The Autumn 2026 edition of the Resilience eNews showcases the amazing work of the Institute over the summer months.
It reflects the unprecedented levels of project activity that the team is undertaking around the country through the largest program of grants and direct engagement that the Institute has ever delivered. Congratulations to Carolyn, Glen Norris (Mulloon Consulting General Manager), and all the team for their work in securing and now delivering such an extensive range of programs.
Among the major programs, you will read about the First Nations Water Skills certificate, the Landscape Function Toolkit (LiFT) and the Training, Implementation, Mentoring, Monitoring and Evaluation (TIMME) projects – all of which contribute to our mission of delivering landscape rehydration at scale through collaboration, demonstration and research.
Since our last newsletter, I had the privilege of representing the Institute at the Wilmot Field Day – along with our CFO Jeanette Rawlings and Landscape Planner Penny Cooper (pictured right). This year the Institute was a sponsor for the first time and our work at Cavan Station through the Agronomeye Platform was featured. We remain an important contributor to ‘Australia’s Premier RegenAg Event.’
Closer to home, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting our new General Manager of Mulloon Creek Natural Farms, Tom Redfern and his family. I’m sure you will enjoy Tom’s first foray into the Resilience eNewsletter, and we look forward to further growth of the Institute’s farming work. As always, I am very grateful to have the opportunity as Chair to visit our properties, meet our staff, enjoy the beauty and legacy of the Home Farm and on this most recent trip explore literally ‘to the back fence.’ (bike pictured at right for evidence!)
I’m sure you will enjoy this extensive newsletter, best wishes for the Autumn months ahead and thank you for your support and interest in the Institute.
As we approach the end of financial year, please consider making a donation to support the amazing work of Mulloon Institute. Now more than ever your donation can assist us in delivering impact where it matters most in the Australian landscape.
Wilfred Finn
Chair
As we welcome the cooler shift to autumn, Mulloon Institute continues to accelerate its mission of restoring Australia’s natural landscape function and creating positive awareness-based systems change.
This season marks a pivotal chapter for us as we scale our impact and deepen our engagement with landholders, project consortium partners, and the regenerative community right across the country.
Our team has been incredibly active on the ground delivering our in-demand learning programs, which have included over 450 attendees this year alone across NSW, SA, TAS, NT, and WA. We are also advancing several key initiatives, including the First Nations Water Skills project, Mulloon Rehydration Initiative, TIMME, LiFT and the Water Stewardship Program in partnership with WaterNSW, which all include the critically important design and construction of instream natural infrastructure interventions that restore hydrological function and soil moisture balance.
The momentum we are seeing is a testament to the growing recognition that healthy soil and functional water cycles are the foundation of a sustainable future. Whether you are a long-time supporter or new to our community, thank you for being part of this journey. There is much work ahead, and we look forward to sharing more milestones with you as the year progresses.
Pictured on this page is the bootcamp hosted by Lorinna Landcare (Tas) with additional financial support from Nation Partners.
It was wonderful to see the Mulloon Institute and Landcare partnership highlighted on the big screen in the film, Partnerships in Practice, created by NVIRO Media. Mulloon CEO Carolyn Hall attended the special Parliamentary Friends of Landcare (PFL) event on March 17, celebrating the launch of a powerful film series showcasing the impact of the NSW Landcare Enabling Program.
It was great to share the evening with Landcare and their partners who play such an important role in Landcare’s success. It was fantastic to have a number of the MPs and Ministers join us after the film screening, including NSW Environment Minister, The Hon. Penny Sharpe.
We enjoyed a catch up with Co-Chair of PFL Michael Kemp MP, and lovely to see Jodie Lovell, NSW Landcare Enabling Program Manager, in person and showcased in the film series.
I had the opportunity to connect with Kathy Kelly, a Landcare NSW Board Director and inaugural chair of the Mulloon Farm Advisory Committee, with Jodie Lovell (Landcare NSW), and with Suzannah Cowley of NVIRO Media. (pictured).
