We’re just days away now from what’s been loosely dubbed ‘Regen Week’ over here in WA, an unprecedented series of international events that have gravitated together between Perth and Bridgetown. I’ll look forward to sharing some of what happens with you all afterwards, especially for those who can’t get here. Right now, though, on the back of last week’s episode focused on the centrepiece of the week, RegenWA’s major conference at Perth Stadium, it felt irresistible to release this excerpt in anticipation of the climax to the week – the first Grounded Festival in WA.

Welcome to the 8th instalment of Vignettes from the Source, the new short form series featuring some of the unforgettable, transformative and often inexplicable moments my guests have shared over the years.

This vignette is drawn from the conversation I had with farmer, author and founder of Grounded, Matthew Evans, and his partner, farmer and teacher, Sadie Chrestman, just after the very first Grounded had been staged at their place, Fat Pig Farm, in Tasmania last December. We pick it up with Matthew a little over ten minutes in, before Sadie joins us five minutes later.

It was raw, fun, and so endearingly candid. Unforgettable, really. So, on the cusp of the next edition of the festival, here’s 15 minutes with Matthew and Sadie – followed by five minutes of extraordinary music alongside a story about how it played out at that first festival.

If you’d like to hear or revisit this conversation in full, head to episode 247 – ‘Celebrating Grounded Festival: Behind the scenes’ (there are a bunch of links in those show notes too, and a very special photo from this conversation on that episode website).

Chapter markers & transcript.

Originally recorded 18 December 2024, and released 5 February 2025.

Title image sourced here.

For more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener via the links below.

Music:

My Mother, The Mountain, by Claire Anne Taylor.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

It’s fitting that my first Aussie guest back home would be this bloke. Stuart McAlpine is a multiple award winning wheatbelt farmer over here in WA, who’s just been named as a finalist in the prestigious national Bob Hawke LandCare Award. I’ve long looked forward to having him on the podcast, having met him as part of the group that organised the first major RegenWA conference staged at Perth Stadium back in 2019 (it was my honour to be MC for that group of people). Six years on, we’re on the cusp of RegenWA’s second major conference (Regenerating Food Systems), back at Perth Stadium, and I couldn’t have said ‘yes, I’ll be home for this’ quick enough, when invited to be MC again.

This time around, the conference will feature two days not one, and a full week of satellite events have spontaneously gravitated to its orbit. And this time, RegenWA is running its conference having become an independent not for profit organisation, with Stuart as its inaugural Chair. He’s also been a paid subscriber of this podcast for nearly four years, so you can imagine how humbling that is.

Ideally, of course, we’d be at the farm. But given we’ve just got home from a big journey with the pod, and given the conference, satellite events and award announcement are just a couple of weeks away now, we thought we’d jump online for a quick yarn to help gear up for this potentially pivotal moment in time.

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded 2 September 2025.

Title image from RegenWA's website.

For more behind the scenes, become a supporting listener below.

Upcoming events.

Music:

Against All Odds, by Tiko Tiko (sourced from Artlist).

Country Cousins, by Stuart McAlpine.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!

After years of work led by traditional custodians, Murujuga on the north-west coast of Australia became a World Heritage listed site last month, with its ancient rock art recognised as a ‘masterpiece of human creative genius’.

You might remember our visit there, in the heat of December 2021, when I spoke with Clinton Walker, Ngarluma/Yindjibarndi man, Traditional Custodian of Murujuga, and CEO and Founder of the award-winning Ngurrangga Tours. I was actually only able to release the conversation in full for the first time in January this year. And while more than one million petroglyphs, some dating back about 40,000 years, should have meant the judgement was as near a shoe-in as possible, industry expansion plans were creating tension.

In the end, the Australian government managed to negotiate to have its cake and eat it too, achieving both World Heritage and industry expansion for the area. It’s a moment of undeniable and deserved celebration, and yet the tensions remain about the limits of protection World Heritage might afford.

Welcome to the 7th instalment of Vignettes from the Source, the short form series featuring some of the unforgettable, transformative and often inexplicable moments my guests have shared over the years.

We pick up this 15 minute slice of the conversation with Clinton about seven minutes into the full episode. It forms a powerful snap shot of the place, why it is now World Heritage listed, what it means to the people there, and the uncertainly that remains.

If you’d like to hear or revisit this conversation in full, including Clinton’s brilliant story, head to episode 245 – ‘Cultural Economies at the Greatest Rock Art Gallery in the World’ (links in the show notes, and photos on the website of the original partial release for episode 109).

Chapter markers & transcript.

Recorded at Murujuga, 13 December 2021.

Title image: Clinton at Hearson’s Cove (pic: Anthony James).

Music:

Stones & Bones, by Owls of the Swamp.

The RegenNarration playlist, music chosen by guests.

Send us a text

Pre-roll music: Heartland Rebel, by Steven Beddall (sourced from Artlist).

Support the show

The RegenNarration podcast is independent, ad-free and freely available, thanks to the generous support of listeners like you. We'd love you to join us.

Become a paid subscriber to connect with your host, other listeners and exclusive benefits, on Patreon or the new Substack.

Or donate directly via the website (avoiding fees) or PayPal.

While you can also visit The RegenNarration shop. Come to an event. And please do share, rate and review the podcast.

Thanks for your support!