Ambitious new plan taking shape at Wilyun Pools Farm

January 2025

Sylvia Leighton: I’d like to explain the wonderful transition that Wilyun Pools Farm is undergoing right now. My partner Peter McKenzie and I have been involved in the landcare movement since the 1990s. One important ethos promoted at that time encouraged sustainability through building a healthy balance between environment, society, economy and culture. After purchasing the 1190-hectare farm from my parents ten years ago, Peter and I have always tried to operate Wilyun Pools Farm under that umbrella of sustainability, and we were fortunate to be awarded the WA Landcare Farmers award in 2021 and the Australian Landcare Farmers award in 2022.

Sylvia Leighton and Peter McKenzie at Wilyun Pools Farm, September 2024. Image: Nic Duncan.

But at much the same time, Peter and I recognised we were getting tired. We were around 60 years of age and the farming lifestyle often tempts you to over-extend yourself physically, and the mental challenge of trying to reduce the environmental decline in this ancient south-coast landscape is enormous. We were looking for many more creative minds to be involved in the long-term stewardship of Wilyun Pools Farm, so we reached out to a network of people to help us brainstorm possibilities.

Sylvia Leighton and Peter McKenzie address a crowd of well-wishers, including Wellstead community members, following the farm’s sale and the start of new arrangements. Image: Nic Duncan.

One challenge for Peter and me was to determine a pathway that would provide us with an economic return so we could exit the property while also ensuring that the new owners and managers would care for the land and have economic viability. We wanted to help address climate change, so the evolving carbon market looked an attractive option. However, the ever-changing carbon regulations made it a bit of a minefield for everyday farmers and land managers who were trying to understand the possibilities.

We had other ideas close to our hearts: we wanted to contribute to reconciliation with the Traditional Custodians of the land and support the ethos of land stewardship rather than ownership. Back in 2016, a very significant visit to Wilyun Pools Farm was undertaken by researcher Alison Lullfitz (University of WA), accompanied by local Noongar Elders and an archaeologist. The group was taken to a very special place on the property which is a distinct, cleared and open site amongst bushland near a permanent waterhole. It has remained undisturbed and unchanged for the last 60 years. The Elders immediately recognised it as a significant area and possible ceremonial ground. We were delighted to support it being officially assessed and recorded.

Peter and I had a deep desire to return this site to the Traditional Custodians so it could once again be awakened with song, story and dance through re-building cultural connections with Noongar people. But how were we going to find a pathway where the Traditional Custodians could return to Wilyun Pools Farm, live there permanently and feel safe to carry out long-term cultural management of the land?

To start tackling these challenges, we decided to work closely with two organisations: Carbon Neutral and Gondwana Link. After 18 months of persistent investigation, a pathway for investment in carbon production on Wilyun Pools Farm began to emerge. Around that time, Gondwana Link introduced us to the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories organisation, which was looking for a base for its cultural programs.

It’s June 2024 and there’s joy as Peter McKenzie and Sylvia Leighton catch up with the new custodians of Wilyun Pools Farm – the Wirlomin. L to R: Connie Moses, Kim Scott, Lefki Kailis, Mary Gimondo, Kayden Nelly, Olivia Roberts, Peter, Sylvia and Iris Woods. Image: Gondwana Link.

Now, after several extraordinary years in which the team working on solutions grew to three different organisations and a climate investment business, a different and empowering future for Wilyun Pools Farm has begun. Together, we developed a way forward for a shared vision that gives the farm the greatest chance of an ecologically and culturally sustainable future. At the core of this future is Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories.

Let’s jump into some of the details of the ‘deal’, which are quite fascinating. Here’s Chris Thomas.

Chris Thomas: I’m a director at Wollemi Capital. We’re a climate investment firm based in Sydney and we’re proud and excited to have invested in the Wilyun Pools Farm project.  

Chris Thomas of Wollemi Capital with Olivia Roberts, Vice-Chairperson of Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories organisation, Wilyun Pools Farm, September 2024. Image: Nic Duncan.

Wollemi Capital invests in businesses and projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, across sectors such as energy, transport and industrials, but we also have a big focus on the benefits of restoring nature to draw-down carbon, while also protecting wildlife and habitats.

