Connect with the people and the stories of the Great Southern
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.
Sunset frogs in the cool and wet
"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."
Eddy and Donna Wajon: Chingarrup Sanctuary
Meet Eddy and Donna Wajon from Chingarrup Sanctuary, the first private property purchased for conservation in the Gondwana Link.
The Western Ground Parrot and me: A story about Brenda Newbey and Western Australia’s rarest bird
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: Reconnection and collaboration
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.
Carol Pettersen: Storylines
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: Coming back to Country
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 and Alison Lullfitz: Connecting on Country
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.
Nic Dunlop: The power of citizen science
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: Leadership in Landcare
Heather Adams is the Chair of the Oyster Harbour Catchment Group and a long-term leader in the landcare movement.
Balijup Farm and Fauna Sanctuary
Listen to current co-owner Alan Hordacre and others describe the important work taking place at Balijup Farm, including the fully fenced Fauna Sanctuary.
Ella Maesepp: Lake Ewlyamartup
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.
Ella Maesepp: Landcare in Katanning
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.
Ranges Link: Caring for the Kalgan Valley
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: A passion for ecologically-based farming
Sylvia Leighton is a farmer, landcarer and scientist with a passion for ecologically-based farming
Wendy Bradshaw: A life in landcare and regenerative 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.
Justin Jonson: Leadership in ecological restoration
Listen to Restoration Ecologist Justin Jonson describe his years of work refining the science of restoring habitats and ecological integrity on cleared land.
Gen Harvey: Wingedyne Reserve
Listen to Gen Harvey, Landcare Officer at Wagin-Woodanilling Landcare Zone describe what makes Wingedyne Reserve so special.
Twin Creeks Reserve: Community driven conservation
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: A passion for birds
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.
One thousand kilometres of hope
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 Restoration Project
Yarraweyah Falls is a 100 hectare ecological restoration project that is filling a gap for Gondwana Link, in the highly biodiverse Fitz-Stirling area.
Chris Lewis: An enduring passion for Kojonup’s wildflowers
An interview with Chris Lewis, from the Kojonup Regional Herbarium, on her remarkable 45-year commitment to the plant life of Kojonup.
Restoration ecologist is a man with a mission
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: Finding ‘Pingrup Pink’
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: Kojonup roadsides and bush
Kath Mathwin writes passionately about Kojonup landscapes and roadsides of seventy years ago and all that has changed since then.
Linking modern science with Indigenous knowledge to care for the land
Robyn Williams from The Science Show interviews Stephen Hopper, Professor of Biodiversity about linking modern science with Indigenous knowledge to care for country.
Entangled nature: The Stirling Range National Park
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.
A conversation with Jack Williams and Averil Dean: stories about country
An interview with Noongar elders Jack Williams and Averil Dean - stories about country.
Balijup Farm and eco-sanctuary from above
Experience flying above a wandoo woodland canopy. This film features drone aerial photography of the Balijup Farm and Eco-Sanctuary in April 2020.
Birds on the edge: Helping threatened shorebirds
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.
Balijup: A jewel in the Gondwana Link
From Green Skills, this film introduces Balijup - a special property in the Great Southern region and a vital link in the Gondwana Link.
Ancient range reveals totems
WENDY BARRETT talks to Vernice Gillies, Larry Blight and Ron Grey about the powerful connections between the Porongurup Range and the Menang people.
Heather’s incredible life on the riverbank
Heather Adams has been a constant presence in the Landcare activities in the Upper Kalgan and Ranges Link for three decades.
Nowanup: Healing land, healing people
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.
Ranges Link: Bringing country back to life
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.
Nowanup: Healing country, healing people
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.
Restoring Oyster Harbour
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.
Balancing nature: the south-west of Australia
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.
Giving back to country: Chingarrup Sanctuary
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.
Technology working for wildlife
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.
Healing country on the Gondwana Link
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.
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