, there are no paid employees here.  Any man who would like to know more is encouraged to make contact with us. We are a pretty good bunch I can say, always willing to get to know new members.  Contact the secretary if you have any questions.  It’s me – 0405 368 084, or drop in at 5 Simmonds Lane Dungog any time we are open. We are located between Chapman and Mackay streets, in the middle of town.

Russ Steer – Secretary

Jack Caldwell

I am part of a team volunteering at Dungog Menshed. My main interest in working there is machinery and metalworking, but it is good to have a challenge and even better when there are many other volunteers ready and willing to help achieve the objective of the challenge.

While most of the work done is repair work for the community we do make bespoke items and develop skills replicating old fashioned equipment and interpreting it for the modern day. The Merimba is an extension of that process.

To date we have been happy to accept the plaudits given by our local community for work done and I am pleased to say we have had many of those. We have never taken part in any competition that might lead to a prize or any other formal recognition of our work, but are sufficiently vain as to hope we might at Sculpture on the Farm.

I have been ably assisted by Ron Jones, Russell Steer, Ian Burnett and Steve Jones in the Marimba project.