Wollemi is an investment firm, not a philanthropic or charitable organisation. But we do have a clear purpose, which is inherent in the way we invest. The projects we invest in have to do two things: be commercially and financially viable and able to pay a return to our investors, AND provide a measurable benefit for climate and, where possible, for nature and for people. Wilyun Pools is a prime example of a project where we can see both of those things happening and we’re delighted to be partnering with Carbon Neutral, Gondwana Link and Wirlomin to achieve all of this.

Featuring most of the team who pulled together the new future for Wilyun Pools Farm (L to R): Keith Bradby (Gondwana Link), Chris Thomas (Wollemi Capital), Graeme Miniter (Wirlomin), Tony Jack (Carbon Neutral), Kim Scott and Olivia Roberts (Wirlomin), and Sylvia Leighton and Peter McKenzie (previous owners). Image: Nic Duncan.

We have invested in the Wilyun Pools Farm project in order to fund two things. The first is the purchase of the land from Sylvia and Peter, and I want to point out that they have been incredibly generous in selling the property below the full market value – which is a key part of what’s made this entire project economically viable.

The second thing we are funding is the carbon project, specifically the planting of biodiverse revegetation as well as blue gums and other species. As these plantings grow, they will capture carbon. Carbon Neutral has registered Wilyun Pools as a carbon project under federal government regulations. This will enable Wollemi to receive carbon credits for the carbon that’s stored in these trees, and to sell those carbon credits to large companies who are looking to decarbonise their businesses or to reduce their carbon footprint. That revenue stream should be enough to pay for investment returns to Wollemi Capital, enable Carbon Neutral to be rewarded for its work, and importantly, provide a modest income stream to Wirlomin and Gondwana Link.

In addition to supporting Wirlomin’s work, through a share of the carbon project revenue, we’re excited about the innovative project structure which has been developed to create access for Wirlomin to this land – both immediately and over the long term.  While Wollemi Capital is the majority owner of Wilyun Pools today, a perpetual peppercorn lease is in place between Wollemi and Wirlomin. This means Wirlomin can feel confident and secure in continuing to operate their programs from Wilyun Pools Farm.

But probably the more groundbreaking aspect of the partnership structure that we’ve all pioneered together has been a way to use the Wilyun Pools carbon project to support the transition of this land into Wirlomin’s ownership over time. So, while today Wollemi Capital is the majority landowner of the Wilyun Pools property, we have already transferred a percentage into Wirlomin’s ownership, which is held on trust by Gondwana Link in Wirlomin’s name. So from day one, both Wollemi and Wirlomin are joint owners of this property – we’re both on the title.

The ultimate vision is for the carbon income from Wilyun Pools Farm to enable Wollemi to transfer the entire property into Wirlomin’s hands. We have jointly agreed a series of milestones, documented in a joint Statement of Commitment, that allows this to occur. We hope this creates a clear pathway for Wirlomin to know that over time, if this project succeeds and those milestones are achieved, there is a pathway for them to take freehold ownership of this land.

Pen poised, Olivia Roberts sits beside Sylvia Leighton to formalise agreements for the new arrangements in place at Wilyun Pools Farm. Back row (L to R): Keith Bradby, Graeme Miniter and Peter McKenzie. It’s 31 May 2024. Image: Carol Duncan.

Sylvia: As Carbon Neutral’s representative, Tony Jack had a key role in achieving the new pathway for the farm, including finding the investor Wollemi Capital. Tony’s long-standing connections with many of the people involved in the project helped to establish trust, which is so valuable during a lengthy and complicated process.

Tony Jack: Carbon Neutral has been around for about 20 years, trying to address climate change. Before growing trees for carbon, I was part of a business growing trees for timber, and through that I met Sylvia’s parents here at Wilyun Pools Farm, and Sylvia’s partner Peter was part of my business crew.

Growing trees is a long-term exercise for most human time frames and I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in growing trees for the last 30 years. As my wife says, I can be quite patient at times – a necessary attribute for watching trees grow! The threat to our environment is now so challenging, however, that it’s very important to act quickly. Part of rising to this challenge means getting the best people to look after land. Who are the best people to look after land? In my view, it’s those who have been doing so since time immemorial. 

