The RegenNarration

El Instituto Mesoamericano de Permacultura (IMAP) - the Mesoamerican Permaculture Institute - is a not-for-profit coop that started in 2000 in San Lucas Tolimán, on the shores of the spectacular Lake Atitlán in the Mayan highlands of Guatemala. It was created by a group of Maya Kakchiquel with the desire to use native seeds, permaculture, traditional Indigenous knowledge and education, to create social healing after 36 years of armed conflict that wiped out hundreds of communities and displaced millions from their land.

I remember being inspired by IMAP in its early years, when I was living in Guatemala. And late last year, I was contacted by the organisers of a major global award advising that IMAP was one of its winners.

I had arranged to speak with IMAP coordinator Inés Cuj, only to find twice the privilege when founding director Rony Lec joined us as a translator. Rony is one of the world’s leading experts in permaculture and Mayan ancestral knowledge. Rony’s father was killed by the army during the war, and he has recently moved to Canada to secure the safety of his family. And, he says, to get his hands back in the soil.

Inés succeeded Rony in the lead role, and Rony credits her with bringing so much of what IMAP needed to take its vital next steps. From empowering women and youth, to developing the viability of IMAP itself, along with that of the many farmers and communities with whom they work.

With thanks to Clare Carlile and team at the legendary Ethical Consumer magazine in the UK for setting up this conversation. Turns out they’d been inspired by the podcast and wondered if I’d be interested in becoming a media partner of a major global award they’d helped create with Lush Cosmetics a few years prior. It’s called the Lush Spring Prize, and it offers a £200,000 fund and other support for regenerative projects around the world.

This conversation was recorded online on 1 March 2022, Australian time, with Inés in Guatemala and Rony in Canada.

Title slide: María Inés Cuj (supplied). You can see a few more photos on the episode website.

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia.

Find more:
You can listen to a Spanish version of this episode here

IMAP website

Lush Spring Prize

The Spring Prize web page on IMAP

Ethical Consumer magazine / website

You can watch the award sessions again in six different languages.

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The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

This extra to episode 112 features the rest of my conversation with Traditional Custodian of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River, Natalie Davey. We pick up our conversation with a couple minutes more of Natalie’s description of the kinship systems of her Indigenous community. Then we delve into the brilliant story of how Nat and her old man ended up hosting a show on the local First Nations radio station – and some of the enormous benefits stemming from it.

And we go on to what Natalie thinks is needed most right now, some of her fascinating family histories, and why she feels so positive about people.

Title slide: Anthony and Natalie in conversation for this episode, at Nat’s place on the banks of the Martuwarra (pic: Olivia Cheng).

Music:
Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

You Shine, by the kids with Tura.

Find more:
You can hear more of Natalie and I in conversation in the main episode: ‘We All Need to Connect: Natalie Davey on protecting the Martuwarra Fitzroy River - and everything else’. You’ll find links in the show notes there too, along with some photos on that episode web page.

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Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Our final episode recorded in the Kimberley last year features Natalie Davey, a Bunuba-Walmajarri woman, Traditional Custodian of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River, first Indigenous Chair of Environs Kimberley, broadcaster, artist, educator and so much more. What a privilege it was to be welcomed to her home and Country, on the banks of the River just outside Fitzroy Crossing. The Martuwarra is one of the last wild rivers in the world and, as you may have heard in previous episodes, it’s at the heart of another flashpoint right now.

Extractive colonial narratives of ‘advancing the north’ persist. One of Australia’s outstanding audio documentary makers, Kirsti Melville, entitled her recent 2-part ABC podcast on this place: ‘First they came for the land, now they come for the water’.

But then, Nat recalls how her own Indigenous grandmother was afraid of Native Title, fearing it might mean she had to return to a tough life on Country. So if anyone can speak to where we go from here, it’s Nat.

This is a very special conversation by the Martuwarra, a deep insight into the Kimberley, its extraordinary Country and rich cultures, how we can avert the threats to it all, and be part of the growing regenerative collaborations and economies everywhere.

We talked for nearly two hours, having given this the time it needed. So there’ll be an extra to this episode released next week too, with this natural, wise and generous guide to the Martuwarra.

This conversation was recorded on Natalie’s Country by the Martuwarra Fitzroy River, just outside of Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley region in the far north of Western Australia, on 24 September 2021.

Title slide: The view of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River from Nat’s place (pic: Anthony James). You'll see some more pics on the episode website too.

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, screening around the country now.

You Shine, by Tura Music.

Find more:
Tune into the extra to this episode, On the banks of the Martuwarra

Environs Kimberley (where Nat is now Chair).

Indigenous Literacy Foundation shop.

