On the 12th of October, NSPNR’s 'Throwback Thursday' & AGM was held at the Ongerup Hall. It was a fantastic trip down memory lane and an inspiring look ahead. The strong turnout of over 50 NSPNR members and friends showed that unity is our strength in advancing Landcare for healthy landscapes and thriving communities.

We were lucky enough to have the talented Tyne Logan, National ABC Weather Reporter, join us and lead a panel discussion about the history and future of our group and the incredible work that’s been done across our catchment. Kevin Wise and Kingsley Vaux had lots to share with Tyne and the guests, both having close to 4 decades each of involvement with NSPNR (and the previous Gnowangerup Land Conservation District Committee – LCDC). Caroline House, EO, joined the panel too and discussed some of our current projects and future plans!

Some of the interesting things we learned and discussed with Tyne:

- Kingsley’s success with sandalwood and his State Landcare award (nominated by Liz Bungey when she was working as a project officer)

- The massive 1 million dollar project that Steve Newby obtained for the region in the 1990s that lead to a HUGE amount of revegetation of wildlife corridors etc

- The success of the 1080 baiting program when there were smaller sub-catchment groups and the catchment leader would collect everyone’s baits and bring to their farm for collection (an interesting comparison to the much more rigorous rules around handling 1080 now!)

- Discussion about the revolution that was the Chatfield Tree Planter, and how that changed the game for effective and efficient revegetation at scale, and the direct seeder – the CommVeg invented by Geoff Woodall for direct seeding native seed (BOTH of which are available for hire for NSPNR Members)

- Many comparisons about the changes in how funding is granted and how much is available.

- A constant theme was evident that since the early days there are many difficulties involved with the ebbs and flows of funding especially in how it impacts our group’s ability to employ staff long-term and keep up with changing funding ‘priorities’ to suit the NSPNR objectives and benefit our members.

Many thought-provoking conversations ensued; the panel and everyone enjoyed learning more about our region’s incredible work in landcare and sustainable agriculture – preserving and improving our natural resources.

A massive thank you to Elisa and Yongergnow Malleefowl Centre café for the amazing 1980s-inspired dinner, equipment hire and assistance. Big thanks to the committee and staff for all your efforts setting up and on the night – especially to our Chair Ellen for her wonderful speech and our very talented volunteer Social Media guru Phoebe Milne for the amazing photos and ongoing work online! Thank you also has to go to all our wonderful guests who attended and the Shire of Gnowangerup, DPIRD and SCNRM representatives who made the effort to come along. Looking forward to next year’s AGM – likely to be in Gnowangerup.

This event was part of the ’40 years of Landcare in WA’ celebrations supported by WA Landcare Network & the WA Government’s State NRM Program.