It’s always a treat to catch up with Keith Walker, Regional Landcare Coordinator of New England Landcare Network Inc.
Carolyn Hall
CEO
You can view the films at the links below:
Whether it’s the summer monsoonal rains of Darwin, to the wet winters of Tasmania and summer rainfall patterns of the Northern Tablelands, the principles remain the same: slow the water, spread it and retain seasonal rains to restore landscape function.
The Learning Programs team has had an eventful start to the year, supporting communities in all these regions to apply landscape rehydration strategies to their local context.
First Nations Water Skills
The First Nations Water Skills Certificate is taking shape with our fantastic partners putting the hours in to support the co-design of Country-focused knowledge and skills. Recent activities (hyperlinks) have enabled experimentation and exchange, particularly around how existing Conservation Land Management skillsets can interweave with water-focused work. It’s created a great context for the practical projects and learning kit developments that are on the horizon for autumn and winter.
Landcare Northern Territory engaged Mulloon Consulting in 2025 to assess Mitchell Creek, Rapid Creek, Sandy Creek and Ludmilla Creek, which all flow into Darwin Harbour.
These creeks and their catchments have significant ecological value with large areas of mangroves and riparian vegetation as well as significant cultural value to the Larrakia People. However, there have been rising concerns and pressure placed on these delicate ecosystems from the surrounding urban areas and new developments, and locals have reported increasing erosion, weeds, sediment and reduced water quality.
In August 2025, landscape planners Henry Burt and Lance Mudgway spent a week engaging with local Landcare groups, conducting community walks and assessing impacted areas. These findings were translated into conceptual catchment plans and preliminary designs for priority sites to align practical, nature-positive interventions that restore flow pathways, stabilise erosion hotspots, protect cultural and ecological values, reduce sediment runoff and improve water quality across the Darwin Harbour system.
In February 2026, two workshops were presented to a diverse group of environmental professionals, local Landcare groups and community volunteers. The first workshop focused on the Mitchell Creek catchment and had 30 participants.
This was followed by a second workshop that included the Sandy, Rapid, and Ludmilla Creek catchments, which attracted an attendance of 40 people. The workshops focused on presenting the findings and recommendations in the reports, followed by a tour of the catchments and various key sites.
These discussions aimed to enable the designed interventions to be correctly implemented and for these landscapes to be sustainably managed over time as new issues arise.
Pictured right: Rapid Creek in the dry season.
Landcare NT received funding over four years from 2025 to 2028, from the Australian Government’s Urban Rivers and Catchments Program to undertake the Darwin Harbour Catchment Waterways Project. The project aims to improve water quality, support native species and boost biodiversity in four major catchments of the Darwin Harbour:
The project is a collaboration with local Landcare groups, environmental organisations and Larrakia traditional land and water managers. Focal issues are weeds, vegetation health, habitat condition, litter, water quality, fire management and erosion.
Pictured above: Erosion in the Mitchell Creek catchment.
Pictured above: Erosion in the Sandy Creek catchment. .
Pictured above: Mangroves in the Sandy Creek catchment. .
Pictured above: Discussing drainage infrastructure in a park in the Sandy Creek catchment.
Shocks, disturbances, good and bad feedback loops, slow/fast variables, decision-making where there are no easy answers… these are all aspects of landscape systems management that everyone in our sector wrestles with as we seek to foster resilience and manage for climate risk.
How can we quickly build shared understanding and language for problem-solving? With games of course! We often take for granted that games and play are vital for developing skills in astute thinking and cooperation among children… so why do we abandon these methods as adults?
We’ve decided to unlock the power of play, working with Boho Interactive to inject creativity into landscape systems problem-solving. After several workshops, Boho has created two new games for us to trial. We tested ‘Cup Runneth Over’ and ‘Busy Rural Mayors’ at the Professionals Intensive, captured in all the images on this page. Both were a hit, and the audience provided us with great insight into how these prototypes can be further developed.
