Indigenous Culture and Permaculture

Healing hands, working together.

Learning From the Past, Planning for the Future …

‘Caring for country’ is at the heart of indigenous cultures across the world. Since ancient times, their careful observation, understanding and respect for the land, and their intimate knowledge of the seasons and cycles of nature has generally resulted in communities that have lived in harmony with their environment and with the earth’s natural life support systems. There remains much that we can learn from such traditional practices and knowledge bases. Especially at a time when the world is seeking more sustainable ways of operating in the bid to address the significant environmental and social challenges that we face, including the spectre of climate change.

Learning from the past.

Planning for the future.

This month the UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples was commemorated (on 9 August) with the theme of ‘Education’. The UN used this global event to highlight the right to education, recognized under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Attention was drawn to the disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous students in terms of access to education, school retention and graduation rates in all regions of the world. This is certainly reflected in Australia.

The ‘UN International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples’ – shining a light on the knowledge, richness and diversity of indigenous cultures.

Sharing Knowledge and Learning From Each Other

On the theme of ‘education’, there is also much that non-indigenous people can learn from our indigenous elders, brothers and sisters. In Australia, this learning extends to broadening our understanding about how indigenous people managed to live on this dry continent sustainably, for 60,000 plus years, working in sync with the climatic conditions, the diversity of environments and the indigenous plants and animals that co-existed here. And this was not just, as common notions would have it, in the role of simple hunter-gatherers.

Indigenous writer, Bruce Pascoe, author of ‘Dark Emu, Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?’

The First Peoples of Australia not only had rich social and cultural lives, they also developed quite intricate indigenous economies – with established trade routes and food systems that included not just wild harvesting but the domestication and cultivation of important plants, including native grains and yams, the evolution of firestick farming, the creation of eel and fish traps and the careful management of water resources. Some of the best accounts of this have been uncovered in the journals and records of the early European explorers and settlers, who documented their first encounters with Aboriginal groups in different parts of Australia.

Bruce Pascoe and his wife, Lyn Harwood ,at the Lake Bolac Eel Festival in western Victoria.

Indigenous researcher and author, Bruce Pascoe, describes this early aboriginal culture in considerable detail and highlights the type of economies and communities that existed at the time of first contact, in his book Dark Emu, Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident? The stories within its chapters, drawn from a range of historical records, reveal diverse communities, dotted across the continent, bearing all the hallmarks of so-called ‘civilised society’ – including the construction of semi-permanent and permanent dwellings, the selection and cultivation of plants and the preserving and storing of surplus food supplies.

Bruce Pascoe’s insightful and thought provoking book ‘Dark Emu, Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?’

Connecting to country is something we can all do.

Wattle seeds can be ground up to make a somewhat nutty, protein rich alternative to coffee.

Bruce Pascoe points out that there is even archeological evidence of ‘grinding stones’ – tools that were used to grind harvested native grains to bake bread in earth ovens – thousands of years before the ancient Egyptians even came up with the idea!

But is this a source of national pride or a cause for celebration, as Bruce Pascoe believes it should be? Sadly, it is not even widely known. This type of resourceful and creative thinking however, was an integral part of the rich social and cultural life of Aboriginal Australia … but this is not what we learnt about in school. This is not the history that Bruce Pascoe studied at school either – or university – and therefore he didn’t teach it himself when he was a secondary school teacher, prior to becoming a researcher and writer.

Instead, students were generally taught the widely published and accepted version of Australian history – albeit quite a prejudiced and Euro-centric version of history – which inherently discounted the complexity of indigenous society in order to perpetuate the land claim of Terra Nullius – the myth that this land was ‘nobody’s land’, that this country was not being ‘used’ and that the First Peoples did not have a ‘civilised’ society.

Authors Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe presented talks on indigenous land management at the recent Lake Bolac Eel Festival in western Victoria.

