Ivory's Rock opens its arms offering Ipswich 'peace'
Your invite to take a look inside a 2000 acre property 'hidden' in Ipswich
By Helenspelitis
FOR more than 20 years it has been the Ipswich region's best kept secret; now the management team at Ivory's Rock is throwing the doors open and inviting the public inside this multi-million facility that volunteers lovingly built.
Ivory's Rock is a 2000 acre property at the foothill of the mountains at Peak Crossing.
The area used to be home to cattle and pig farmers, but over time the evidence of land clearing for grazing pasture has slowly faded.
Today, the sounds of a working farm have been replaced by the gentle calls of birds and rustling of leaves as wallabies pass by the many out buildings.
It's hard to believe that in September more than 4000 people from 60 different countries descended on the property for a peace festival.
The grounds have vast areas for camping, but there is also one facility that is more reminiscent of a five star luxury resort rather than an independent 'convention centre' in the middle of the bush.
French doors open into a beautiful bar area with a black stone bar top, opposite is a sitting room with a fire place and behind a fine dining restaurant surrounding a rectangular courtyard.
New general manager David Ritchie is working on adding a swimming pool on the property - that too will be built by volunteers.
Before taking the job at Ivory's Rock David was a construction boss in Melbourne.
Each day he spent two hours in the car heading to and from work, spending little time with his wife and child and wondering why he was living a life of stress to make money he didn't have time to spend on the people he loved the most.
David began reflecting, wrote a book of poetry and began researching online.
One night he stumbled across the words of Prem Rawat; a man determined to bring peace to the world by asking each person to look for peace within themselves first.
It wasn't long after that David accepted the job at Ivory's Rock.
Ivory's Rock new general manager David Ritchie. - Helen Spelitis
Ivory's Rock Convention Centre has been built on the teachings of Prem Rawat, offering a peaceful natural bush setting where finding inner peace seems achievable.
To an outsider, it sounds a little like a cult - the property is home for dozens of volunteers who over the years have built about $50 million worth of infrastructure "carried out with sympathy, care and respect for what is a pristine environment".
Each one is more than happy to have made a contribution to improving the facilities which include a market space that can be set within hours to host more than 20 different vendors.
David's favourite place in the whole property is the open air amphitheatre where the bench seats are covered in grass and booths at the back offer translations for those who don't speak English.
"This is a place of indescribably beauty and naturally you will be at peace just from being here," David said.
"We're trying to build it into an open learning centre so people from all walks of life can come and stay here.
"Really, we want to open our gates up to the world, if that will help people find that inner peace.
"But we can start with our community and keep branching out."
David said while most people would say they want world peace, many are waiting for someone else to take action.
Interested in finding your inner peace at Ivory's Rock?
There are camping facilities with new toilet and shower blocks, capable of catering for large and small groups, or, take a day trip out to the grounds to have a look around.
Phone the office on 3077 9668 or visit the website at www.ivorysrock.org.au.