Then there’s something Wirlomin’s Kim Scott said to me some months ago which was along these lines: “We can’t undo what’s happened in the past and our stories now must include that of the wadjela (white person)”. What a generous statement from a Noongar man whose nation has been through such a traumatic dispossession. It was very humbling.

It is highly satisfying to know that a new path is now emerging that will see the care of Wilyun Pools Farm progressively devolve to people of the Noongar nation, the Wirlomin. As well as its celebrated work on language and stories, its capacity to care for Country is growing again.

Wirlomin singing and celebrating their culture and language at Wilyun Pools Farm, September 2024. L to R: Boyd Stokes, Gaye Roberts, Olivia Roberts, Darryl Williams, Kim Scott, Boydan Coyne and Graeme Miniter. Image: Nic Duncan.

There’s a mixture of plantings happening on the property. Carbon Neutral is pleased to have registered areas of biodiverse environmental plantings under the Federal Government’s ‘environmental plantings method’. These plantings will expand the areas of bush preserved on the farm and enhance Sylvia and Peter’s existing habitat corridor plantings, so wildlife can thrive even more.

With an audience to mark the occasion, a biodiverse mix of local species, matched to soil type, is being sown at Wilyun Pools Farm, August 2024. Greening Australia undertook the planting. Image: Gondwana Link.
Some of the revegetated wildlife corridors already in place on Wilyun Pools Farm. Image: Peter McKenzie.

In addition to the biodiverse plantings, areas of Wilyun Pools Farm had previously been used for commercial blue gum forestry and these will now be managed as a combination of permanent eucalypt forests together with saw log production areas. They will be planted in the most biodiverse and environmentally friendly way possible, with relatively wide spacing to allow direct seeding of an understorey of native species. The saw logs will provide extra income and supply timber following the end of native forest logging.

Sylvia: Keith Bradby from Gondwana Link has worked with us throughout this process and helped broker the ‘deal’. ‘Amazing acrobatics’ is how Keith described the process of giving everyone involved the certainty they needed to move forward.

Keith Bradby: I’ll start with the question: why this focus on a significant change in land use and management here at Wilyun Pools Farm? Well, south-western Australia is a biodiversity hotspot of global importance and the band of country that runs from the Pallinup River valley through the Wellstead area to Mount Manypeaks and up to Koi Kyeunu-ruff (Stirling Range) is one of the hottest spots within that hotspot. This area is critically important on a global scale – everything from the amazing kwongan (Proteaceae rich) heathlands to those serene yate swamps.

The beautiful Calothamnus quadrifidus on Wilyun Pools Farm. Image: Nic Duncan.

There’s also a contemporary social imperative. In the last three or four decades the reality for many rural areas has been significant population loss, to the point where many small communities are struggling. We can’t let rural Western Australia become just one big paddock with hardly anyone living in it. There’s got to be a diversity of approaches, a diversity of people and incomes, and a diversity of bush. So, we’ve got to get better at how our farming systems work with that diversity. In Wirlomin there are all these really interesting people with a deep connection to this Country and a different type of (old time-tested) knowledge who are bursting with enthusiasm to get back onto land. That’s a significant social opportunity for rural WA and an important part of what we’re achieving here at Wilyun Pools Farm.

Boydan Coyne with one of the many wattle species on Wilyun Pools Farm. Image: Nic Duncan.

I’ve also been thinking about the integration of benefits. You often see land in rural areas being used for one main purpose – be it a farm to produce crops, a plantation for chips or timber, or a conservation reserve for nature. But land is a precious thing and at Wilyun Pools Farm, through new capital investment and creative arrangements built on goodwill, trust and vision, this one freehold property is yielding ecological benefits, cultural benefits, community benefits and economic benefits. And that’s the way it ought to happen.

Humans get a bad rap for what we’ve done to the planet and we can all get a bit down about that, but you’ve got to live with hope: what is underway at Wilyun Pools is one of the many beacons of hope. It has a future that’s forward-looking and positive – the Country will just get healthier and healthier and healthier. The wonderful process of ecological and cultural renewal that is happening on Wilyun Pools is also underway on some other properties in the region, through a number of local groups. Each of these groups has a unique approach, but real care for Country and people is always at their core.