Raising Awareness

In the ground-breaking book, The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia (which won a swag of literary and history awards), respected historian and academic, Bill Gammage, details Aboriginal Australia’s skillful land management prior to colonisation. In a nod to the book’s theme and title, Bill Gammage describes how the early European explorers and settlers repeatedly recorded observations about countryside and grasslands that were ‘park-like’, in that they resembled an English gentleman’s park or estate. 

Film makers are working on a documentary about Bill Gammage’s book, ‘The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia’.

As James Boyce writes, in a review in The Monthly, the comparison made by early settlers was far closer to expressing the full truth than their cultural blinkers would allow them to see. The Aborigines were indeed managing an estate that, despite a focus on local action, stretched the breadth of the continent. He writes: “… in 1788 there was no wilderness, but a landscape that reflected a sophisticated, successful and sensitive farming regime integrated across the Australian landmass. Fire was not an indiscriminate tool of fuel reduction or grass promotion, but carefully employed to ensure certain plants and animals flourished, to facilitate access and rotation, and to ensure resources were abundant, convenient and predictable.”

Learning about indigenous practices, like the use of food, fibre and medicine plants, keeps these practices alive and ensures that the knowledge is passed on between generations.

Thanks to the work of researchers and writers like Bruce Pascoe and Bill Gammage, we are learning more about the richness of Aboriginal Australia that existed at the time of European contact. That is, before indigenous people were rounded up and moved on to missions, forbidden from harvesting their bushfoods or carrying out their ceremonies and cultural practices. In many ways it is a wonder that this rich and ancient culture has survived. But survive it has and there is now a real resurgence of interest and a growing appreciation and respect for indigenous ways of caring for country and caring for people. There is much we can learn.

Bill Gammage signs a copy of his ground-breaking book ‘The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia’.

Acknowledging and respecting Australia’s indigenous roots.

An Inspiration for Permaculture

The early co-founders of permaculture, Australians Bill Mollison and David Holmgren, recognised the insight and wisdom within the land management practices of indigenous people, both here and overseas. They undertook broad-ranging research and experimentation as they developed their principles of permaculture in the 1970s, and they drew inspiration from the Australian Aborigines’ traditional respect for and connection to country and their environmentally sensitive ways of life. Mollison and Holmgren’s permaculture methodology for sustainable land management, food production and social interaction has since grown in popularity both in Australia and around the world. And its evolution continues today, as the permutations of permaculture are applied on a personal, domestic and community level, as well as in regenerative agriculture and broader scale projects of a more commercial nature.

Permaculture co-founder and educator, David Holmgren, guides students on a tour of his property, Melliodora, in Hepburn Springs, Victoria.

Land Cultures: Aboriginal Economies and Permaculture Futures

In April this year, David Holmgren and Bruce Pascoe teamed up to share their insights about sustainable land management, from their indigenous and permaculture perspectives. In an evening forum at the Daylesford Town Hall, they gave presentations on the topic of Land Cultures: Aboriginal Economies and Permaculture Futures. A documentary film featuring this event, along with Bruce Pascoe’s book readings at the local library and planting of bushfoods in the local community garden, has just been released (available on You Tube and embedded at the end of this post). Produced by Anthony Petrucci and Patrick Jones (permaculture advocate, author and member of Artist as Family), it is a lovely visual record of this special series of events and provides a nice way to tune in to the conversations for those who could not attend in person.

Trent Nelson performs a traditional Jaara smoking ceremony outside the Daylesford Town Hall.

The Evening Forum in Daylesford

Guests for the forum on Land Cultures: Aboriginal Economies and Permaculture Futures gathered outside the Daylesford Town Hall for a local Dja Dja Wurrung ‘welcome to country’. The aromatic smell of smouldering native leaves drifted into the night air, as part of a traditional Jaara smoking ceremony.

Local Dja Dja Wurrung elder, Graham Atkinson, conducts a ‘welcome to country’.

It was a nice way to commence the evening, being warmly welcomed by representatives of the local indigenous people, before being invited inside the cosy heritage town hall, to hear about ways of caring for land – from an indigenous as well as permaculture perspective. There is a good synergy in many ways, between these two approaches. The hallmarks of both centre around careful observation and care of the land, and respect for country and the environment that supports and sustains us and other living creatures and ecological systems. The common ground extends, in essence, to working with nature through the use of sustainable practices.