The Guardian article featuring Natalie and her short clip in the award-winning documentary series, Voices of the River.

Kirsti Melville’s ABC audio documentary mentioned in the intro.

Wangki Yupurnanupurru Radio.

And the radio show Nat now hosts with her father.

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Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

David Pollock is one of Australia’s most prominent regenerative pastoralists. He and wife Frances have featured a few times on the award-winning ABC TV series Australian Story. But I’m more fond of telling people these days they’ve featured a few times on this podcast! David’s also known for his brilliant book, ‘The Wooleen Way: Renewing an Australian Resource’. That was aptly described as ‘The astonishing story of reviving the oldest land on Earth’.

When the book was published a few years ago, the Western Australian State Minister for Regional Development, Agriculture and Food (& now Hydrogen) paid David and Frances a visit to talk about it. A few years on, just last week, the Minister returned with a big announcement.

This was going to be a shorter episode about just that – that was big enough. But when David and I were talking about that, we ended up talking about some other big changes – in himself. So you’ll find the first half an hour of our conversation is on the significant array of developments afoot right now. And the rest, the personal transformations at the heart of them all.

This conversation was recorded online on Thursday 3 March 2022.

Title slide: Minister Alannah MacTiernan, David Pollock & Debbie Dowden, Chairperson of the Southern Rangelands Pastoral Alliance, at Wooleen Station for the big announcement last week (sourced from the Ministers ‘social media’ post).

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, launching this week.

Find more:
Wooleen Station.

David’s book ‘The Wooleen Way: Renewing an Australian Resource’.

The Minister’s media statement on the Southern Rangelands Revitalisation Pilot.

Landholders for Dingoes.

You can hear more of David and I in conversation, out at Wooleen Station, for episode 66.

You can hear the detailed conversation David and I shared on the release of his book ‘The Wooleen Way’ in episode 44.

 You can also hear David and his wife Frances in a live panel event conversation with Charles Massy and I in episode 16 ‘Grassroots Revolution’.

And my conversation with Frances back at Wooleen Station in episode 9 ‘Regenerating Land & Food Systems’.

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Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Kate Chaney is another of the growing number of independent candidates being announced around the country who might have a big say in the next pivotal federal election here in May. Kate is being described by many media outlets as Liberal Party royalty. That’s the nominally conservative party in Australia – or at least it has been, prior to this incoherent incarnation currently in government. Kate’s uncle, Fred Chaney, was a prominent Liberal Party parliamentarian, and her grandfather too. But three weeks ago at her campaign launch, Fred endorsed Kate as the independent candidate for the federal seat of Curtin, given the dire need for systemic change.

Curtin is reportedly the fifth safest Liberal Party seat in the country. But it’s not feeling like that now. Notwithstanding those media headlines, Kate’s been on her own path with politics, and everything else. And on the back of that, she came across the radar of Curtin Independent, the community group formed in Curtin to do what so many other communities are doing – seeking and nominating independent candidates; candidates not after a political career or power for its own sake, but to represent their communities. Imagine. And she’s standing to win.

This conversation was recorded at Galup / Lake Monger, in the inner north-west of the city of Perth, Western Australia, on Tuesday 22 February 2022.

Title slide: Kate Chaney (from her website).

You can see a few more photos on the episode website, including of the campaign launch we talked about.

Music:
Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia, launching this week.

Find more:
Kate’s website.

Curtin Independent, the community group from which Kate was asked to stand.

The national Community Independents Project, steered by Cathy McGowan and team.

If you’d like to hear my conversation with Cathy McGowan from last year, as this independents movement was gathering momentum, head to episode 85.

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Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Clinton Walker is a Traditional Custodian of the incredible Murujuga (or Burrup Peninsula), on the north-west coast of Australia. You might recall my conversations with archaeologist Peter Veth and the co-authors of Songlines, Lynne Kelly and Margo Neale, last year. They all related back to this place – where the Songlines start, as Clinton puts it. So at the end of last year, as my family and I headed south from the Kimberley, Clinton and I met up to record a yarn for the Clean State podcast, the spin-off series from The RegenNarration specific to my home state of Western Australia.

That podcast is a shorter snappier format. But with so much at stake here right now, and so much to appreciate about what he’s up to, Clinton and I settled in for an extended chat. So here’s the rest of what we recorded together.

Murujuga houses the largest rock art collection in the world – around one million petroglyphs, some dating back about 40,000 years. The World Heritage nomination for this place is a shoe-in, unless it’s jeopardised by current industry expansion plans – most notoriously, the Scarborough Gas Field proposal, currently being challenged in court and elsewhere, with the stakes running far beyond this incredible ancient place.

