The RegenNarration

Due to the popularity of  episode 25, and the fact that we hated editing this part out of the main episode to begin with, here’s Chris talking with Anthony back at the homestead about the back-story to Kachana. They explore Chris’s formative beginnings in Rhodesia, how the family came to acquire this disused part of the famed El Questro, and the personal changes that were needed for the great successes at Kachana to be realised. And just in case the wind played too much havoc with our recording in the field, Chris and Anthony delved a little further here into some of the key issues from the main episode - the importance of having people on country, along with of course the new megafauna, how holistic grazing works with cattle (and donkeys) as today’s diprotodons, the value of the AWC and its conservation model, and what needs to change to help other pastoralists regenerate the land.Music:Gone Clear, by William Tyler off his album Modern Country.Find more:Kachana Station.Tune into the main episode 25, The New Megafauna with Chris Henggeler.And the 1st extra to this episode, Creating the Kachana Vision with Jacqueline Henggeler.This is a special 2nd extra to the 3rd and final part of our Kimberley series. Listen to podcasts 21 and 22 for the 1st and 2nd instalments.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

The story of Kachana Station and its success is steeped in a family’s adventure. Jacqueline Henggeler is the Swiss paediatric nurse who joined Chris in the remote East Kimberley with their 3 children, to follow a vision for living together as a family on the land. It has been rich, and challenging. From sleeping in the back of a ute in the early days, to home schooling, to facing down the deep trials of life, she has ultimately revelled in a path less travelled. Jacqui’s insights on the broader project that Chris spearheaded, of regenerating the land, present a fascinating and moving outsider’s view of sorts. Including into how they’ve made it work as a family, financially and socially, how she has sustained a life many couldn’t, and ultimately how her work with the local indigenous folk has taught her the most important thing in life.Music:Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.Due to licencing restrictions, our guest’s nominated music can only be played on radio or similarly licenced broadcasts of this episode. Find more:Kachana Station.Tune into the main episode 25 The New Megafauna, and the 2nd extra to this episode The Kachana Back-Story.This is a special extra to the 3rd and final part of our Kimberley series. Listen to episodes 21 and 22 for the 1st and 2nd instalments.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Can the new mega-fauna regenerate land and water systems, take away the need for systematic fire regimes and culling programs, and ultimately be the key to our future prosperity?Kachana is a remote station in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia, accessible only by plane or foot. Chris Henggeler and his family have run it for over a generation now. From the early days sleeping in the back of a ute, they set about living a vision for a healthy family life on the land, while regenerating the grasses, forests and wetlands that had largely turned to dust. A generation later, Chris is a leading figure in the development of holistic grazing in Australia. He runs cattle as ‘gardeners’, as a non-fossil fuel based means of regenerating land. Chris thinks of these animals as the new mega-fauna, the large herbivores we need to restore to the land – along with others too readily designated as ‘pests’ and culled, like the wild donkeys he’s integrated into his management plans. George Monbiot has contested these methods in a high profile ‘debate’ with Allan Savory. But the successes at Kachana are marked - the creek that runs year-round now provides the homestead with its water, the forest now teems with life, and springs and birdlife are returning to the land. Join Chris as he takes Anthony for a look around one of the most spectacular places in the world, that could also be one of the most important to our future prospects as a civilisation. Note: There is the occasional gust of wind in this recording as we walk around the property. We edited out what we could. As for the sounds of family in the background, consistent with the theme of this podcast, they stay.Music:43, by Owls of the Swamp.With the intro tune by Jeremiah Johnson.Due to licencing restrictions, our guest’s nominated music can only be played on radio or similarly licenced broadcasts of this episode. Find more:Kachana Station. Tune into two special extras to this episode. The first is a conversation with Jacqueline Henggeler on ‘Creating the Kachana Vision’.And the second features more on the fascinating back story of Kachana Station, with Chris.This is the 3rd and final part of our Kimberley series. Listen to episodes 21 & 22 for the 1st & 2nd Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