I find that pretty inspiring and I reckon the people involved are inspired too. It’s been great coming back to visit the Wirlomin team working on Wilyun Pools – Graeme, Boyden, George, Jarrad and Amos – and seeing their big smiles and the energy. Then seeing Sylvia and Peter’s sheer joy at what’s happening. There have been some great displays of generosity of spirit. Sylvia and Peter apologised to Wirlomin for leaving their fridges behind and then apologised for leaving them full of food for the work team! That certainly makes clear that we’re here to help Wirlomin build their capacity and feel comfortable with owning the property and all that it involves. 

Sylvia: One of the things I’ve loved about this process is getting to know members of the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories organisation, including Graeme Miniter, the Chairperson.

Graeme Miniter: For about 30 years we’ve been doing our projects of restoring cultural knowledge and storylines back on Country, and we were looking for somewhere to use as a base for our cultural activities, programs and camps with our Elders. Keith Bradby, Kim Scott and myself spoke regularly for a few years trying to organise opportunities to get Wirlomin a base where we could do cultural programs on Country. We looked at some other properties further east, but we’ve always said that something closer to Albany would be better so our mob could access their traditional Country more efficiently and get out more regularly. Then Kim got a phone call from Keith out of the blue to say, “Hey, something’s come up, there’s an opportunity.” So those negotiations started at least two and a half years ago and culminated in where we are today. But it’s been a long and hard struggle for us to get our head around it.

We’ve gradually got to this point now where we’ve been able to take on the custodianship of the land with the aim of looking after it, planting back native bush and implementing the Carbon Neutral program. This gives us a great opportunity to get our people back on Country to look after and extend Sylvia and Peter’s good work of looking after this place.

If it wasn’t for Peter and Sylvia and their desire to get this property back in the hands of Noongar people, we may not have got to this point so we will always be in gratitude to them. They played hardball a couple of times with the sale contracts to give us more support than ever to get us to this stage. Our organisation, our family group, is very, very excited for the opportunities this can bring to us, not just the Elders having opportunities to get back on Country, but also being able to develop programs for our youth as part of regenerating our language programs and restoring cultural practices.

It’s already going great bringing the guys out from town – they’ve just taken to it and love it, working on the land, getting that connection and they know it’s going to become their place and they can do something for their Country, with their Elders.

As part of the Wilyun Pools Farm carbon project, Wirlomin’s Roy (George) Miniter and Boydan Coyne plant blue gums in a former plantation site, July 2024. Image: Graeme Miniter.

Our guys are experienced tree planters so they’ve already done some supplementary hand planting of blue gums on Wilyun Pools. We’ve also spent several months collecting native seed on the farm and processing that ready for direct-seeding by machine – drying and sieving seed, scarifying the wattle seed, and preparing and smoking the seed mixes for the different soil types. We have built a seed-drying dome to keep things ticking over nicely. Sylvia and a nearby property supplied more seed and seedlings, and the local restoration knowledge has been invaluable. We ended up planting 41 species from the local area. It all involved getting some know-how about what seed to collect, when it’s ready and viable, and how to process them ready for sowing.

Amos Ugle and Boydan Coyne clean native seed at Wilyun Pools Farm, ready for replanting, August 2024. Image: Graeme Miniter.
The Wirlomin team of Amos Ugle, Graeme Miniter and Roy (George) Miniter prepare native seed for smoke treatment, which will assist with germination, August 2024. Image: Jim Underwood.

It’s been good working with the other groups – Gondwana Link, Carbon Neutral, Greening Australia and Form Forests – to get those jobs done. The next steps include our Elders coming out to design a camping area for us and we’d like to map out putting some bush foods back on Country.

Sylvia: I came to Wilyun Pools Farm in 1965 when I was eight months old, and I was there for the clearing of much of the bushland. Along with other members of my family, I’ve seen dramatic changes from the close-knit ‘settler community’ I grew up amongst, to today’s high-tech agricultural industry. I am thinking a lot about all that change and what to draw from it.

People ask us “Are you sad to leave the farm?” Yes. Peter and I miss the sights and sounds that make up the unique character of that land: the birds, the plants, the frogs, the honey possums, the owls and even the snakes! We might even miss the sheep. But we also know that as the Traditional Custodians return to the land to which their ancestors had a connection for more than 40,000 years, Wilyun Pools is in good hands to grow into something hopeful and positive.