A good turnout and a full house at the Daylesford Town Hall.

It was a good turnout and all of the balconies were filled inside the Town Hall, with guests from far and wide joining together with locals to hear these two elders of permaculture and indigenous affairs speak. Great food for thought!

Bruce Pascoe shares some stories drawn from the journals of the early explorers.

Bruce Pascoe is a born storyteller and David Holmgren a thoughtful permaculture pioneer. Together, they opened up the space for the valuable sharing of knowledge and stories and the exploration of ideas. Nice to see blackfella dreaming and whitefella dreaming finding common ground, behind the mic and within the assembled audience at large (which now extends to include a ‘virtual’ audience with the release of the film). A key theme was on recognising and healing the past and working together to explore possibilities and pathways for co-creating a more sustainable, equitable and fulfilling future. Learning from the past and planning for the future.

Bruce Pascoe answers questions from the floor. (Photo: Patrick Jones, Lyn Harwood, Bruce Pascoe, David Holmgren and Su Dennett) 

In keeping with the spirit of the occasion, refreshing lemon myrtle tea and nourishing wattleseed chai provided a nice way to wrap up the evening, before guests headed back out into the night, passing through the cleansing smoke once again as they embarked upon their journeys home.

Lighting the fire.

Passing through the cleansing smoke on the way out.

 

Land Cultures: Aboriginal Economies and Permaculture Futures – a documentary film produced by Anthony Petrucci and Patrick Jones (Artist as Family) … Enjoy!

 

Further Information:

• David Holmgren – Permaculture co-founder and educator

http://holmgren.com.au

• Bruce Pascoe – Indigenous researcher and writer

http://brucepascoe.com.au

• Bill Gammage – Academic historian and author

http://hrc.anu.edu.au/professor-bill-gammage

 

• Artist as Family  – Producers (with Anthony Petrucci) of the documentary film on Land Cultures: Aboriginal Economies and Permaculture Futures (embedded at the end of this post)

http://theartistasfamily.blogspot.com.au/

Permaculture Goes Global

The first sunday of May marks the annual ‘International Day of Permaculture’ – a celebration of permaculture around the world. Over the past seven years, what started out as a grass roots Australian initiative has since grown into a global day of permaculture activities and events, celebrated in over 35 countries. In fact, the activities often extend throughout the month of May.

Bill Mollison and David Holmgren’s early development of the ‘permaculture’ concept, in Tasmania in the mid-1970s, arose out of their research and investigation into ethical and environmentally sustainable forms of ‘permanent agriculture’ and the social structures to support this. Permaculture has since evolved into a global movement, with an educational curriculum and millions of students, practitioners and design projects dotted across the world.

A productive permaculture food garden at the Rocklyn Yoga Ashram in Daylesford, Victoria.

In writing about gardening in Australia, I often come across ‘permaculture people’ doing really interesting and diverse things – from Tassie to the Top End. I am continuing to discover the many ‘permutations of permaculture’ and how these link in synergistically with things like fair food, ethical building design, relocalisation, renewable energy initiatives, urban agriculture and organic farming. In fact, the overarching thinking of permaculture provides a suite of tools to assist in developing more sustainable and equitable practices – be they social, environmental, economic or agricultural.

The award-winning Melbourne garden designer, Karen Sutherland of Edible Eden Design – inspired by permaculture.

When I found myself at the International Permaculture Convergence in the UK last year, meeting people from many different nations – people actively involved in creating more sustainable futures for their families and communities – it really got me thinking about the Australian origins of the permaculture concept. And how it is so much more than an organic gardening technique – which is what it can initially appear to be on face value.

A field trip to permaculture properties in the south west of England, during the International Permaculture Convergence.

Farm tour.

Echinaceae.

Pumpkin harvest.

A productive demonstration site.

A pit stop to enjoy the view.

Freedom to roam.

A dog’s life.

ART – The Agroforestry Research Trust.

