11 Jul, 2015 | Permaculture Gatherings
Story by John Mckenzie, May 2015
Camping in a large paddock alongside the Penguin High school – an easy walk to the conference venue — a large building built with ‘Building the Education Revolution’ (BER) funding. It’s moveable walls pushed back to make a huge open space, large commercial kitchen offering up great food.
Saying hello to Bob Brown, catching up with Geoff Lawton, many tables and stalls in the foyer filled with magnificent information and conversations, coffee from East Timor being sold to raise funds for the rewrite of the Permatil Guidebook from East Timor, four magnificent keynote speakers, the AGM for PA, watching the dance and spoken word performance, dancing ourselves, about 250 of us in the Robyn Clayfield choreographed spiral dance, having breakfast and saying farewell to David Holmgren at the Reseed Centre as we departed… so much happened in those few short days.
The site and program was excellent for the purpose. All the facilities that we needed and what I loved was how it allowed so many opportunities for informal conversations. That was the icing on the cake.
Bob Brown inspired and challenged us. He affirmed Permaculure then urged us to do more. He was thanked with a standing ovation that seemed to go on for ever.
David Holmgren offered a range of challenging ideas:
- On advocacy and the permaculture voice… he cautioned about over-focussing on calling for governments to act. He cautioned us about shouting our message but at the same time being totally dependant on the corporate system. He asked two simple questions:
- What is our message? and
- How do we advocate? …then offered some answers.
That we be a mass movement shouting for ‘less’, that we don’t forget we are in a culture built on a mountain of debt, the permie message should be about living frugally, that we should be producers not consumers.
DIY & DIO (do it ourselves) — build your relationships, build your community, build your garden. He talked about how he and Su were intentionally low income earners.
He talked about Permaculture as well suited to being an idea not controlled by an organisation, he said permaculture can propagate and spread as other ideas, like a virus, thus bypassing regulatory processes of governments and bypassing the monetary economy.
He spoke about people being more concerned about loosing their money than extinctions of species. He proposed that the misplacement and corruptions of our thinking had been pushed by the emergence of corporations. He talked about the significance of the granting of person-hood rights to companies some 200 years ago.
Then finally in a riff on the permie mantra about turning the problem into the solution he said, be wary, these things are cyclical “the solution will become the problem”.
Nicole Foss maintained her ongoing message about the erratic and unstable economic system we live in. She enthused about local cooperatives, and local government as structures we should consider to put effort into to build and strengthen yield and useful return in local systems.
Stuart Hill cautioned us to keep our minds open, to keep a learners perspective. That there is so much we don’t know. He reminded us to care for ourselves, that we filter life through the lens of our personal experience, and often it’s our bruising personal experiences that influence our opinions and thinking. He invited us to be the best permies we can be, the best person we can be, to attend to self care to keep of capacity to emphasis and to keep learning.
Another standing ovation went to local identity Bruce French from Food Plants International. He’d decorated the hall with 100s of photographs of food plants from around the world, an incredible display. Then at 100mph he spoke about his work across many particularly Africa promoting local knowledge and local plants for their better nutrient density and their local availability. He freely distributed his database and it’s also on his website.
Permaculture Australia had it’s AGM and the primary question was asked – Is it worth continuing with PA? A great session of discussion about the shape and direction of PA including a strong affirmation by David Holmgren for PA. The session was well attended, new members joined PA and new subcommittees were formed and a 2015 Board was elected. The conference also provided an opportunity for an informal conversation between PA Directors and Geoff Lawton to build links between PRI and PA.
Permaculture Australia members in discussion at APC12
So many other great speakers, sessions and memorable moments, Permaculture elders were honoured with a gift of a Huon pine plaque, a dance and spoken word piece was offered by Hannah Cooper & Nick from Poatina, Phil Gall offered a full voice rendition of Bet Midler’s ‘The Rose’.
Some great films were screened, two I saw were:
- Deep Listening: a documentary about intentional communities in Australia. Great interviews with long term residents from some of Australia’s most established communities. View the trailer…
https://vimeo.com/76490760
- Tender Funeral: A documentary about a community project at Port Kembla providing services for the aged and their families at the end of life. To live and die in community with dignity.
I didn’t get to stay and do site tours so I cannot report on that, sorry.
Elected board members for Permaculture Australia at APC12, John Mckenzie is second from the left.