A bandicoot foraging in a wildlife corridor planting at Wilyun Pools Farm. Image: Sylvia Leighton.

We have been welcomed back by Wirlomin for many visits and have been so impressed with all the tidying up, re-organising and new initiatives. It is invigorating to think how the property will reshape itself under the creative care and management of the Wirlomin alongside Gondwana Link, Carbon Neutral and Wollemi Capital.

THANKS to Sylvia Leighton, Peter McKenzie, Chris Thomas, Tony Jack, Keith Bradby, Graeme Miniter and the photographers. Thanks also to Josephine Hayes for audio recordings and many others for their valuable contributions. Editing by Margaret Robertson, Keith Bradby and Jim Underwood.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Find out about the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project

Here’s a 2022 story about Sylvia and Peter’s work at Wilyun Pools Farm: Landcare Family Has Passion for Property | Heartland Journeys

Preparing local, biodiverse seed mixes for direct seeding on Wilyun Pools Farm. Gondwana Link’s Jim Underwood, Wirlomin’s Graeme Miniter and Amos Ugle, and Greening Australia’s Glen Steven, August 2024. Image: Josephine Hayes.
Diane Evers, Laura Beck and Corinn Hine at the Wilyun Pools gathering held in September 2024 to acknowledge and celebrate the farm’s new direction. Image: Nic Duncan.
A time to celebrate with many well-wishers. Members of the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories group gather at Wilyun Pools Farm in September 2024. L to R: Olivia Roberts, Cheryle James-Wallace, Iris Woods and Karessa Pickett. Image: Nic Duncan.
Chris Thomas of Sydney-based Wollemi Capital meets members of the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories organisation. (L to R): Elaine Miniter, Olivia Roberts, Mary Gimondo and Lefki Kailis at Wilyun Pools Farm. Image: Nic Duncan.

Landcare family has passion for sustainable farming

February 2022

Sylvia Leighton grew up on ‘Wilyun Pools Farm’ – near Wellstead east of Albany – during a time when her family were clearing the bush to develop a sheep farm. In 2013, after her parents retired, Sylvia returned to the farm with her partner Peter McKenzie and their children. Sylvia came back with a wealth of knowledge and experience in biology, ecology, community landcare and soil science, along with a passion for farming in a more ecologically sensitive way. Peter, also with a farming background, brought the same enthusiasms plus years of experience in plantation forestry.

In 2021, Sylvia and Peter received an Australian Government Landcare Farming Award for their inspiring work on Wilyun Pools Farm. Sylvia shares their story here.

 “In 1965, when I was brought here as an eight-month-old baby, the surrounding landscape was all native bushland. Our whole family became the workforce. I have two brothers and two sisters, and like kids all over the region, we were a major part of the workforce that cleared the land for agriculture.  We were all involved in the bush clearing, the burning, the picking up of the stumps, raking, fencing and the sowing of pastures. Right through to my teenage years we were still clearing the native bushland. Maybe that experience sunk deeply into my subconscious, I’m not quite sure, but I’ve really spent the rest of my adult life, from when I was about 20 years old, working in environmental conservation,” Sylvia says.

Image of Pattie Leighton and Sylvia, Jim, Penny and Sam with the first delivery of superphosphate to Wilyun Pools Farm, 1966.
Pattie Leighton and Sylvia, Jim, Penny and Sam with the first delivery of superphosphate to Wilyun Pools Farm, 1966. Image: R. Leighton.
Image of Sylvia at about age 6 (c. 1971), inspecting a Kingia australis on Wilyun Pools Farm.
Sylvia at about age 6 (c. 1971), inspecting a Kingia australis on Wilyun Pools Farm. Image: P. S. Leighton.

“So when the decision came to return to this farm with my partner Peter, it felt like it was very much the right thing to do. I needed to come back to the piece of land where, as a child, I was part of its destruction. We took away a lot of its biodiversity—I can’t imagine how many individual plants and animals we killed. We’re talking millions and millions on this 3000 acre (1240 ha) block alone.

“It feels very rewarding deep, deep down inside, to return to the land that I was on as a child and try to build it back up in health. I have come back in my fifties and I’ve brought some of the landscape monitoring, some of the science, which wasn’t here when I was a kid.  We’re now building our knowledge about how this landscape functions. We’re never going to really understand it’s complexities, but we can make a contribution by investigating what kind of soils we have, finding out what the hydrology is doing, and adopting farming practices which are okay in this fragile landscape.”

