Our Story

Our story began long before the app.

House Sitting Australia was born from a passion for house sitting and a simple idea: keep the friendly community we have built since 2007, but give it the tools it deserves.

Hi, I'm Colin Dixon.

I spent eight years travelling Australia as a house sitter, living the same lifestyle thousands of Australians enjoy today. I took up house sitting in 2007 as a way to explore the country while running a small website business and teaching.

Over those years I documented real house sits, lessons learned, and life on the road through my blog at https://myhousesitting.blogspot.com/ — proof that House Sitting Australia did not appear overnight.

The Community

What started as one sitter's journey grew into something much bigger.

Today our Facebook community has more than 135,000 members — the place where homeowners and sitters still meet, share stories, ask questions, and help each other every day.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/housesittingaustralia

The Facebook group remains the heart of the community. HSA is where those connections become organised, secure, and easy to manage.

Why We Built the App

Over eight years on the road I saw how often great opportunities were lost in busy Facebook threads, and how difficult it could be for homeowners and sitters to reconnect once a post disappeared.

House Sitting Australia at hsa.oze.au brings the whole process together:

Verified profiles

Plain English search

Real-time messaging

Digital sit agreements

Pet care cards

Application shortlists with polite decline messages

Your street address is never shown publicly on listings. Only suburb and postcode appear, giving homeowners privacy while helping sitters find local and travelling opportunities.

Built by an Educator

I am a secondary Math, Science, and IT teacher (BSc, DipEd, Cert IV TAE). That background shaped how HSA works — practical, clear, and designed to help real people succeed, not just look good on a screen.

House Sitting Australia combines years of hands-on house sitting experience with technology built for the Australian community.

What Members Say

Read testimonials from homeowners and sitters who have used House Sitting Australia:

/about/testimonials/

Join Us

Whether you are planning your first sit or your hundredth, we would love to welcome you.

Join free at hsa.oze.au

Questions? Contact us at hsa@oze.au or via /contact/