Neighbour Day – Connecting Communities for 20 years

Neighbour Day is Relationships Australia’s social connection campaign, designed to support sustainable respectful relationships across communities, and help to address loneliness across the nation. 

This year marks 20 years since Neighbour Day first began. Andrew Heslop started the initiative after the remains of an elderly woman were discovered inside her suburban home 2 years after she passed away, unbeknownst to neighbours, friends or family. 

Neighbour Day began in recognition of the impact loneliness, and lack of social connection has broadly on an individual, as well as community. 

Relationships Australia became the custodian of Neighbour Day in 2014 and the day has since grown into an ongoing, year-round social connection campaign that seeks to address loneliness across Australia. Neighbour Day's founder, Andrew Heslop, continues to be a key Neighbour Day Ambassador. 

Independent evaluations have shown that Neighbour Day improves mental health and wellbeing, reduces loneliness, creates localised social support networks and improves people’s sense of belonging. 

The theme for Neighbour Day 2022 is ‘Connecting Communities for 20 years’ and we’re inviting you to help us celebrate this achievement and help build ongoing community connections across Australia that will span the next 20 years.