Image of Peter McKenzie and Sylvia Leighton at the entrance to their farm.
Peter McKenzie and Sylvia Leighton make an entrance statement, setting out their goal for the farm and recognising First Nations people as the land’s ongoing custodians for 40 000 years. Image: courtesy of Sylvia Leighton.

Despite the need to maximise the farm’s development, Sylvia’s parents saw the importance of the local bushland and kept some of the original habitats. Sylvia and Peter are building on this legacy.

“The bushland down the back of the farm, with Wilyun Creek running through it, has been set aside as the core of the farm. As a non-Indigenous person, I’m saying this is the most sacred place on the property. We try to operate the whole farm to maintain the very good health of that waterway and the core biodiversity zone, and we hope that future care-takers of this land will also consider that this is really one of the most precious parts of the farm,” Sylvia says.

“There were other remnants of bushland on the farm and some of these were still in quite good health. For most of these areas we have established a 20-metre perimeter planting of local native plants, which protects the biodiverse core of the original vegetation at the site. At this stage we know we cannot replant the bush back to what it once was. We just don’t have the technical skills to propagate many of the native species, and the soil structure qualities have been changed by 50 years of agriculture. So those bits of remnant vegetation dotted around the farm are very precious—in my lifetime I don’t want to degrade any bushland ever again.

“In our revegetation we’re putting in about 30 plant species that provide structure and ecological function. We just hope that over 50 to 100 years, other local plant species will slowly move into these revegetated areas, but they may never ever go back to what they once were.”

Image of seeds for Acacia leioderma, A. varia var. parviflora, A. subcaerulea, A. harveyi, A. cyclops & A. pulchella.
December 2021 – six wattle species collected on Wilyun Pools Farm as part of a seed mix for a 22-hectare wildlife corridor planting in 2022: Acacia leioderma, A. varia var. parviflora, A. subcaerulea, A. harveyi, A. cyclops and A. pulchella.
Image of Sylvia says germinating hundreds of native plant seeds in the farm’s nursery is a very addictive activity—every few hours she wants to see how many more have pushed their way up through the soil! These are Banksia praemorsa seedlings.
Sylvia says germinating hundreds of native plant seeds in the farm’s nursery is a very addictive activity—every few hours she wants to see how many more have pushed their way up through the soil! These are Banksia praemorsa seedlings.

Through their revegetation and wildlife corridor plantings, Sylvia and Peter are actively expanding the amount of bushland on Wilyun Pools Farm. So far, with the help of family, friends, volunteers, consultants and fellow landcarers, they have revegetated 110 hectares and created about 18 kilometres of wildlife corridors. The corridors vary in width between 40 – 70 metres, creating habitat in which wildlife can shelter, feed, breed and move. They have also installed 75 kilometres of protective fencing.

“There is one particular place on the farm we’re really quite excited about. My parents cleared this area of native bushland about 48 years ago, then sowed it to pasture and grazed it with sheep for 22 years. Then in the last 20 years they converted it across into blue gum plantations, which were harvested five years ago.  Peter and I came in behind that harvesting and we have direct seeded a wildlife corridor that runs across the farm, sitting on top of a sand dune,” Sylvia says.

“The deep sand sites in the Wellstead district are where a lot of the banksias and all the nectar rich plants in this landscape used to grow. So within this planting we’ve included lots and lots of the local banksias and hakeas. We’re just hoping that over time the wildlife, which comes from the bushland down near the creek, will use this vegetation corridor to move across the farm and set up other homes in some bush down on the back boundary.

“We’re already seeing it. The plants are only five years old and you can come in here and you’ll find birds nesting. You can even watch little birds fly from the shrubs in the revegetated corridor into the paddock, grab some flies and dart back into the corridor. We’ve always known that you can bring different components of nature back into your farming system and they’re going to do so many positive things— helping with insect control and keeping your landscape healthy. Unfortunately, nobody has measured it, quantified it, and put an economic value on it.

“The revegetated corridors also bring amazing aesthetics and pleasure. When we’re out there doing sheep work or fencing or driving tractors, which at times isn’t much fun, we’ve always got these rehabilitated sites to come and look at and enjoy—just sitting there for five minutes makes us feel so much better.

