About Us

This website is a part of the work of the Dig Tree project in helping the church develop and use multi-media and technology in its mission.

The idea is to essentially create an open publishing community that uses a copyright framework to enable members to share resources without fear of breaking the law, but also protects the interests of the original creator.

Given we are all very new at doing this kind of stuff we are testing features and will progressively be enabling them for use. We are taking this slowly so that we learn how best to provide access to the resources.

Significant amount of effort has gone into working of bringing a version of the website to enable people to contribute to the content in a community centric way. As with most things there are bound to be a few bugs in the system - no matter how much we test them. If you find something not working the way you expect it, or have a suggestion to improve the website please contact us.

Please remember that this website will be only as good as the members of the community make it.

We hope in time that this website can be used to help you collaborate on multi-media projects.

To get the ball rolling if you register to enable you to get access to the resources that are available available.

If you have any questions or problems please contact us.

Who is behind the Dig Tree?

The initial idea for the project came from Glen Powell of the Uniting Church, NSW Synod Board of Mission. Since then the NSW Synod has provided a funding grant to Kippax Uniting Church (Canberra, ACT) to get the project up and running.

The project management team includes: Gordon Ramsay (convenor), Dean Tregenza (part-time coordinator), Darren Wright, David Ridge, Peter Kidd, Jon Freeman, and Glen Powell.

Why did the project get called the Dig Tree?

The Dig Tree is a cultural icon in a tragic story of Australian history. The Dig Tree was at the Cooper Creek base camp/depot of the of the fated Burke and Wills expedition to cross the vast expanses of Australia.

After their attempt to cross the continent Burke and Wills returned to the Cooper Creek depot in 1861, defeated, starving and exhausted. Unfortunately, the support party, sadly, had given up hope had departed only hours before. Just in case Burke and Wills returned, the support party buried supplies near a large tree on which they etched the word DIG to guide them to the supplies. It is unclear if the marking on the tree was even noticed.

The tragic ending was that the explorers soon perished nearby. Not because of the depot, but because of its alien setting: they were unable to sustain themselves because they had failed to learn about the land through which they were travelling, a land which sustained a local population even as they themselves perished.

You can read more about Burke and Wills on Wikipedia.

We picked this metaphor not for the tragic ending, but, because we believe that the church needs to learn from this story when it comes to how we engage the emerging culture we live in.

If we think of the emerging culture we live in as an unexplored terrain. Think of how we might traverse such a landscape: excursions from base camps and depots into the unknown. As we explore the terrain of the emerging culture we discover new ways of doing things we create and use new tools. Keep in mind that people in the church are both explorers and some are part of the local population.

The Dig Tree project is essentially building a depot that will allow members to share resources and ideas to enable people to explore the terrain of the emerging culture.

Burke and Wills by Sidney Nolan