Our last summer flashback ‘episode that people still talk to me about’ is episode 9, with Frances Pollock (nee Jones). Frances and David Pollock became nationally famous about a decade ago now, for ‘destocking’ the 375,000-acre Wooleen Station in the Murchison region of Western Australia. That was step one in what has become an extraordinary story of regeneration, increasingly reverberating far beyond Wooleen. David’s since been on the podcast a few times, and Frances continues to be recognised and awarded for her work in the region.
I also look back on this episode as a huge turning point for me and my family. This was the first episode out on Country, connecting directly with food and agricultural systems. I was set on a path of understanding regeneration, Country, agriculture, food and all other systems at greater depth, in the lived realities of people’s lives, in their places.
And while David Pollock was still a bit shy at this stage, at least with this bloke he’d never heard of, thankfully Frances wasn’t! And the names she sent us on our way with set up a transformative journey around Australia in 2018 that gave birth to The RegenNarration and everything it’s become to date.
This is an excerpt featuring the last 25 minutes or so of our conversation at the Wooleen Homestead. It picks up with their initial harrowing experiments with letting dingoes roam wild on the property. And on to another harrowing experiment with the bank as they were on the cusp of foreclosure, before the Australian public rallied behind them. We close with the Native Title judgement delivered at Wooleen, and all that might mean.
This conversation was recorded in late 2017.
Title slide: Frances Pollock (pic: Olivia Cheng) – the full photo (with Anthony in it) is on the episode website.
Music:
Let Them Know, by the Public Opinion Afro Orchestra.
Find more:
Read a transcript of our full conversation on the episode web page.
Hear the rest of our conversation back in episode 9.
Hear more of Frances with David and Charlie Massy on episode 16.
And hear more from David (eventually) on episodes 44, 66 & 111 (what’s with the repeating numbers?!) – episode 111 has links to all the others, and more.
Wooleen Station.
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