Image of Multiple revegetated wildlife corridors are used to connect areas of natural bush on Wilyun Pools Farm. The Southern Ocean is just visible in the distance.
Multiple revegetated wildlife corridors are used to connect areas of natural bush on Wilyun Pools Farm. The Southern Ocean is just visible in the distance. Image: Gondwana Link.

“Nearly all the native seed for our revegetation has come from the farm. Over the summer months we can’t get down to the beach for many swims because we’re collecting native seed. Some plants, like the wattles, we have to be right there on the specific day to collect the seed, or the pods will pop and scatter the seed over the ground. We have to be patient and keep an eye on all the native plants, and make sure we’re here on the day the seed matures. If we miss it, we have to wait another 12 months. Once the seed is collected, we spend quite a while getting that seed out of the pods or nuts, and then add it to our seed mix. Then, six months after it’s sown, we see this incredible transformation in the landscape—we’re just so excited about it.

“We survey the fauna in the corridors to see which animals return over time. The birds are the first group back and they use the plants for protection even when the plants are only knee high, at about 6 months in age. Then the insects start to increase followed by reptiles and frogs. The small mammals like honey possums and pygmy possums return after four to five years when the bushes are over two metres in height and dripping with nectar.”

Image of Banksia baueri, or the woolly banksia, is a rich source of nectar for honey possums. Here it’s growing in a revegetated wildlife corridor on Wilyun Pools Farm.
Banksia baueri, or the woolly banksia, is a rich source of nectar for honey possums. Here it’s growing in a revegetated wildlife corridor on Wilyun Pools Farm. Image: Sylvia Leighton.

Sylvia and Peter have welcomed the traditional custodians of this country back to the farm and arranged visits to a range of special places on other farms across the district. They now work together with these Noongar Elders as they bring Wilyun Pools Farm back to health.

“In one of the areas of bush down near some permanent freshwater pools, there was always an unexplained, large, cleared area. The bush was fenced off from stock so had never been disturbed. It was an incredible experience to invite the Menang Elders to visit this site. Initially they sat there, they ‘felt the site’, and then recognised it as a traditional gathering site,” Sylvia says.

“It was really great to get a heritage story for this place. It was also amazing to have the Noongar Elders back here ‘on country’. Since farmers arrived here in the region, during the 1940s through to the 1960s, all the boundary fences were put up around the properties and the Noongar people were shut out. The government never told my family and other farming settlers that the land we had arrived on had actually belonged to people before us. It wasn’t until I worked up in Kakadu National Park and made many friends with the Traditional Custodians up there, that I started to wonder ‘who are the Traditional Custodians for down on the south coast of WA?’ I feel quite ashamed about that. It was probably in about 1985—it took me that long to start thinking about the peoples who had lived in this land before we came along. And so we’ve been getting more information. It’s just like it was the missing piece of the puzzle—a very important piece of this complex puzzle.”

Wilyun Pools Farm sits in a landscape where higher rainfall species like Marri and River Yate (Eucalyptus cornuta) are at the extreme eastern boundary of their range. There are also low rainfall, wheatbelt species around the farm which are sitting at the southern end of their range. Sylvia’s botanical knowledge is helping her to observe the resilience of the local ecosystem and think through what might happen to species like these in the face of climate change.

“So if we go into climate change, and they are predicting that this part of the landscape will get drier, it’s possible that species which require less rainfall will start to dominate and species like the Marri and River Yate, which need higher rainfall, may disappear out of this landscape. It’s sad but this landscape has seen climate change in the past, and these plants have moved with change,” Sylvia says.

“I think we always underestimate how powerful nature is. When we revegetate a site it’s incredible—give nature a little bit of a chance, and it grabs hold of it and comes back with such strength and power, it always leaves me in awe.

“Again, sometimes when we’re hearing about what’s happening worldwide to do with the environment, I still go by the strength of nature here and think we are possibly living in one of the most adapted landscapes in the world for climate change. I think some of these plants, especially eucalypts, are opportunists. They’re like gamblers—they wait for their chance, and if they get rainfall and sunlight conditions that are right for flowering, they’ll do it.

