Special Message from The Founder

A message from Karen Burge

To our beautiful Hemporium family,

As we come to the close of 2025, and pause briefly for the holiday season, I want to speak to you from the heart. This has been a big year, a year of change, courage, truth-telling and deep remembering.

When I first began this journey co-founding the Church of Ubuntu, standing as the VP, and creating the Ubuntu Wellness Clinic, I realised that there was a long-standing need to speak out for Legalised Cannabis. I started the “Canna Nannas” reaching into the community and travelling the east coast of Australia to educate and inspire others to stand behind our mission to make this plant legal and available to all.

Now birthing The Hemporium Wellness Centre & Café, it was never just about a shop, a clinic, or a political campaign. It has always been about this.

• Our right to choose what goes into our bodies.

• Our right to food and medicine from the earth.

• Our right to live in communities that care for each other.

• Our responsibility to leave this planet better for our children and grandchildren.

You, our Hemporium community, are the living proof that this vision is real. 

Every time you walk through our doors, share a hemp meal, sit with a practitioner, attend a circle, bring a friend, or simply smile at someone across the café, you’re helping to weave a new story, that healing is possible, that connection matters, and that hemp is not just a plant, but a powerful ally for people and planet. I want to say a very simple, very sincere thank you.

Thank you for trusting us with your health. Thank you for showing up to learn, to listen, and to unlearn old fear-based stories about cannabis and hemp. Thank you for supporting local farmers, small makers, and a community space built with a lot of love, sweat, tears, and laughter.

Thank you for believing, as I do, that Cannabis is food, first and foremost, and that the hemp plant has a role to play in healing bodies, rebuilding soils, and reshaping industries for a cleaner, kinder future. As we step into a new year, I want you to feel not fear, but excitement.

There is so much we are creating and dreaming into being at The Hemporium-

We are creating more education on the Endocannabinoid System so you can truly take your health back into your own hands. More hemp-based foods, recipes and workshops to turn your kitchen into a healing space. More community events, circles and ceremonies to remind you that you are not alone on this path. And more advocacy, more truth-telling, more standing up for our right to grow, eat and heal with this sacred plant!

We are only just getting started. If this year was about planting seeds, next year is about watching those seeds take root, grow strong, and bear fruit in your body, in your family, and in our wider community.

So as this year closes, I invite you to remember that you are part of something much bigger than any one of us, a movement of people who are saying “yes” to life, to truth, and to the wisdom of plants.

From my heart as a mother, grandmother, activist, and eternal student of this plant, I want you to know that you matter, that your health matters, and that your story matters. Your presence in our Hemporium family is a blessing, and deeply matters.

May the coming year bring you deeper peace, stronger health, clearer truth, and many moments of joy. Thank you for walking this path with me.

To show our gratitude, for the holiday season, next time you come into the Hemporium for your order, you will receive a gift. You will also go into a larger draw for a chance to win a beautiful Gift voucher valued at $300. 

And last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to mention our fabulous dedicated clinic staff, Maria, Paul, Simone, Holliea, Elise, Lea, Crissi and Monika who have all played a significant part in our mission in the last decade.

I would also like to thank Jodie and Murray for helping us design and build our back yard herb and veggie garden which is now open for all of our visitors to enjoy.

Karen Burge Founder - The Hemporium Wellness Centre & Café

Mother, Grandmother, Advocate, and Grateful Servant of the Hemp Plant