But there are better ways to go about things here. And Traditional Custodian Clinton Walker is uniquely placed to say. He was a highly paid technician with one of the mining companies here, but he ultimately couldn't bear the harm it was causing his Country. He now runs an extremely successful tour operation called Ngurrangga Tours, and is living the message that sustainable industries such as Indigenous cultural tourism are enormously beneficial - economically, for Country, and for bringing our cultures together.

Clinton sat us down on a very special part of his Country for this yarn on 13 December 2021.

Update: The Cultural Heritage Reform Bill has since passed the WA State Parliament, without alteration.

Title slide: Clinton Walker (supplied). You can see more photos on the episode website.

Music:
Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

Regeneration, composed by Amelia Barden, from the soundtrack of the new film Regenerating Australia.

Find more:
To hear the rest of my conversation with Clinton, tune in to episode 9 of the Clean State podcast.

Ngurrangga Tours.

Hear my conversations with the co-authors of Songlines for episodes 92 & 93.

And for more on the sophisticated migration of First Nations peoples to & across these lands, the immense natural-cultural value of Murujuga, & how to resolve the current planning issues, tune into my chat with Peter Veth for episode 83.

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Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Damon Gameau has been a wonderful presence in so many of our lives for a couple of decades now - from his prominent acting career, to his transformation into an award-winning film-maker. There’s his timeless Tropfest winner Animal Beatbox, through to his legendary documentary features That Sugar Film and 2040. Now there’s a new film about to launch, with the vision honed towards 2030. This vital decade. It’s another master work – a short film with a big story. It’s called Regenerating Australia.

Along with the film, there’ll be another huge outreach effort, a community projects funding program, and more. This time, Damon draws on visions expressed by communities around Australia, uniting on key themes across political and other divides.

This is our take off point, and from there our conversation weaves through some of the many layers of the film, our country, and our respective personal paths. From what Regeneration means, and how to protect it, to the practicalities of how the film will roll out in the lead up to a pivotal and promising federal election. The community independents movement continues to gather momentum, along with so many other aspects of regeneration.

Though I wondered, given Damon’s focus on these stories of regeneration, how we might hold the darker aspects. And how his friendship with the late great Aboriginal performer David Gulpilil shaped his understanding of story, from the perspective of this Country’s first story-tellers.

You’ll also hear a sneak preview of the beautiful soundtrack to the new film.

This conversation was recorded online on 11 February 2022.

Title slide: Damon Gameau (supplied).

Music:
Regeneration (from the Regenerating Australia soundtrack), composed by Amelia Barden.

Find more:
Regenerating Australia.

If you’d like to hear my conversation with Cathy McGowan that Damon referred to, head to episode 85.

And you’ll find the Songlines book we talk about here.

You can also hear my previous conversations with Damon on the podcast for episodes 30 (just as 2040 was being finished), 38 (when it premiered in Perth) & 77 (when 2021 began).

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Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Dianne Haggerty probably doesn’t need an introduction these days. When last on the podcast for episode 68 around 18 months ago, I’d come to visit Di and husband Ian to learn about their world breakthrough regenerative farming operation. You’ll have heard them mentioned in a number of episodes since (and featured on ABC TV and elsewhere). Their natural intelligence ethos, fierce grace and incredible story of regeneration ignite the imagination. And their episode remains among the top 6 most listened to on this podcast.

So when we were heading south from the Kimberley late last year, we dropped in. Join us under the stars on a warm December evening, for a quick catch up on some of the brilliant and challenging aspects of their year. Their regeneration of country continues apace, but there’s a clarion call here too. And fittingly it has echoes of Petrine McCrohan in the previous episode, noting that one was recorded in the region of the Haggerty’s old haunt and their transformation.

This conversation was recorded on 23 December 2021.

Title slide: Dianne and Ian Haggerty, showing our young fella the ropes on one of the repaired headers (pic: Anthony James). You can see a few other pics on the episode website.

Music:
The System, by The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.

Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

Rockin’ in the 80s, by Dr Sparkles (sourced from the Free Music Archive).

Find more:
To hear my extended conversation with Di and Ian back on the farm in 2020, and see a range of links and photos, head to episode 68.

The influential Textile Exchange Report, hot off the press, that the Haggerty’s were engaged extensively in: ‘Regenerative Agriculture Landscape Analysis’.