While overseas for work and family reasons, I also attended the Transition Network’s International Conference in Totnes, Devon, in the UK – again, meeting people from many different parts of the world, this time involved in Transition Town groups and projects. This broad coalescence of kindred spirits has turned into quite a social movement – which continues to resonate with people wanting to simply get on with the job of tackling key challenges like climate change and addressing the many unsustainable practices that they observe around them. In the process, their collective aim is to transition to a more equitable and cleaner energy future – one household, business and community at a time.

A Transition Town initiative in Totnes, UK, the heart and HQ of the Transition Network.

It is all about envisioning the type of future that people want to create and then just getting on with its co-creation, embarking upon a proactive and positive journey of ‘living lightly’ and ‘building community’, and sharing resources, skills and stories along the way. Everyday people and community leaders alike join together and become empowered to act as ‘agents of change’. Like permaculture, the Transition Network too, has morphed into a global movement, with branches that spread far and wide. And as its co-founder, Rob Hopkins, acknowledges, the roots of its development can be found firmly planted in permaculture thinking.

Rob Hopkins, co-founder of the Transition Network.

Jacqui Hodgson, Totnes Mayor.

Edible gardens.

Visitors from many nations.

Recording the event.

Taking note.

Fertile discussions.

Recording ideas.

American and Spanish film-makers discuss documentaries.

A lively debate on climate change.

Break out groups.

A welcoming smile.

Different colours representing different countries.

Promoting wellbeing at the Transition Network Conference.

‘Transition Towns’ provides a good model and practical application of ‘social permaculture’ – still with the mainstays of organic gardening methods and the sharing of local food as a way of bringing people together, but with the important additional focus on households, communities and local economies.

Signs of change.

I couldn’t help but be inspired by hearing about so many great examples of permaculture and transition in action overseas. So on returning to Australia, I signed up for a two week intensive ‘Permaculture Design Course’ or PDC earlier this year, to find out more about this thing called permaculture – which had begun literally “in my own backyard”. It’s funny how being away from home can really highlight such things.

Taking part in a ‘permaculture design course’ (PDC) intensive.

Deep in thought.

Small group activities.

Yoga and permaculture

Student presentations.

The permaculture spiral.

Scribe.

It was nice to study with one of the original co-founders of the concept, David Holmgren, and his inspiring partner, Su Dennett (from the Hepburn Relocalisation Network), in the tranquil surrounds of a yoga ashram, in Daylesford – just up the road from Hepburn Springs in Central Victoria, where the couple is based.

David Holmgren, permaculture co-founder, welcomes students to his property, Melliodora.

Su Dennett chats to students.

Su Dennett at Melliodora, with Julie.

David leads a tour at Melliodora.

The Melliodora ‘kitchen garden’.

One of the buildings at Melliodora.

Our group of 24 students, of all ages and from all walks of life, was fortunate to be guided through the course content by a range of other experienced teachers as well, including Angela Enbom (‘the bee wrangler’), Beck Lowe and Ian Lillington, who covered different topics relating to key areas of their interest and expertise. Additional guest teachers also presented on specialist topics like renewable energy and building design. Robyn Clayfield dropped in to cover the more social and ‘heart-based’ elements of permaculture while she was in Victoria attending the Sustainable Living Festival, and Paddy the Permie Tree Man proved an absolute wealth of knowledge on all things arboricultural (and was a dead ringer for Shane Jacobson aka ‘Kenny’, in both manner and appearance).

Angela Enbom from Tread Lightly Permaculture.

Beck Lowe with German student, Kilian.

Robyn Clayfield and Ian Lillington.

Paddy the Permie Tree Man (with the very studious Ian).

A third of the group of students was comprised of overseas visitors – from Japan, Sweden, Austria, France, Sri Lanka, Germany and the US – people who are already doing really interesting things in sustainability in their own right in those various locations. So the knowledge in the room, from both the teachers and participants, led to a wonderful cultural exchange and some pretty interesting and wide ranging discussions.

New friends – Emily, Yasmine, Katsumasa and Suz at the ashram.

