History

Galloping Gumnut began operations on 2nd July 1984 as an extension of the services offered by Gumnut House Child Care Centre in Lithgow.

Why go mobile?  Well a compact, almost self contained childcare service that can visit a number of areas is today’s cheapest viable means of providing appropriate experiences to under 5’s in areas where there is too small a population or too remote to justify a permanent centre-based preschool or childcare.

Galloping Gumnut originally operated from a trailer which was towed by an assortment of vehicles; from staff cars to hire cars, and on occasions, tow trucks!

In January 1985, as a result of a Commonwealth Employment Program grant, a full time assistant was employed.  Later in the same year the Department of Social Security provided funds for a bus and staffing/operating costs for a further year.

After much hard work and effort from staff that have moved on and staff which are still with us, we received funding from the Department of Families, Community Services, through the Rural and Remote Children’s Program.

In 1994 the service relocated from its small office space in Read Avenue to new premises in Proto Avenue, adjacent to Gumnut House.  We expanded our storage facility in 1997 and maintained the service in many of the outlying areas.

In July 2006 we relocated from Proto Avenue into new larger premises at 131 Mort Street, Lithgow.

The service is also very heavily involved with the local Lithgow Child Protection Interagency, Spread the Word Committee, NSW Committee for Mobile Children’s Services.

We currently travel around 2,500kms per month.  We service 80 families.

We currently receive funding from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.  These funds enable our service to provide Playsession and Literacy Sessions to 11 different communities.

We also receive funding from the Department of Community Services.  These funds are provided for the purpose of offering Preschool sessions in remote communities.