The late Professor Frank Fisher was a pioneering systems thinker and Australia’s Inaugural Environmental Educator of the Year. He died 6 years ago today. To celebrate his life and insight, we’ve delved into the archives and found this wonderful conversation Frank had with a man who has been described as a legend of science broadcasting, Robyn Williams. This is no mild walk down memory lane. Their conversation, recorded in 2002, has almost uncanny relevance to so much of what’s happening in the world today. From the fraught terrain of energy transition and human perception, to the enticing prospect of ticketless public transport. And very personal questions of privacy in the context of integrated digital health records, and the broader phenomena of so-called ‘smart’ technologies. During an adult life shaped largely by his experiences with chronic illness, Frank longed for the sort of digital health record being introduced in Australia and elsewhere, but had a very distinct vision in general for the use of these ‘smart technologies’. In essence, he preferred the ‘smarts’ be located in our minds, more than our machines. He shares various insights here, on how to do just that – regenerating, as he puts it, the wilderness within.This interview of Frank Fisher by Robyn Williams was originally broadcast on The Science Show, ABC Radio National, on 3 October 2002, and his reproduced here with his kind permission (& joy at hearing Frank's voice again). Music:By Jeremiah Johnson.Get more:Tune into episode 5, Thinking & Living in Systems: In conversation with the late Professor Frank Fisher.Robyn Williams’ ABC Radio National profile.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

The Economist reports that despite increasing public concern, and renewable power now costing less than coal in some places, rising energy demand means our use of fossil fuels is heading in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, climate calamities, once considered freakish, are now commonplace. All this emphasises the value and importance of this panel conversation. Globally renowned energy expert Richard Heinberg joined us online from the USA, alongside one of Australia’s most incisive minds in energy systems and societal futures, Josh Floyd, energy and psychology researcher Dr Andrea Bunting, host Anthony James, and a full house of 200 people. We explore why the transition to renewable energy is essential, though not enough in itself. to create a sustainable, fair & flourishing society. And what we need to do, individually and collectively, to create such a society.Energy is a rapidly changing space, technologically, financially and in some ways politically, but the equally vital broader terrain of re-calibrating society, our cultural norms, and how we think about and understand energy remains as important as ever.  How much energy do we need? What happens to sectors like transport, agriculture and manufacturing? And what’s the best and most plausible proposal we’ve got for actually making the transition?Format:Anthony introduces the session, Richard speaks for 10 minutes, and Josh and Andrea for 5 minutes each. Then it’s an all-in conversation with the audience.Title slide image: sourced from The Economist.This event was the 3rd and final forum of the Regenerating Society Series, created by Anthony James in 2017. It was recorded at the National Sustainable Living Festival in the heart of Melbourne. And introduced by Professor Brendan Gleeson, Director of the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute at the University of Melbourne, valued partner in the Regenerating Society Series. Music:Let Them Know, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.Find more:Tune into episode 6. Redefining Progress, the 2nd forum of the Regenerating Society Series, mentioned in this conversation. Our Renewable Future, by Richard Heinberg & David Fridley (freely available online). Post-Carbon Institute.Richard’s award winning video, ‘300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds’. Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Martin Pritchard is Executive Director of Environs Kimberley (EK). He and his team were central to the successful campaign to prevent what could have been the largest LNG plant in the world, at James Price Point (Walmadan) just north of Broome. It was a celebrated outcome around the country, but in many ways was just the tip of the iceberg of ‘old industry’ plans for the region. With 40,000+ fracking wells slated for the area, is the future to be an endless succession of ‘James Price Points’? Or are we headed for a watershed moment that sees a shift to a new, regenerative economy? Martin sees the possibilities for the latter in numerous nascent industries, burgeoning Aboriginal enterprise, and a different way of looking at life, country and economy that the Kimberley and its inhabitants inspire. This unique region has massive swathes of country that haven’t experienced a single extinction since colonisation. In so many ways, what happens next here really matters. So what’s the vision for the future? What’s working now? How are the various powerful – at times opposing - interests engaged? And what is needed to develop the next economy for this unique region and beyond?Music:Gone Clear, by William Tyler off his album Modern Country.Due to licencing restrictions, our guest’s nominated music can only be played on radio or similarly licenced broadcasts of this episode. Find more:Environs Kimberley.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