11 Jul, 2015 | Permaculture Gatherings
Story by Caroline Smith, May 2015
Tasmania holds a very special place in the permaculture community. It was here that the concept was developed in the 1970s by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. It is also the home of the first Organic Festival, with such luminaries as Peter Cundall, David Stephen and Graeme Stevenson. 2015 happens to mark the 40th anniversary of the organic festival and also the 30th Anniversary of the first Permaculture Convergence.
Despite this rich history there has never been a Permaculture Convergence in Tasmania, so it was with great enthusiasm that North West Environment Centre (NWEC) in Penguin put their hand up to host the APC12 to bring permaculture home to its birthplace. Given the history, the organising committee decided that the theme of the convergence should be both to remember and honour the past achievements of permaculture as well as to continue the challenge to find ever more creative ways to transform the future for a sustainable world. With our planet now in such a dire state we were interested in a ‘big picture’ look at the place and role of permaculture. Our way of doing that was to place a strong focus on deepening our understanding and ability to work across the seven interconnected ‘petals’ (domains) of the permaculture flower.
To help people develop their presentations we suggested they respond these questions:
- Taking stock. Where is permaculture after 40 years and what are its continuing challenges?
- What are the critical future global and local challenges we are facing and how can permaculture provide solutions?
- Where is the cutting edge of permaculture thinking and action?
- What are areas where permaculture hasn’t worked and why?
- What can permaculture really achieve? Are we expecting too much of permaculture?
- What are some models of effective leadership in permaculture?
- Working at the edge with the mainstream – what are permaculture people doing and how can we do better?
- The permaculture flower represents permaculture as an integrated system – what is missing/not well developed?
- What would a permaculture design for a community look like?
- Permaculture and scale – what is the optimum?
- Where does permaculture fit in a consumer society?
- What is the history of permaculture design and how has it evolved over time?
The event attracted some 200 permies, of which more than 50 were presenters. We had participants of all ages and from every state and territory. There were Elders of the movement as well as first time participants. International folks too from Italy, France, Brazil, New Zealand, Taiwan – many of whom worked brilliantly as volunteers. (I hope I haven’t left anyone out).
One of the highlights of the event was the welcoming dinner, with Bob Brown as the speaker. What a wonderful sight to see two giants of the environment movement – Bob and David Holmgren, appearing together. David presented Bob with a copy of Permaculture Pioneers, signed by all the ‘pioneers’ who attended the convergence. Sadly, Bill Mollison was not able to attend because of ill health, but he was acknowledged and honoured in a moving closing ceremony facilitated by Robin Clayfield.
David Holmgren and Bob Brown at the welcome dinner at APC12, Penguin Tasmania, 2015
The history theme was beautifully taken up by Robyn Francis, who gave an amazing overview of the development of permaculture from the 1970s. What a story we have to tell! There was also an Honouring of the Elders — 18 of our Elders received a beautiful hand-made wooden plaque made from native huon pine and blackwood by a local artist. This highlight is set to continue at future APCs – we have many more Elders to honour. A the same time thee was a clear sense of a handing over – some of the older stalwarts of the movement are getting on a bit, so it is critical for the next generations to become the new leaders of the movement. To see that this is happening was one of the joys of the convergence.
Robyn Francis, at APC12, Penguin, Tasmania, 2015
Economics was a strong focus with the realisation that it is both part of the problem and part of the solution. We even had two young accountants presenting – probably the first time at an APC! We also had a very entertaining presentation from a member of the Victoria Police who engaged us with the story of her ‘conversion’ to permaculture.
An outstanding highlight was the presentation by Tasmanian local Bruce French, who for years has tirelessly documented an incredible number of food crops from around the world in a set of amazing photographs. Bruce was given a standing ovation for his presentation.
There were so many other highlights it’s impossible to record them all, but a great achievement was the re-constituting of Permaculture Australia with a new, young and energetic leadership team. Also Permaculture Tasmania was resurrected and we Tassies hope to have an annual gathering in our beautiful state.
Overall, the participants spent an energetic 3 days gathering, talking, arguing, enjoying each others’ company and forging the strong bonds that only come from face to face interactions.
Some of the stories, photos and other information can still be found on our APC12 website and APC12 Facebook page.
We look forward to continuing the ‘conversation’ at APC13 in WA in October 2016.