Tania and friend.

International students.

Morning in the ashram garden.

Ehren from Fiji.

Yasmine and Rick lend a hand.

Helen harvests the rhubarb.

Paul collects some herbs.

The picking crew.

Field trips to David and Su’s property, Melliodora, one of the longest running demonstration sites for permaculture principles, and other local permaculture-inspired properties, really helped to bring things to life on a more practical level, balancing out the theoretical side of things nicely. And each morning we would help out in the ashram’s productive food garden – a beautiful way to begin the day.

Gardening is a part of yogic life at the Rocklyn Ashram.

Fair food for all.

Julian taste testing the grapes.

Tess B & Rhys.

Andrew from New York.

Planting a new chestnut tree.

Keen observers – Alexander, Kilian and Irene.

Julie picks some apples.

A Melliodora resident.

Polly and Ehren at the Daylesford Community Garden

Collecting seeds.

Catcher of mice.

At any rate, when it comes to writing about ‘permaculture people’ in the future, and no doubt they will continue to cross my path, at least I will now have a better understanding about where they are coming from and how permaculture has evolved and continues to evolve. And I look forward to finding out more about how the principles of permaculture can be applied in practice, to the creation of more sustainable households, properties and communities.

A group of teachers and students at the Daylesford Ashram – an intentional community which has embraced permaculture design.

Further Information:

The International Day of Permaculture:

http://permacultureday.org

And a special message for those commemorating the International Day of Permaculture, from the wonderful Vandana Shiva, in this 2016 International Year of Pulses.

A farming of permanence works with the hydrological cycle, the nutrient cycle and the cycles of natural systems says Indian food and seed advocate, Vandana Shiva.

 

 

Bush Foods with Bruce Pascoe

Author, Bruce Pascoe, at a recent event in Daylesford in Central Victoria.

When it comes to sharing knowledge about indigenous culture and aboriginal land management practices, author, Bruce Pascoe, is a bit of a guru … despite his rather humble and unassuming manner. Bruce was on the road for a series of speaking engagements in Melbourne and rural Victoria this month, and I caught up with him at the indigenous EEL Festival at Lake Bolac, and also in Daylesford.

The Hepburn Relocalisation Network hosted a special day of events on April 7, entitled ‘Land Cultures and Permaculture Futures’, featuring Bruce Pascoe and David Holmgren, co-originator of ‘Permaculture’ (a method for ethically producing food and living sustainably). The afternoon’s activities opened with a visit to the Daylesford Museum, providing an opportunity to view an exhibition of tools and artefacts from the local Dja Dja Wurrung people and to learn more about their indigenous cultural heritage from local historians. Visitors then headed over to the Daylesford Library to hear Bruce read some of his young adult fiction and talk about life as a writer.

Bruce Pascoe is a natural when it comes to the art of storytelling.

Bruce Pascoe is a born storyteller, with an engaging manner. He explained that sharing stories was an everyday part of life when he was growing up on King Island, in Bass Strait. At that time his family didn’t have a television – which was a bit of a blessing really, as they would sit around the table of an evening and talk and share stories. Looking back, Bruce realises this was an upbringing that has served him well in his later life as a writer and storyteller.

Reading extracts from the book that won the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction in 2013 – ‘Fog a Dox’.

In addition to writing fiction and editing short stories, Bruce Pascoe has also worked as a teacher of English and history, and he has applied his considerable research and communication skills in the non-fiction genre as well, focusing on topics close to his heart. Bruce, who has Bunurong (South-Central Victorian) and Tasmanian indigenous heritage, was a historical advisor and presenter on the groundbreaking SBS documentary series ‘The First Australians’, and his research into early indigenous culture and agriculture at the time of colonisation is well documented in his books ‘Convincing Ground’ and ‘Dark Emu Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?’

With his long standing interest in native bushfoods, an important stop on Bruce Pascoe’s Daylesford itinerary was the local community food garden – originally a guerrilla gardening initiative established on a vacant block of land in the town centre. There, a small but supportive crowd awaited to hear Bruce speak about growing native foods.

