Charlene Bordley (photo: right), the visionary founder of Parramatta Bike Hub, Parramatta Bike Tours and Addventageous, creates programs for ‘hard-to-reach’ groups including First Nations communities, women, seniors and disadvantaged youth.
She met with StreetChat writer Kari Hill at the new home of the Parramatta Bike Hub on Wangal country, along the Parramatta River in Sydney Olympic Park.
Charlene’s passion for making a difference in the community can be seen across the many social enterprise programs she runs.
Wearing her uniform of blue, yellow and green, each colour symbolises a program: Blue for Addventageous, Yellow for Parramatta Bike Tours and Green for the Parramatta Bike Hub.
Social enterprise Addventageous started off as a school program when Charlene gained confidence as a returning cyclist later in life. She experienced the benefits of health, wellbeing, sustainability and connection and wanted to share this with others in the community, especially ‘hard to reach’ people.
She says, “I wished someone had taught me defensive riding skills when I was younger. I went around the community and found that so many people don’t know how to ride bikes.
“Addventageous started as an adventure-based school holiday program, which then became active after-school activities as a government funded program.”
In 2019, Charlene Bordley founded the Parramatta Bike Hub. This, she says, is also a platform to empower, educate and connect. It is a safe space for First Nations communities, a place for women to find their strength, for seniors to find community, and for disadvantaged youth to envision a brighter future.
The secret of Parramatta Bike Hub is not just about bikes, it’s about community and empowerment.
Charlene says, “It’s a meeting place, a workshop, a training and gathering space. We pride ourselves on adapting our programs for everyone.”
Charlene’s eyes light up as she describes some of her favourite moments of teaching bike confidence: an elderly gentleman learning to ride for the first time in his life. A teenager with Cerebral Palsy mastering a unicycle.
Charlene says, “I see the differences. And I continue to ask myself, what can I do next?”
The majority of the Hub’s bicycle fleet are pre-loved and donated to keep them out of landfill and back into the community through learning-to-ride programs, and a bicycle library. Bicycle maintenance workshops keep them tuned up, and provide another community touchpoint.
The Bike Hub actively creates and fosters community. The ‘Riding for Positive Mental Health’ program offers community participants a holistic approach to proactive self-care by combining physical activity with mental health education over 12 weeks. ‘Recreate Craft’ is a community crochet group that creates beautiful upcycled pieces to adorn the outer layers of the renovated Hub.
The Hub also hosts First Nations programs including the Job Readiness Program, teaching local guiding, and Riding Safety with Transport NSW in remote areas.
Whether Charlene is supporting diverse groups of people, the river or sustainability programs, she lives by the motto: “Don’t let the world go by – keep the mind and body engaged.”
We look forward to seeing what’s next for Charlene Bordley, Addventageous and Parramatta Bike Hub.
The Street Furniture Australia factory, in Regents Park, Western Sydney, is both a manufacturing hub and R&D studio for our Australian-designed and made street furniture products. We run fun and informative group events for customers throughout the year, to share how products are designed, tested and built, and the latest products and projects. Director of Tract Julie Lee said: “It was a great opportunity for our team to look behind the scenes and understand the innovation, research and climate positive outcomes Street Furniture Australia is focusing on. Thank you for having us!” Place Design Group Associate, Liam Isaksen, said: “The factory tour is a fun experience to learn about the design and manufacturing process of public furniture we use in landscape architecture design. Seeing the work behind the scenes and …
Did you catch these most-read case studies, furnishing tips, new product announcements and special industry events in your StreetChat updates in 2023? Each month our StreetChat enewsletter publishes new projects, products and trends from the public domain; subscribe to receive it in your inbox. 10. Which design firm can see Longhorn Cattle from their office window? 2 countries. 9 cities. 300 landscape architects. Street Furniture Australia and USA partner Spruce & Gander visited offices in Australia and Texas. There were key similarities and some notable standouts. 9. Jazz at The Mint: Product and Book Launch Sydney landscape architects gathered at the iconic Mint Courtyard to launch a design book by our founding directors Darrel Conybeare and Bill Morrison, and expansions to the Linea collection. 8. 2023 Good Cause Giveaway goes to …
Street Furniture Australia has designed and built prototype charging stands as part of a Transport for NSW program to deliver free phone chargers at 15 Sydney train stations. Developed by Street Furniture Australia’s inhouse industrial designers in collaboration with Transport for NSW, the prototypes offer wireless, USB-A and USB-C charging, and can power 7 devices at once. They were built at the Street Furniture Australia factory in Western Sydney. Two Power Spots are now installed at Liverpool and Campbelltown stations. The $1 million Power Spots Project rollout to 15 transport hubs including Bankstown, Hurstville, Lidcombe, Penrith, Wynyard, Central, Town Hall and Bondi Junction will be completed by late 2024. NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the Power Spots provide peace of mind: “In the modern world, our phones are our …
A leading voice in placemaking, Kylie Legge is an architecture graduate, planner, place maker, author, facilitator, curator and entrepreneur. She is founding Director of Place Partners, a multidisciplinary placemaking consultancy based in Sydney, Australia and Place Score – the world’s first place experience measurement company. How did you get started and find your unique career pathway? My career has tended to veer off the beaten track. I’ve never been too worried about what other people think and am risk-hungry. I’m also interested in disruption – looking for better ways of doing things. At 23 as an architecture grad I talked my way into an internship at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. I lived a double life, working in a dive bar by night and at the most …
Houston’s first botanic garden opened in September 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, offering locals a green escape from the confines of their living spaces into 132 acres of living museum. Some 2.5 miles of walking trails guide visitors along a bayou meander and through six outdoor gallery spaces displaying a collection of tropical, sub-tropical and arid plants from around the world to showcase the biodiversity that thrives along the Texas Gulf Coast. Claudia Gee Vassar, President and General Counsel of the Garden, joined the institution’s long journey towards establishment (18 years from nonprofit formation to opening day) in 2016. She shares her insights with StreetChat about the creation and growth of a very rare thing in 2020: a brand-new botanic garden. 1. What inspires you? I am inspired …
Oi Choong, winner of the 2018 Marion Mahony Griffin Prize for a distinctive body of work by a female architect, looks back on a career that spans the rise of landscape architecture as a profession, and women in the workplace.