21 Dec, 2014 | Permaculture Gatherings
Story by Russ Grayson reporting from Penguin, Tasmania
To get to this place we found the narrow lane we had been told to look out for and carefully descended the steep, winding, gravel road that took us through the tall timber into the gully below. There, we encountered the Penguin Community Garden and the organising meeting of the APC12 (the twelfth Australasian Permaculture Convergence) crew.
Meeting the crew gave us confidence that they will pull off a great convergence here on Tasmania’s Bass Strait coast, in this small town that hugs the shoreline and where in the morning you hear birds call, goats bleat and chooks cluck.
In the forest — the mudbrick building at Penguin Community Garden — what a place for a planning meeting. This is the site for the Organic and Sustainable Living Festival.
A big picture focus
APC12 focuses on, to quote from the website, “…honouring the past achievements of permaculture and challenging us to find ever more creative ways to transform the future to a sustainable world.”
APC12 will ask where are we now in permaculture and what futures could open for us. These are big-picture things that permaculture practitioners would probably do well to think about so as to define an effective role for the design system as we enter the Anthropocene epoch — the Age of Humankind — a time when humanity has a dominatng influence on the earth.
Applications close — soon
The convergence is scheduled for March 10-12, 2015, with the following two days set aside for self-guided tours.
The preceding three days — March 7-9 — are for the Organic and Sustainable Living Festival, the Permaculture Expo (a day open to the public) and the Introduction to Permaculture Part 1. Then, on the 9th, Introduction to permaculture Part 2 and the Australasian Permaculture Convergence welcome dinner.
March is the month when the island state’s weather is at its calmest and mildest (I’m not trying to alarm you, but bring a warm pullover and a waterproof jacket — just in case).
Applications from presenters and workshop leaders are already coming in, said Caroline Smith, one of the organisers looking after the program (with Kerry Dawborn, Caroline was an editor of the book, Permaculture Pioneers). So, too, are registrations, said the person looking after that — and, no, you won’t get in by turning up on opening day, cash in hand.
Here are the important dates:
Applications to hold a workshop, presentation or other activity close: January 12
Registrations to attend APC12 close: January 31 — this is a prepaid event, tickets not available at the door
Homecoming
APC11 took place in the town of Turangi, on New Zealand’s North Island. APC10 was on Far North Queensland’s Atherton Tableland.
APC12 is a homecoming for the permaculture design system. Holding it here in Tasmania is significant because it was almost 40 years ago that the design system was born on this island (I still recall then, when living in Hobart, being handed a copy of the book, Permaculture One).
I think it comes from Carl Jung’s idea of the hero’s journey, the saying that you go away, and when you return to where you started you really see the place for the first time. So it will be for the permaculture design system this March in Penguin, when, after its long and continuing journey across our land and that of Aotearoa (New Zealand), the APC returns to this green island, where, all that time ago, permaculture made its modest start.
[button_link url=”http://www.apc12tas.com” target=”blank” style=”blue” title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=””]Visit APC 12 website for more information[/button_link]
[button_link url=”http://www.apc12tas.com/program/call-for-presenters/” target=”blank” style=”blue” title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=””]Visit APC 12 website to register to run an activity by 12 January[/button_link]
[button_link url=”https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/12th-australasian-permaculture-convergence-tickets-12393129183″ target=”blank” style=”blue” title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=””]Visit APC 12 eventbrite site to register by 31 January
this is a prepaid event, no tickets are available at the door[/button_link]
20 Dec, 2014 | PA News
Report compiled by John McKenzie, PA director, December 2014
News from the Directors
The 2014 AGM for PA was in August when new directors were elected.
Meet PA Directors:
- Taj Scicluna (Melbourne)
- Annaliese Hordern (Nimbin)
- Morag Gamble (Crystal Waters)
- Guy Stewart (Nimbin)
- John McKenzie (Melbourne).
Departing are Drew Barr (Melbourne) and John Champagne (Bega). Drew and John both did a huge amount and are greatly missed but fortunately both are continuing in their committees, Drew on Accredited Permaculture Training (APT) and John on PermaFund, so they’re still deeply involved.
Interested in being involved with PA?
Anyone interested to be involved either at Board or on committees is welcome to contact the secretary — Taj on 0450 375 528
[button_link url=”http://permacultureaustralia.org.au/about-us/2014-2015-pa-directors/” target=”blank” style=”blue” title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=””]Meet PA directors 2014-2015[/button_link]
PA Annual report 2013
The PA Annual Report for 2013 is available on the PA website. This is the first time a PA Annual Report has been available for public distribution and it’s another step on the journey of PA being more open and accountable.
