and I wanted to share some highlights with you.
Landcare coffee table book
For years people in landcare have been saying there should be book of photos and stories. Late last year the then Minister agreed with them and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry (through the Australian Landcare Council) contracted me to edit and contribute to a full colour coffee table book on the best of landcare. I worked on the 150 submissions covering all aspects of landcare, from the very first Dunecare group which started just a little way down the coast from me, through to landcare’s amazing efforts in the Philippines and everything in between. The Department is in the final stages of publishing the book and it should be available early next year.
Making tourism more sustainable
Making science accessible to ordinary readers is always a challenge. A new client – the Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism – has contracted me to edit the scientific findings of its research reports into booklets that will be read by people in the industry. We’ve started with two booklets – Up in Smoke: the impact of bushfires on tourism and visitation in alpine national parks and Users are doing it for themselves: how user-generated content is changing the face of tourism marketing. They’ve just been printed if you’re interested in ordering or downloading a copy.
Biodiversit
y in Grain & GrazeFor the past two years a group of farmers and researchers have been crawling around on hands and knees peering at the ground, setting traps for insects, laying cotton strips in the soil and looking up into the sky to count birds. This inspiring program saw 47 farming families across the country participate in biodiversity monitoring to examine the relationship between biodiversity and mixed farming. I was lucky enough to edit and contribute to the project booklet telling the stories of 17 of those families. It’s available through the Grain & Graze program at http://products.lwa.gov.au/products/PN20689. I also worked with Sefton & Associates to write BiGG’s entry in the national Banksia Awards – there was much celebration with BiGG took first place in the prestigious biodiversity category.
Stories of mixed farmers
In a related project with Grain & Graze and Sefton & Associates I edited a booklet Insights into mixed farming in Australia telling stories about the successes and challenges of mixed farming in Australia today. The ABC recently reported that In South Australia, an estimated 30-percent of farmers are now expected to either leave the land or change their enterprise, thanks to years of consecutive drought across much of that state. This collection of stories is part of Grain & Graze’s work to make Australian mixed farms more sustainable economically, socially and environmentally
Rural news
I started working with the team at Sefton & Associates early in 2007 and it’s been a fruitful relationship ever since. Seftons specialises in rural and regional PR and communication and a great bunch of people are working in the Tamworth office. I’ve worked with Sefton & Associates on PR campaigns for all sorts of projects including community consultation on the Murray Darling Basin and a leadership program that Seftons is running in regional NSW.
Novel
Following an international writer's fellowship in Alaska last year (http://home.gci.net/~island/), I finished my third novel The Queen’s Favourite this year. It's an historic thriller following the adventures of my Blackadder ancestors in 16th century Scotland. Fingers crossed it will be on the bookshelves next year! Watch this space.
Writing for Outback
I continued writing regular Landcare features for Outback magazine during the year. Outback
’s readers have heard about the students at Cleve Area School working for sustainability and protecting biodiversity on the school farm, Tim and Jane Parsons who have made a successful farmstay property showcasing their landcare work to visitors, and Tasmanian farmers finding that working in groups is helping them put landcare into practice.
Environmental books that are changing the world
Good Reading magazine commissioned me to write a feature article on environmental books that are changing the world, which appeared in the March edition of Good Reading.
Regional innovation awards
Together with my colleague Roe Ritchie I ran the PR campaign for the Invest Northern Rivers Technology and Innovation Awards. The finalists included some of our region’s most innovative thinkers and business people. The award winner, Bill Howell of Cycloplas, has developed an extraordinary process that takes unwashed and unsorted waste plastic and transforms it into a useable product. One of my other clients Greg Trevena of Refreshed Lemon Myrtle took out the Investment Readiness Award for his use of Lemon Myrtle oil in household products.
In a related project with Grain & Graze and Sefton & Associates I edited a booklet Insights into mixed farming in Australia telling stories about the successes and challenges of mixed farming in Australia today. The ABC recently reported that In South Australia, an estimated 30-percent of farmers are now expected to either leave the land or change their enterprise, thanks to years of consecutive drought across much of that state. This collection of stories is part of Grain & Graze’s work to make Australian mixed farms more sustainable economically, socially and environmentally
Rural news
I started working with the team at Sefton & Associates early in 2007 and it’s been a fruitful relationship ever since. Seftons specialises in rural and regional PR and communication and a great bunch of people are working in the Tamworth office. I’ve worked with Sefton & Associates on PR campaigns for all sorts of projects including community consultation on the Murray Darling Basin and a leadership program that Seftons is running in regional NSW.
Novel
Following an international writer's fellowship in Alaska last year (http://home.gci.net/~island/), I finished my third novel The Queen’s Favourite this year. It's an historic thriller following the adventures of my Blackadder ancestors in 16th century Scotland. Fingers crossed it will be on the bookshelves next year! Watch this space.
Writing for Outback
I continued writing regular Landcare features for Outback magazine during the year. Outback
’s readers have heard about the students at Cleve Area School working for sustainability and protecting biodiversity on the school farm, Tim and Jane Parsons who have made a successful farmstay property showcasing their landcare work to visitors, and Tasmanian farmers finding that working in groups is helping them put landcare into practice.Environmental books that are changing the world
Good Reading magazine commissioned me to write a feature article on environmental books that are changing the world, which appeared in the March edition of Good Reading.
Regional innovation awards
Together with my colleague Roe Ritchie I ran the PR campaign for the Invest Northern Rivers Technology and Innovation Awards. The finalists included some of our region’s most innovative thinkers and business people. The award winner, Bill Howell of Cycloplas, has developed an extraordinary process that takes unwashed and unsorted waste plastic and transforms it into a useable product. One of my other clients Greg Trevena of Refreshed Lemon Myrtle took out the Investment Readiness Award for his use of Lemon Myrtle oil in household products.
Job Futures tender
I continued working with Job Futures, this time assisting with editing for the massive project of tendering for government employment services. Thanks to my team of helpers who swung quickly into action we were able to help Job Futures meet the deadline for submitting almost 100 tender documents.
How to finance your property
Graeme Smith from North Coast Financial Services, who has given me great help over the years, contracted me to edit and produce a definitive guide to buying and financing a home. The Key to the Door is now being distributed throughout the Northern Rivers and helping people make better financial decisions.
Graeme Smith from North Coast Financial Services, who has given me great help over the years, contracted me to edit and produce a definitive guide to buying and financing a home. The Key to the Door is now being distributed throughout the Northern Rivers and helping people make better financial decisions.
70 Inspiring stories from the Landcare Awards
The National Landcare Awards are held every two years, and I’ve been involved with them since the early nineties. I worked with Landcare Australia and Step Communication to write the stories of the 70 finalists working on farms, in schools and in communities around Australia. I was also on hand to write the speeches and a script for Jack Thompson, who handed out the awards. It was a great night, with 500 people celebrating in landcare style in the Great Hall of Parliament House.
Meetings with remarkable whales
I was privileged to join the last voyage of the season with Wally and Trish Franklin of the Oceania Project, who have been researching humpback whales in Hervey Bay for some 20 years now. It was an extraordinary week with some very close encounters with the whales. Australian Geographic is interested in running my story about this inspiring project.
Travels in Australia
In the middle of the year I trekked with friends on the challenging Larapinta Trail near Alice Springs and in November I joined another group of friends to cycle around the south west corner of Western Australia. The resulting magazine features will appear sometime next year!
Best wishes for the New Year – see you in 2009!
