Menu
The Regional Council of Goyder is situated in the mid-north of South Australia. The regional community encompasses the townships of Burra, Eudunda, Hallett, Robertstown and their surrounds.
The region takes its name from George Goyder, a surveyor who migrated to Australia in 1848 and went on to plot the now famous Goyder Line which separates land suitable for crops from pastoral grazing land. The line stretches from Ceduna across to Murray Bridge, along the way traversing and connecting many regional South Australian communities.
The Goyder region has a rich agricultural heritage, a growing tourism offering and emerging sustainable power industry. The latter has been instrumental in the Foundation’s establishment driven by a strong commitment to regional social development and community involvement and guided by innovative thinking from local government and its representatives.
The Foundation’s Board has been working with Neoen and Robertstown Solar to establish a partnership to provide significant funding to the Foundation.
Founded in 2008, Neoen is the leading French independent producer of renewable energy and a major player on the world stage and included in its portfolio are significant wind farms in Goyder and South Australia.
Robertstown Solar is part of a portfolio of South Australian solar projects under development in the state’s regions. The project is 500 MW (AC) utility scale solar photovoltaic and battery storage plant integrating into the National Electricity Market through a 275 kV connection to ElectraNet’s Robertstown Substation in South Australia, and a significant contributor to the Federal government’s Renewable Energy Target.
The underlying principles that are the pillars on which the foundations laid by Neoen and Robertstown Solar are being built, are relevant across all regional communities and at the heart of the Goyder Council’s strategic outlook. The Council is proactively working in partnership with its stakeholders to facilitate a strong economy, sustainable environment and vibrant active community. It is pursuing this vision with integrity, responsibility, accountability and a generational framework. The Goyder Education Foundation shares and reflects these values and will seek them in all the partnerships and collaborations it forms and from all the stakeholders it gathers throughout is evolution.
“Education more generally has been found to have other social benefits, including lower crime, improved health, lower utilisation of welfare payments, higher civic participation and improved outcomes for the children of more educated individuals.”
The benefits of education grow beyond the individual to society. Greater levels of education bring greater opportunities leading to improved health, wellbeing and security, which in turn enable confidence, innovation and contribution.
In September 2015, seventeen UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by all United Nations member states. These goals are a universal call to action to transform the world and improve the lives of all humans and are envisaged to be delivered through collaborative partnerships between government and private sectors. The fourth goal is ‘Quality Education’ the aim of which is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities. The Goyder Education Foundation embodies these sentiments and aspirations. 1
The Global Partnership for Education says ‘Education is one of the most important investments a country can make in its future. Education is a powerful agent of change, and improves health and livelihoods, contributes to social stability and drives long-term economic growth.’
In its 2022-23 Corporate Plan the Australian Federal Department of Education states as its purpose ‘to contribute to Australia’s economic prosperity and social wellbeing by creating opportunities and driving better outcomes through access to quality education.’
The South Australian Government’s Country Education Strategy 2021 to 2028 states that ‘Regardless of location or circumstance, every young person deserves access to high quality schooling and opportunities.’
The priority levers within the South Australian Country Education Strategy include quality leadership, stronger services, engaged communities, resourcing and accountability. These are all levers that will be given greater impact through the contribution of the Goyder Education Foundation. This sentiment is reflected in the Strategy’s principles which highlight that ‘strength is in the people that make up country communities, with local innovation and working in partnership with community at the heart of the regions’ vibrancy and success.’
“Research shows that people not in full-time work or study by age 24 and who continue in this way over a 40-year period, produce a cost impact on society of around $412,000 per person. The total scale and social cost of a lifetime of disengagement is $69.3 billion, using 2014 figures of 45,700 people (Lamb and Huo, 2017). This amount represents about 15% of all of the Australian Government budgeted expenditure for 2016/17 (budget.gov.au)”. 2
1 Sustainable Development Goals: 17 Goals to Transform
our World | United Nations
2 Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education; Emeritus Professor John Halsey. 2018.
The Foundation’s strategic plan defines its aspiration that through its leadership, individuals and communities in regional South Australia are given pathways and opportunities to develop, grow and contribute through education.
The plan reinforces the Foundation’s core values of community, excellence, collaboration and action, and articulates five goals for the Foundation to achieve. These goals encompass contribution, sustainability, perpetuity, aspiration and accessibility. The attainment of these goals is activated through three strategic priorities segmented by the Foundation, the support provided and the management required.
A corpus of $5 million is required to ensure the Foundation provides genuine educational opportunities annually and in perpetuity. This target is forecast to be achieved within 10 years, allowing for fund administration, disbursements, benefaction and capital growth. The ambition is that in its tenth year the Foundation will announce a grant taking its financial contribution to the education of South Australia’s regional communities to over $1 million or over a hundred thousand dollars per annum.
The corpus will build on the seed funding and through demonstrating the value of education to South Australian individuals, communities and economy, generate contribution and support from private, philanthropic and public individuals and institutions.