“We always used to think that plants needed to flower at specific times of the year because they have very specific pollinators that are only available at that time of the year. But I’m watching this bush and I’m seeing there are lots of pollinators in this landscape.

“I feel lucky we’re in a landscape which, if you just give it a bit of space, it can bounce back into good health and have such vigour. I find that really exciting—that it’s so strong. It’s an ancient, ancient landscape. It’s been through so much over the millions of years it’s existed here. And it’s really clever.

“And it’s taken years, decades to start seeing how intricate and amazing and complex this landscape is— it’s the complexity which makes it really exciting. There are so many unknown components to the way this landscape functions with its natural ecosystems. And in my lifetime we’re not even going to get anywhere near fully understanding that functioning. The mystery of it makes it exciting.”

Image of BEFORE: The bare sand of a former blue gum plantation on Wilyun Pools Farm in the process of being converted to…
BEFORE: The bare sand of a former blue gum plantation on Wilyun Pools Farm in the process of being converted to…
Image of AFTER: …an alive, bio-diverse wildlife corridor like this, only 4 years after it was planted.  Most of the native seed was picked on the farm. About 35 species were included in the seed mix, which was planted in 2016 using a tractor and direct seeding machine.
AFTER: …an alive, bio-diverse wildlife corridor like this, only 4 years after it was planted. Most of the native seed was picked on the farm. About 35 species were included in the seed mix, which was planted in 2016 using a tractor and direct seeding machine. Images: Sylvia Leighton.

Sylvia recognises how important it has been to come back to the farm with new ideas and new information and to farm it in different ways – not by fighting nature but by listening more intently to the messages from nature.

“The great advantage Peter and I have is that we both come from farming backgrounds. We’ve gone away, done lots of things and learnt new skills which we have brought back into this project. But we are business people as well. You can sink thousands and thousands of dollars into a farm, fixing it up and redesigning it, but you’ve got to have cash flow; you’ve got to make money. You’ve got to pay your rates every year and be able to pay for the upkeep of the farm. The revegetated sites themselves have long-term management costs like weed and feral animal control. So you’ve got to have some profit,” Sylvia says.

“So we’ve gone back into something we’re both really familiar with, which is sheep. Peter was a farmer and shearer for many years. He enjoys livestock husbandry and likes having a healthy, happy flock.

“We’re using a rotational-grazing farming system. It is a little bit more intensive but we like growing the pastures so they are strong and healthy. We’re not pushing for maximum production with the mindset of getting as much money as we can as quickly as possible, then leaving. We’re here for the long term; we have a very long-term vision. We’re here to build up the health of this landscape, understand its functioning, and when we leave, hopefully we’ve balanced the farm so the landscape isn’t degrading anymore. Our hope is that future generations can come through with all their clever ideas and their science and take it onwards into a really healthy food production system, fully integrated with nature and cultural heritage.”

THANKS to Sylvia Leighton and Peter McKenzie. Our thanks also to Frank Rijavec and Margaret Robertson for the original recording of Sylvia. Editing by Margaret Robertson, Nicole Hodgson and Keith Bradby. This story was also published in the February 2022 edition of the Southerly Magazine.

Pattie, Sylvia and Russell Leighton, in the shed-home on Wilyun Pools farm, 1985. Image: J. P. Leighton.
Sylvia collecting seed for revegetation plantings from one of the many mallee species (E. incrassata) on the farm (don’t try this at home!). Image: H. Binks.
Image of Sylvia Leighton (left) and Peter McKenzie receiving the Australian Government Landcare Farming Award 2021 from Cec McConnell, WA Commissioner for Soil and Land Conservation, at the WA Landcare Network Awards night.
Sylvia Leighton (left) and Peter McKenzie receiving the Australian Government Landcare Farming Award 2021 from Cec McConnell, WA Commissioner for Soil and Land Conservation, at the WA Landcare Network Awards night. Image: Ammon Creative.





Sylvia Leighton: A passion for ecologically-based farming

Sylvia Leighton farms near Wellstead on the property she grew up on. When her parents retired in 2013, she returned to the farm with her partner Peter and their son Alex.

Sylvia has come back to the farm with a wealth of scientific knowledge and experience in biology, ecology, community landcare and soil science, along with a passion for farming in a more ecologically-sensitive way.

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