Patrick Jones welcomed visitors to the Daylesford Community Garden.

Patrick Jones (local artist and author, member of ‘Artist as Family’, permaculture advocate and co-founder of the Daylesford Community Food Garden), invited Bruce to plant the first of the new native seedlings, in the creation of a little bushfoods garden at the front entrance.

Bruce was invited to plant some bushfoods at the Daylesford Community Food Garden.

Locals and visitors to Daylesford enjoyed taking part in the events. 

There were many volunteers who were willing to lend a hand with the planting of the bush tucker plants – compliments of Frances Cincotta of Newstead Natives, a local indigenous nursery. The species selection included:

• Native flax (Linum marginale) – a slender plant that grows up to 1 metre high, with edible, oily seeds and fibre that can be used as string
• Kangaroo Grass (Themeda triandra) – a common but beautiful tussock grass which produces seeds that can be ground and baked, and fibre from leaves and stems that can be used for string and fishing nets
• Chocoloate Lily (Arthroodium strictum) – an attractive perennial with tuberous roots which can be roasted and eaten
• Bulbine Lily (Bulbine bulbosa) – with bulbous tubers that can be steamed and eaten
• Yam Daisy or ‘Murnong’ (Microseris lancelota) – once a staple food for indigenous people in south-eastern Australia, with radish-like tubers that can be eaten raw or cooked in baskets in earth ovens

Local Trentham resident, Polly, helps with the planting.

Many hands make light work.

With his lovely wife, editor Lyn Harwood, Bruce Pascoe was happy to stay around after the planting session, to sign books and chat to people. His books have proved popular amongst the general public and they have especially resonated amongst those interested in sustainability, permaculture and gardening, as well as indigenous culture.

An impromptu signing of ‘Black Emu’ – a book which remains popular in permaculture circles.

Lyn Harwood chats with Peter O’Mara and other locals after the event.

Sustainability education officer for the City of Port Phillip and contributor to The Plant Hunter online magazine, Belinda Evans, was one of the guests who enjoyed catching up with Bruce Pascoe and documenting the event. Belinda recently wrote a good review on Bruce’s book ‘Dark Emu Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?‘, which can be found at:  http://theplanthunter.com.au/culture/dark-emu-book-review/

With the new bushfood plants watered in to their new home in the community garden, that concluded the day’s events in Daylesford – a prelude to the evening forum featuring presentations by Bruce Pascoe and David Holmgren. But that will be the subject of another blog post …

Further information:

• ‘Dark Emu Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?‘

In Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe argues for a reconsideration of the ‘hunter-gatherer’ tag for pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians and attempts to rebut the colonial myths that have worked to justify dispossession. An accomplished author, Bruce Pascoe provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers that suggests that systems of food production and land management have been blatantly understated in modern retellings of early Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia’s past is required.

• To order copies of ‘Dark Emu Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident?‘, download comprehensive teacher notes or visit the official Dark Emu blog, go to Magabala Books:

https://www.magabala.com/dark-emu.html

• To listen to a recent conversation with Bruce Pascoe and Richard Fidler on ABC Radio National, discussing ‘Dark Emu’ and  Aboriginal agriculture:

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2016/02/01/4397892.htm

• For more information about Bruce Pascoe, visit:

http://brucepascoe.com.au/

• Sowing the Seeds of Change. To learn about ‘Gurandgi Munjie’, a group of Aboriginal men and women (inlcuding Bruce Pascoe) determined to recover the traditional food plants of their culture, and the crowd funding Pozible campaign that is helping them achieve their vision, visit:

http://www.pozible.com/project/202236

• To learn more about the local Dja Dja Wurrung people of Central Victoria:

 http://www.djadjawurrung.com.au/

Catching up with some kindred spirits who all share an interest in permaculture and indigenous culture (L to R: Emily – teacher and sustainability co-ordinator, Polly – anthropologist and  ‘community builder’, Suz – holistic vet, yours truly, and Felicity – artist and sustainability educator).

The beautiful healing hands of Suz and Em, advocates for sustainability.