And my young fella did his own podcast episode with Di, so of course I’m including that link here too! ‘How do you harvest all this (and can I drive the harvesting machine)?’ (or on Spotify - episode 8)

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Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Petrine McCrohan is the founder of Bridging the Landscapes – our inner and outer landscapes. This has emerged from spending the best part of the last 20 years in the Kimberley, engaged in empowering processes and skilled therapeutic interventions. She’s been doing much of this work as a group facilitator and direct mentor to Aboriginal communities and social enterprise developers. And in the process, she’s observed and assisted a transformation in how initiatives and enterprises are being designed. The focus is increasingly on healing inter-generational trauma. And the economies that this shift is successfully restoring and creating constitute a model not just for other Aboriginal communities, but for us all.

Petrine’s journey to the Kimberley stemmed from her own experiences of trauma and transformation. She left an established life in Victoria when in her 40s, pulled and guided by ‘invisible threads’ and formative encounters. And she’s come to believe and witness that healing from trauma is the window through which purposeful, healthy and prosperous lives and societies are forged. We exchange notes on a few fascinating corroborating cases and experiences too, that suggest she’s not alone.

Join us at sunset beside the spectacular Bandilngan (Windjana Gorge), a 35O million year old Devonian Reef, ancient home to the Bunuba people, cornerstone to the story of Bunuba warrior Jandamarra, drawcard on the famed Gibb River Road, and an area pivotal to Petrine’s journey.

And right on topic, you’ll hear how the conversation sub-consciously rolls with the shifting light and sound around us.

This conversation was recorded on 6 September 2021.

Title slide: Anthony James and Petrine McCrohan with the Martuwarra Fitzroy River in the background, just outside of Fitzroy Crossing, a couple of days after this conversation (pic: Olivia Cheng).

See the episode website for more photos from this spectacular Country.

Music:
The System, by The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.

Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

Flamenco Rhythm, by Sunsearcher (sourced from the Free Music Archive).

Find more:
Petrine’s LinkedIn profile.

Yiriman Women On-Country Enterprises.

Dillon Andrews’ Bungoolee Tours. 

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!

Jess Beckerling is Campaign Director of the West Australian Forest Alliance (WAFA), and much more besides. She’s a highly respected figure here in the southern reaches of Western Australia, by both those who would traditionally have prioritised conservation, and those who might not have. I spoke with Jess back in July last year for the Clean State podcast, a spin-off series from The RegenNarration specific to WA. At the time, WAFA was seizing the opportunity it sensed to finally end native forest logging in WA. With the comprehensive and poetically conceived Forests for Life Plan in hand, WAFA has been showing how we can stop bleeding finances, forests, farmlands and communities, and back in the growing suite of ecologically and economically beneficial industries. Come September, the WA government agreed – and in an Australian first announced the end of native forest logging in this state.

So we kick off the podcast for the new year with this massive story. You’ll hear the last 15 minutes or so of my conversation with Jess, which closes with a few bonus minutes that just couldn’t fit in Clean State’s cut. Then I’ve patched in Jess’s media statement from Parliament House on the dramatic day of the government’s announcement (a few minutes long), along with some of her comments to the journo’s present.

More on Jess: Jess lives in the forests on the South Coast of WA. She first became involved in forest conservation in 1997 when she joined the Giblett forest blockade near Pemberton. Jess lived in forest blockade camps for 3 years, winning the State Government's Youth Leadership Award in recognition of her commitment to the maintenance of nonviolence in the camps. Jess has been the convener of WAFA since 2011 and was awarded the Conservation Council's Bessie Rischbieth award in 2015. Late last year, she was recognised as the Environmentalist of the Year by the Bob Brown Foundation.

This conversation was recorded online with Jess speaking from her office in the south coast town of Denmark on 13 July 2021 (Australian time).

The media statement was recorded outside Parliament House in Perth by Clean State WA on 8 September 2021.

Title slide: Jess Beckerling (supplied).

Music:
A Forests Dream, by Cloudjumper, sourced from the Free Music Archive.

Find more:
To hear the rest of my conversation with Jess, tune in to episode 8 of the Clean State podcast, a spin-off series from The RegenNarration specific to Western Australia.

The plan and campaign website.

WA Forest Alliance website.

A 2 minute short film from Gondwana Link featuring Jess talking about the decades-long movement to protect the forests.

A 2-minute film by Luke Sweet featuring beekeeper Mikey Cernotta making the case for the Plan.

Send us a voicemail

Support the show

Please share this episode or the trailer with a friend, follow the podcast, and subscribe if you can.

The RegenNarration is independent and ad-free, with hundreds of episodes freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. If you're enjoying the podcast, I hope you'll consider becoming a paid subscriber, from as little as around $1 a week, to gain access to a great community, subscriber events and giveaways, and to help keep the show going, on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find some writing, photography and tunes too).

You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

I hope to see you at an event soon, even the shop. Thanks so much for your support!