Joe

Joe has spent his career thinking about the spaces people move through every day, from the parks and paths to the streets that invite connection. It’s the kind of work that trains you to notice the small things most people walk straight past. 

When Joe and his partner began building their first home at Orana, those small things mattered. The planting, the open spaces, meeting neighbours on the weekends – together, they made Orana feel like somewhere they could put down roots.

A Life Shaped by People and Place

Joe moved to Australia from Malaysia when he was 10 and settled in Melbourne with his family. Growing up in a new country shaped a quiet curiosity about people and the places that connect them, one that eventually led him to study landscape architecture at RMIT.

Today, he works in the open space team at a neighbouring council, planning upgrades to parks and reserves, and making sure the places people move through every day are welcoming and functional. It is his work that has shaped the way he looks at Orana too. When Joe first visited the estate, he noticed the planting, the open spaces and the thought that had gone into how people would move through and spend time in the neighbourhood.

Outside of that, he helps his partner run Genuine Connection Care, a disability and ageing support company she built with her business partner. Joe supports admin and operations, keeping everything moving behind the scenes. It’s not the kind of work he talks about to impress anyone. It’s just something he does because it matters.

Joe and his partner have been together since they were 18 and 19. In that time they’ve grown up alongside each other; through university, their first cars, first furniture, and now their first home at Orana. Ask him what home means to him and he doesn’t hesitate. 

“It’s not about being perfect,” he says. “It’s about what we contribute, doing it together, creating a peaceful place for both of us to enjoy.” 

That shows up in the big decisions, like building their first home together at Orana, and in the smaller ones too – the quiet routines, the shared plans, even knowing each other’s coffee order.

Seeing the Thought Behind the Streets

When Joe first visited Orana, he already knew what to look for.

The planting palette caught his attention first. As someone who works with open spaces every day, he noticed the care behind the greenery, the way the streets integrated with each other, and the role these spaces would play as the community continued to grow.

He noticed the oval designed for community events as much as weekend sports, the playground designed for different ages, and the dog park that would become part of daily routines for residents like himself.

“You could see the thought that went into all of it,” he says. “A lot done in the background that most people would just walk past.”

Joe’s First Home at Orana

Once Joe and his partner made the decision, they were all in. 

Renting about twenty minutes away, they visited the site every week during the build, watching the frames go up, then the bricks, and stepping inside at each stage to see their first home taking shape. 

“And then seeing it finished and actually moving in,” Joe says, smiling at the memory. “It was just really fulfilling.” 

Moving day itself was simple – everything they owned fit into one car, driven straight from a friend’s house to Orana. One trip, and a whole new chapter.

Finding Community from the Beginning

What drew Joe to Orana wasn’t just the design, He and his partner had spent much of their lives in established suburbs, where the community had already been set. Orana felt like a chance to be part of a community from the beginning – to meet people as they arrived and contribute to the way the neighbourhood took shape.

They first met their neighbours during the build, when both households would turn up on weekends to check on progress, ask the same questions and imagine what life would look like once they moved in. 

By the time they had moved in, they already knew each other.  So, in true Joe fashion, he invited them over for dinner.

Around the table, they shared food and stories about where they had come from, and the kind of community they hoped to be a part of.

Becoming Part of the Orana Community

That same openness has drawn Joe into the wider Orana community. He’s been to the Christmas events and attended a small business gathering at Orana Community Place, where local businesses from across the estate all came together in one room. He left feeling more connected to the people around him and inspired in his own work. For Joe, showing up is part of how a community starts to feel familiar.

Most evenings, Joe takes Coco, their pug, for a walk around the estate. She stops to sniff plants, wanders towards people walking by, and this has become part of the small daily routine that makes Orana feel like home.

Finding Home at Orana

Joe finds meaning in the everyday moments that many people may pass by. A well-planted street, a walk with Coco, or a dinner with neighbours. “My dream is knowing that what I contribute leaves a positive impact,” he says.

“Whether through the landscape work, the care business, or just the everyday things.” 

At Orana, Joe has found more than a first home. He has found a place to contribute, connect and help shape the kind of community he always hoped to be part of.