HEIA’s origins are from the original Eesti.org.au website. The driving force behind this, Kristi Barrow, recognised that the initial website, developed in the early 2000s as a personal interest, needed to evolve, be updated and sustainably supported via a broader community.
Accordingly, the Australian Estonian Media Project (AEMP) was born, supported by a grant from the  KodanikuühiskonnaSihtkapital / National Foundation of Civil Society.

In 2023, a survey and facilitated workshop was held in Sydney comprising representatives across the country with the objective to determine how the Australian Estonian community can improve communication at a national level.

See the results of the survey here: Estonian Australian Community Media Survey 2023

Read more about the workshop here: Australian Estonian Media Communications Workshop.

The purpose agreed on the day: To provide community information relevant to individuals or organisations in Australia that are interested in, or connected to, Estonia.

Five strategies were proposed:

• Governance
• Content
• Buy-in
• Consolidation and
• Funding.

A steering committee was formed with the task of executing the strategies. From this group, HEIA was developed.

Critical to HEIA is the legacy created from the communication platforms that have preceded HEIA. Meie Kodu (which ceased in 2019),  Estonian.org.au and the very first Estonian Australian online presence, eesti.org.au, have all served to communicate to Australian Estonians along with many social media sites, email groups and localised newsletters.

As part of this strategy, Estonians in Australia (eesti.org.au), has been relaunched as HEIA with the legacy acknowledged in HEIA’s name. Read more about Kristi’s motivation in this Global Estonian interview – Kristi Barrow: Seek out like-minded people and create your own Estonian experience.

HEIA launched 22nd of June 2025, marking the end of the AEMP and a new beginning in Australia-wide Estonian community related communications. More work is to come behind the scenes to further build supporting structures to make HEIA an institution that will last generations.

When seeking suggestions for names for the new platform from the community, a key piece of feedback was provided – “what is wrong with Estonians in Australia?” It was a good question! However, there were issues:

1) Estonians in Australia wasn’t ‘snappy’ and the acronym EIA doesn’t roll off the tongue;
2) it would be nice to have the Estonian language represented; and
3) we wanted a refresh as a welcoming site for all Estonian Australians.

That’s where Hello, Estonians in Australia or HEIA provided the perfect solution. HEIA (pronounced Hey Ya, a phonetic familiar to both Estonians and Australians) is an informal Estonian greeting, the acronym for the name of our platform, whilst also referencing Estonians in Australia in a welcoming manner. A win, win, win, win!

HEIA is a platform created by the Estonians in Australia community for the Estonians in Australia community. Volunteers are critical to the ongoing operation of HEIA and as the saying goes, the community gets out what the community puts in! To that end, we wish to acknowledge the volunteer members of HEIA:

Current Steering Committee

• Kristel Alla (Editor)
• Mark Narustrang (Governance)
• Kristi Barrow (Technical and Digital)

Past and Present Contributors (in Alphabetic Order)

• Lachlan Bell
• Iti Connor
• Manfred Mletsin
• Emily Narustrang
• Anthony Noack
• Ave Nukki
• Esmée Okamoto
• Johanna Rivers
• Imbi Semmelweis
• Hilja Toom
• Andres Truus

State Based Representatives

• NSW: Kristi Barrow
• VIC: Kristel Alla
• QLD: Elina Peederson
• WA: Mark Narustrang
• NT: Manfred Mletsin

We are always looking for more volunteers to help though! Should you wish to participate in:

• Writing content
• Editing
• Technical digital support
• Marketing/promotion
• Or just providing leads for interesting stories or news

Let us know! Get in touch at hello@eesti.org.au

Nothing comes for free and HEIA (and the website formerly known as eesti.org.au) is appreciative of the generous support received over the last 20+ years from: 

• Our volunteers and contributors
• Kodanikuühiskonna Sihtkapital | National Foundation of Civil Society for financial support
• Välisministeerium | Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for financial support
• Council of Estonian Societies Australia (AESL) for financial support
• Estonian Cultural Foundation of Australia (EFCA)  for financial support
• Ambassador, His Excellency Mr Jaan Reinhold for his regular column and support

Financial contributions to date have been largely allocated to ongoing IT Services but are looking at ways to fund professional content contribution where appropriate.  

We are considering offering advertising options and receiving donations to help support our operation in future. If interested, please contact the Steering Committee at hello@eesti.org.au.