This is a very special episode celebrating NAIDOC Week in Australia. Dr Anne Poelina is a Nyikina Traditional Custodian from the Mardoowarra, Lower Fitzroy River, in the West Kimberley region of Western Australia. And if anywhere epitomizes the critical time we’re in, it’s in the spectacular cultural and natural landscapes of her homeland. Almost incredibly, there are 40,000+ fracking wells slated for this area, along with the damming of the Fitzroy River, and more ‘old-model’ industrial agriculture. Yet the next economy is also in tow here, and this is where Anne is currently focusing her extraordinary breadth of cross-cultural knowledge and experience. Anne is an international award winner, Managing Director of Madjulla Incorporated, Councillor at the Australian Conservation Foundation, a qualified nurse, traditional midwife, has multiple postgraduate degrees, and over 30 years’ experience in Indigenous health, education, language and community development. Anthony caught up with her at her home in Broome recently, to talk about what shape the next economy might take in the Kimberley and beyond, how we can make it happen, and the enormous opportunity in treaty, recognition and connection with Australia’s First Nations.Title slide image: Magali McDuffie.Music: Song for the Mardoowarra, by Gwen Knox with Anne Poelina, played by Mick Stevens, and sung by the Broome Primary School Choir.Find more:An extract of this conversation was published by the good folk at Matters Journal.Madjulla.NAIDOC Week, celebrating Indigenous women in 2018. Environs Kimberley. New Economy Network Australia.Gwen Knox & Big Mama productions. The film clip of the Song for the Mardoowarra (they will be touring this month in the Kimberley, and are available for bookings from early 2019).Richard Flanagan at the National Press Club.Welcome to Country, a new travel guide to Indigenous Australia. Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

An audience of over 200 people joined Dr John Hewson, former federal opposition leader; Mary Crooks AO, Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust; and Chloe Aldenhoven, co-convenor of the Lock The Gate Alliance - which Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews recently called "the greatest political coalition we have seen in public policy for a very long time." Hosted by James Tonson.The panel explores some of the ideas and spectacular success stories of communities coming together to regenerate our democracy, across generations, gender and geography. And yet how the potential still seems barely realised. So in the context of dramatically decaying trust in politics, and with multiple transitions to navigate, how do we turn this into a thriving democracy for the 21st century?Title slide with thanks to the National Sustainable Living Festival.Anthony's introduction was recorded in the grounds of the University of Notre Dame in Broome, Western Australia.Find more:Victorian Women's Trust.Purple Sage Project.Lock The Gate Alliance.Dr John Hewson AM, ANU biography.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Evan Pensini is a pastoralist from the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia, on Cheela Plains Station. He and his wife Robin are pulling off some remarkable regeneration of country there, significantly defying official expectations of just how far and fast this land could recover its health and productivity. So how does the system work, particularly in Australia where hooved animals weren't part of its pre-colonial history? Why don't more pastoralists adopt these methods? What's the value of carbon farming? And is it really inevitable that mining will wipe out everything being achieved here?Music:The Great Unwind, by William Tyler off his album Modern Country.Due to licencing restrictions, our guest’s nominated music can only be played on radio or similarly licenced broadcasts of this episode. Find more:Cheela Plains Station.And listen to episode 16, Grassroots Revolution, with Charles Massy, and David & Frances Pollock from Wooleen Station.Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!

Denise Fitch is a nurse, mum, marine scientist & unlikely leader of the Protect Ningaloo campaign – possibly the next big flashpoint in Australia, as we continue to grapple with transitioning from the dominant extractive, fossil fuel driven model of development, to the next ‘regenerative’ one. Denise is Chair of the Cape Conservation Group – the local group at the heart of the Protect Ningaloo campaign. She sat under a tree by Exmouth Gulf with host Anthony James to talk about the meaning of place, the latest with the Protect Ningaloo campaign, the great opportunity in it, and what it means to the movement for change more broadly.​Music:Gone Clear, by William Tyler off his album Modern Country.Due to licencing restrictions, our guest’s nominated music can only be played on radio or similarly licenced broadcasts of this episode. Find more:Get involved in the campaign Protect Ningaloo.And listen to episode 17 with Tim Winton. Send us a textSupport the showThe RegenNarration is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber to help keep the show on the road - and gain access to a great community and some exclusive benefits - on Patreon or Substack (where you'll find my writing). You can also donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal. I hope to see you at an event, and even The RegenNarration shop. And thanks for sharing with friends!