International Volunteers for Peace · Australia

IVP · Australia

Volunteer in Australia. Live and work with a local community.

Join a short workcamp (usually two to four weeks) in Australia with volunteers from around the world. Help with a real community project, share meals and daily life, and see a side of Australia most visitors never see.

Part of Service Civil International, a volunteer peace movement since 1920.

Ten volunteers standing and crouching around a chalkboard sign that reads “Welcome International Volunteers for Peace”, under yellow autumn trees.

Where do you want to volunteer?

Volunteer in Australia

For volunteers from outside Australia. Join a workcamp hosted by IVP with a small international team.

How to join a workcamp in Australia

Volunteer overseas

For people living in Australia. Join a workcamp through the SCI network.

How to volunteer overseas

How it works

How to join a workcamp in Australia

01

Find a project

Australian workcamps are listed on the SCI international database.

02

Apply through your own SCI branch

Contact the SCI branch or partner organisation in your country. They will send your application to us.

Find your branch

03

Get ready to come

Once your place is confirmed, we send you a project guide with travel details. See what’s included and what you pay for.

Note: Most visitors need a visa to enter Australia. Check the official rules at immi.homeaffairs.gov.au before you book.

What a workcamp is like

Small team. Real work. New friends.

In May 2026, volunteers from Australia, Spain, Russia, Hong Kong and France spent two weeks near Taralga, NSW, on our Creating Glideways workcamp. They helped protect the threatened Greater Glider, and got to know rural Australia along the way.

Dylan, in a cap and glasses, strapping a camouflaged camera trap to a tree trunk in the forest.
Dylan from France setting up a camera trap.

Learn from experts

Ecologists and local landholders trained the team in wildlife surveys, camera traps and habitat checks. Night-time spotlighting walks to find Greater Gliders became everyone’s favourite.

Do work that lasts

The team planted trees for wildlife corridors and installed special nest boxes and cameras high in the canopy, helping reconnect habitat across the landscape.

Live and explore together

Volunteers cooked, ate and shared stories around the fire. They visited the Goulburn Farmers Market and the community solar farm, and explored the Wombeyan Caves.

“Understanding conservation requires more than reading about it – it comes from spending time in the landscape, learning from experts, and working alongside others who care deeply about protecting it.”

A Creating Glideways volunteer, 2026

You don’t need special skills, just be ready to work as a team and happy to live simply. Every workcamp is different: check each camp’s information page for the work, conditions and what’s included.

Read the full workcamp report

Volunteer story

“It was a reminder of what a peaceful, connected world could look like: people giving freely, and one day, in some unexpected way, receiving something in return.”

Andrea Grugel · Germany · Tallong Apple Day Festival, 2025

Read Andrea’s story

Seven volunteers, most in high-visibility vests, giving a thumbs up at a Tallong Apple Day Festival stall.
Andrea (third from right) and the team at the Tallong Apple Day Festival.

Since 1920

SCI’s volunteer peace movement

41

SCI branches worldwide

100%

volunteer-run in Australia

Volunteer overseas

Living in Australia? Volunteer overseas.

IVP members can join workcamps run by SCI partners around the world. Membership also helps us welcome international volunteers here.

News from IVP

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    SCI Asian Newsletter 2026

    News from SCI’s branches and groups across Asia: the three Asian Newsletter issues of 2026, with highlights including Rita Warleigh’s Goulburn Citizen of the Year…

  • A market stall table covered with fresh vegetables, including carrots, silverbeet, rhubarb, beetroot and potatoes, with shoppers behind.

    Goulburn Farmers Market

    Fresh local produce on the fourth Saturday of every month at the Goulburn Showgrounds. How IVP helped start the Goulburn Farmers Market, what you’ll find…

  • A cluster of white native Australian flowers with pink centres, against blurred grass.

    Raising Peace

    Raising Peace is an alliance of more than 30 Australian peace organisations, created in 2020 to celebrate 100 years of SCI. Its story, festivals, podcast,…

Help us keep workcamps running.

IVP is a small non-profit run entirely by volunteers. A donation helps us host projects and welcome volunteers from around the world.