Legolands operated in the Bundaleer housing estate in the southern Wollongong suburb of Warrawong. The estate was built in the 1970s in a similar style to the Sydney suburbs of Mt Druitt, Macquarie Fields and Minto, where two storey townhouses back onto a common area. Due to the similarity of appearance between these estates and lego building blocks, Bundaleer is known colloquially as Legolands.

Unfortunately, many of these estates have become ghettos of disadvantage characterized by violence and ot6her community problems, including truancy. Barnardos funds and runs a community centre within Bundaleer and it has conducted several needs assessments with the residents. Violence, both at home and on the streets, has been shown to be a major reason for poor school attendance by the estate’s teenage residents.

Working in partnership with Barnardos, Lego aimed to break the cycle of violence in a core group of some fifteen families, with flow-on effects on up to 100 individuals. By using dance and digital media, Lego harnessed the creativity of the young people and in turn their families and friends, allowing them to engage in a positive and celebratory way. This shifted the focus onto the positive in their lives and their suburb, engendering self worth among program participants, that in turn allowed them to aspire to better and more meaningful lives.

Legolands is made possible through the generous support of the Mordant Family.