#SIITR26 Host Community
Join us in:
Stanthorpe
2 to 4 September 2026
Stanthorpe, Queensland
Accelerate & amplify your impact in regional Australia
Regional economic output since 2023
Changemakers in the room
Speakers per conference
Of immersive learning
The Place
A town that figured it out
Stanthorpe sits nearly a kilometre above sea level in Queensland’s Granite Belt. It’s too cold for cane and too high for mangoes, so instead it grew something better: wine, truffles, apples, and a community that knows how to back itself.
It’s the kind of place that earns your respect without making a fuss about it. The winemaker who’s been tending the same vines for forty years. The family farm that cracked Queensland’s first commercial truffle operation. The artists who set up shop in the old railway station and never left. These are people who get things done in places where the easy option was always to give up.
If you work in regional Australia, you’ll recognise this place immediately. It looks a lot like the communities you’re already fighting for.
What's here?
There's more to do than you'd expect. That's the point.
September is a great time to be in Stanthorpe. The weather is cool and clear, the cellar doors are open, and the town has a way of slowing you down just enough to actually think. Evenings are made for long dinners and good conversations. There’s no shortage of either.
50+ Cellar Doors
Rare grape varieties you won't find anywhere else in Australia. Small producers, big stories, and people who genuinely love talking about what they grow.
Girraween National Park
Balancing Rock. The Pyramid. More than 30km of walks through ancient granite country that puts a lot of things back in perspective.
Truffle Country
Queensland's first commercial truffle farm is right here. French Black Perigord truffles, grown in conditions everyone said were wrong. Sound familiar?
Real Food, Real Producers
The Farmers Market, Stanthorpe Cheese, orchard stalls along the roadside. Food that comes with a name and a story attached.
Dark Sky Stargazing
Up at altitude and away from city lights, the night sky is properly dark. The Twinstar Observatory runs guided tours. Worth it.
Arts in the Old Station
Artworks Granite Belt took over the heritage railway station and made it a creative hub. Proof that when a community decides culture matters, good things happen.
There’s also the murals, the mountain bike trails on Mt Marlay, the walk along Quart Pot Creek, and the Market in the Mountains. Stanthorpe is genuinely enjoyable. Come for the conference, stay for the rest of it.
Why it matters
This is not a fly-in, fly-out conference
SIITR doesn’t just land in a community and leave. It’s the centrepiece of a two-year place-based readiness program through Ready Communities. That means real investment in Stanthorpe before, during, and after we’re there.
Since 2023, SIITR has generated nearly $1 million in regional economic output across its host communities. Local venues, local businesses, local artists and organisations all benefit directly. That’s what we mean when we say place-based impact.
Stanthorpe was chosen because it has the leadership, the local energy, and the complex challenges that so many regional communities share. Coming here means you’re already part of the solution.
Why come?
Practical tools, real connections, and a proper recharge
SIITR brings together the people doing the work in regional Australia. NFP managers, social entrepreneurs, impact investors, board members, policy makers and community leaders. People who know that changing things in the regions takes persistence, creativity, and the right network around you.
Over three days you’ll get into funding models, impact measurement, community engagement, social enterprise development, and a lot more. The sessions are practical. The conversations are honest. And there’s enough time between them to actually process what you’re learning.
There’s a national pitchfest, an impact investor tour, 50+ speakers, and a conference format that gives you room to choose what’s useful for you. Plus dinners and events in real local venues, not conference rooms.
You’ll go home with tools you can actually use, contacts who get what you’re doing, and enough energy to keep going. That’s what people keep telling us. We think Stanthorpe will make it even better.
2nd
Wednesday
to
4th
Friday
Sept
2026
