Forty eight refereed and non-refereed papers from this recent conference are available online. The major themes of the conference were: economic diversity and the changing nature of rural communities; population trends and the implications for infrastructure, social and economic development, and land and water; climate change and its implications and opportunities for rural Australia; community processes which foster greater community engagement and participation; the Creative Community and its innovative edge; and the policy overlay - how does it support the sustainable development of country towns?