[button_link url=”http://permacultureaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/PA-Annual-Report-2013.pdf” target=”blank” style=”blue” title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=””]Download PA Annual Report 2013[/button_link]
PA at APC12 — 9-12 March 2015 — Penguin, Tasmania
The PA Board is talking with the organisers of Australiasian Permaculture Convergence 12 (APC12) about:
- presenting an update on PA’s journey of formation and to reference the discussions on this from the Cairns APC in 2010
- holding the 2015 AGM for PA at APC12.
[hr]
PermaFund – Small Grants 2014
On International Permaculture Day the Permafund Committee notified seven community organisations that their request for a Permafund $1000 grant had been approved.
This year they were all international projects:
- a small community nursery for bamboo production in Haiti, for AEE Haiti
- support for a community training centre for rural skills in Cambodia, for Ockenden, Cambodia
- resourcing a farmers & NGO network, in dryland Tamil Nadu, for FRSD in Madurai, India
- an irrigation installation at a farmers training centre, for THREAD, in Orissa India
- a food garden for an orphanage, for Umaja Orphanage, Kenya.
Two organisations had difficulty in arranging their bank account, a community garden program in Southern Mexico and a community gardening training program in a medical institute in Cuba. These were worthy projects and we’re still hoping they can resolve their issues and be able to receive this grant.
We would like to thank all who have donated to PermaFund in the past two years, their generosity has allowed PA to provide the small grants program and support permaculture initiiatives in some of the world’s poorest communities. We particularly thank:
- Richard Telford
- David Holmgren
- Su Dennett
- Caroline Smith and
- Kerry Dawborn.
Permafund review — 2-4 January 2015 Hazelbrook NSW
Invitation and call for opinions. PA is holding an open meeting to review the fund’s progress and consider activities and direction for the coming year(s).
Our last gathering was in Katoomba in 2012 where the small grants program was initiated. Since then PA has distributed $11,000 in grants to 14 community projects in Australia and around the world.
This upcoming gathering in Hazelbrook will consider the impact and effectiveness of the small grants. We will hear from grant recipients, from PA members and from people active in permaculture and community development. The event is open and people are welcome to attend or submit an opinion for consideration. It will be a time for welcoming new ideas and involving new people.
Cost for meals and accommodation is expected in the range $50-150 (Members) or $70-170 (non members) depending on venues. Payment will be on arrival but anyone thinking they may attend please lets us know ASAP to allow arrangements with venues.
For further information and registering:
- Jed Walker ph 0407 433 181 e: jadajama@gmail.com
- Boyd Attewell ph 0417 991 499 e: boydatt@bigpond.com
[button_link url=”http://permacultureaustralia.org.au/events/permafund-gathering-and-review/” target=”blank” style=”blue” title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=””]PermaFund gathering and review details[/button_link]
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APT training package and Agrifood Skills Australia
Agrifoods have commenced a project to include Permaculture qualifications in their Agriculture, Horticulture & Conservation (AHC) Training Package. This is the ‘scoping’ phase – describing jobs within the Permaculture sector and the associated skills and knowledge required, then mapping this to existing training packages to identify the gaps where new training components are needed. The development of the new components is expected to begin in early 2015.
To followup on APT issues contact Taj on 0450 375 528.
7 Mar, 2014 | Permaculture Gatherings
During the summer over 120 people completed a survey about when, where and what they’d like the next Australasian permaculture Convergence (APC) to look like. Over 60 of those also offered to help in some way.
Simultaneously, Alicia Boyd and Ian Lillington have engaged a series of possible hosts around the country.
The ACT region had great success with a big permie-presence at Floriade, last October, and are seriously considering hosting APC13 in 2017. Meanwhile, discussions continues with folk in Tasmania, Bondi and Wollongong about hosting the APC in autumn 2015.
If your area could host APC12 in the autumn of 2015 or at a later date, now is the time to say so — just email hello@permacultureaustralia.org.au and we will get back to you.
[button_link url=”http://permacultureaustralia.org.au/2014/01/12/let-us-know-your-thoughts/” target=”” style=”blue” title=”” class=”” id=”” onclick=“”] Link to previous story about APC feedback survey [/button_link]
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