The Great Southern is rich with stories: how it came to be, the special plants and animals, and the passionate local people who care for this place. Watch, listen to and read their stories.
"I was actually looking for crayfish burrows, and my habit was to feel around with my hands in the peat where there were holes in the ground. Reaching under a small ledge in the peat, I felt something wet walk onto my hand. Instinctively cupping my hand gently, I brought it closer to see."
Meet Eddy and Donna Wajon from Chingarrup Sanctuary, the first private property purchased for conservation in the Gondwana Link.
The extraordinary efforts of Brenda Newbey and others to identify, locate and protect Western Australia's rarest bird are conveyed in this rich and important environmental history. Work to save the ground parrot continues.
Ezzard Flowers is a Goreng-Menang Elder. His life story includes living with his extended family on country as a young boy and then being removed from family and placed in a mission.
This is the compelling story of Carol Pettersen, a Menang-Ngadju Elder. Aunty Carol was born at the Gnowangerup Mission and raised in the bush around Jerramungup with her family, which she describes as “one of the most glorious times of my life”. She has spent much of her life in the Albany area, on her traditional country and her story offers many cultural insights.
Eugene Eades is a Goreng - Menang Elder, and since 2006 he has played a pivotal role in creating a powerful healing and cross-cultural gathering place on a former farm, now called Nowanup.
Lynette Knapp is a Merningar Elder and Adjunct Research Fellow and Dr Alison Lullfitz, is a Research Associate, both at the University of Western Australia.
Meet Dr Nic Dunlop, Coordinator of the Citizen Science Program at the Conservation Council of Western Australia. For decades, Nic has used his scientific knowledge to assist and run citizen science projects, mostly involving birds.
Heather Adams is the Chair of the Oyster Harbour Catchment Group and a long-term leader in the landcare movement.
Listen to current co-owner Alan Hordacre and others describe the important work taking place at Balijup Farm, including the fully fenced Fauna Sanctuary.
Meet Ella Maesepp from Katanning Landcare, who helped to coordinate an enormous community landcare effort to bring Lake Ewlyamartup back from the brink of collapse.
Listen to Ella Maesepp from Katanning Landcare, one of Western Australia's most prominent and successful landcare organisations in a prosperous agricultural community in the heart of WA’s southern wheatbelt.
Meet some of the key people behind the Ranges Link initiative in the Kalgan Valley, a productive farming area between the Porongurup and Stirling Ranges.
Sylvia Leighton is a farmer, landcarer and scientist with a passion for ecologically-based farming
Wendy Bradshaw farms near Tambellup, and is also a passionate environmentalist who is constantly learning and experimenting with how we can farm better with nature.
Listen to Restoration Ecologist Justin Jonson describe his years of work refining the science of restoring habitats and ecological integrity on cleared land.
Listen to Gen Harvey, Landcare Officer at Wagin-Woodanilling Landcare Zone describe what makes Wingedyne Reserve so special.
Meet some of the members of Friends of Porongurup Range, an incredibly passionate and dedicated community group who own and manage Twin Creeks Conservation Reserve.
Wayne Zadow has been an avid birdwatcher for decades, especially around Kojonup where he farms. He has an extraordinary knowledge of bird species, their behaviour and habitat preferences. Wayne is very concerned about the impact of spring burning on nesting birds.
What is Gondwana Link? Sitting under a grand old salmon gum in Ngadju country, Keith Bradby explains how working with local people to tackle habitat loss enabled Gondwana Link to take an intractable problem and turn it into something quite achievable.
Yarraweyah Falls is a 100 hectare ecological restoration project that is filling a gap for Gondwana Link, in the highly biodiverse Fitz-Stirling area.
An interview with Chris Lewis, from the Kojonup Regional Herbarium, on her remarkable 45-year commitment to the plant life of Kojonup.
Tash Kneebone from The Southerly charts the state of the Great Southern’s environment and goes one-and-one with local restoration ecologist Justin Jonson.
Eileen Croxford was collector of the extremely rare Eucalypt 'Pingrup Pink' - in fact in between first finding it and then going back to the same spot the area had been entirely cleared.
Kath Mathwin writes passionately about Kojonup landscapes and roadsides of seventy years ago and all that has changed since then.
Robyn Williams from The Science Show interviews Stephen Hopper, Professor of Biodiversity about linking modern science with Indigenous knowledge to care for country.
The history of the Stirling Range National Park - one of the largest reserves within the southwestern Australian global biodiversity hotspot. One of the most species-rich places in Australia and valued as a significant but threatened conservation asset.
An interview with Noongar elders Jack Williams and Averil Dean - stories about country.
Experience flying above a wandoo woodland canopy. This film features drone aerial photography of the Balijup Farm and Eco-Sanctuary in April 2020.
The salt lakes around Cranbrook are a highlight in the Great Southern. This short film showcases community and landholder work to fence and rehabilitate the foreshores of their salt lakes to protect threatened shorebirds, like the Hooded Plover.
From Green Skills, this film introduces Balijup - a special property in the Great Southern region and a vital link in the Gondwana Link.
WENDY BARRETT talks to Vernice Gillies, Larry Blight and Ron Grey about the powerful connections between the Porongurup Range and the Menang people.
Heather Adams has been a constant presence in the Landcare activities in the Upper Kalgan and Ranges Link for three decades.
Under the extraordinary leadership and dedication of Elder Eugene Eades, Nowanup has become a beacon of hope, a force for cross-cultural sharing and a powerful healing place.
This uplifting story of landholder-led conservation and restoration comes from the farming country between the Porongurup and Stirling Ranges. Farmer and native seed pioneer Peter Luscombe has teamed up with his neighbours the Friends of the Porongurup Range, working from their Twin Creeks Reserve, to build a major habitat link between the ranges.
This case study from the WA Landcare Network tells the story of the collaboration between the Noongar community and environmental groups that has resulted in Nowanup, a genuinely special place where country is being restored to health and people are coming back to the land.
A Gondwana Link film about an important estuary near Albany which has been restored to health by communities working together in the catchment and under water.
From the ABC Science archives, this 2008 story focuses on the biodiversity hotspot of south-western Australia and features conservationists, ecologists and scientists to find out how conservation is succeeding both in small pockets of habitats and across extensive areas of landscape.
From Green Skills, this film highlights the wonderful environmental restoration and citizen science activities carried at Chingarrup Sanctuary - a 576 hectare bush property near Boxwood Hill, on Western Australia's south coast.
A Gondwana Link film featuring restoration ecologist Justin Jonson. Justin uses science, technology and heart to direct-seed large areas of cleared land back to bush.
From Greening Australia a short film about the restoration of habitat in the shadow of the Stirling Ranges National Park, in partnership with the Nowanup Rangers.