We will be bringing these games to our Bootcamps and workshops across the country very soon!
When Carolyn Hall, CEO of Mulloon Institute, stood before an audience of over 300 international delegates in Tokyo in late February, she carried with her something rare in global environmental policy circles – a proven, on-ground story of nature doing what nature does best.
Carolyn was invited to present at the International Nature-Based Solutions Symposium in Tokyo, joining an extraordinary delegation that included representatives from the Smithsonian Institution, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the University of Tokyo and Straughan Environmental – a gathering funded by the Kajima Institute of International Peace. Together, they brought to life successful nature-based solutions (NbS) from Chesapeake Bay (the largest estuary in the US), San Francisco Bay (the largest tidal estuary in California), Australia, Japan and across the globe.
That Australia’s voice in this room belonged to the Mulloon Institute speaks to the growing recognition of what we have built here – a living laboratory for landscape-scale restoration, grounded in science, shaped by respect for Country and tested by decades of on-ground work.
The symposium was more than a conference. It was a convergence of ideas, exchanging knowledge with government officers, elected officials, fishermen and 500 students from Hibiya High School during a tour of the Tokyo Bay catchment. The next generation of environmental stewards heard directly about what is possible when communities and landscapes are given the chance to heal.
A highlight of the visit was meeting Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike – a former Minister of the Environment and Minister of Defence, and a committed advocate for nature-based solutions as a pathway to a more sustainable, resilient Tokyo.
At Mulloon Institute, we have always believed that local knowledge, when shared generously, becomes global wisdom. Tokyo reminded us of that, and reminded the world that Australia has something vital to contribute to the nature-based solutions conversation.
Pictured right: Tokyo Bay tour, Waterfront Development Bureau of Port and Harbour.
The 2026 year has started off at pace for Mulloon Institute. Dry conditions continue over large parts of southeastern Australia, while record rainfall has occurred in the central west of NSW and in the Northern Territory. The new Board subcommittees for Finance, Audit and Risk, and for Nominations and Remuneration have been established, and our initial meetings undertaken. This is a new era for Mulloon Institute, for our governance, for nature repair in Australia and for expanded collaboration.
The team is focused on grant delivery activities and on construction. We have hosted a number of our grant consortium members at Mulloon Creek Natural Farms and this has allowed the farm team to meet our key collaborators and gain an understanding of our grant-based work. It is great to see such a high level of activity on the farms and to have the opportunity to share the story of the Mulloon Rehydration Initiative and our broader project work with new visitors.
Grant project reporting has been a great opportunity early in the calendar year to take a deep dive into the First Nations Water Skills certificate project, our Landscape Function Toolkit (LiFT) project, and the TIMME project to set priorities for the next six months. These are very exciting and challenging projects that work to Mulloon’s strength in real collaboration, scientific rigour and, increasingly, metrics and data for landscape repair.
We welcome our new General Manager of Mulloon Creek Natural Farms, Tom Redfern. Tom brings over 20 years’ experience in regenerative agriculture, a newfound passion for poultry and a real alignment with the values and mission of Mulloon Institute. Tom is joined by his wife Bec and three children on farm.
We also welcome Jess McElroy as a senior landscape planner, Jess brings a wealth of experience in high-value construction and land management projects, from strategic planning through to on-ground implementation. Jess’s expertise in project planning, design and management comes at the perfect time when we are embarking on a major construction program across our grants and the Water Stewardship Program.
Pictured right: The Walbunja Rangers from Yuin Country visited Mulloon to explore landscape rehydration in action and will help shape the future First Nations Water Skills Certificate.
We have received some very positive feedback from the DAFF team on how well the Communities of Practice Project (COPP) was received by our funders. This reflects the passion, determination and hard work of our team and the five communities of practice whom we worked with across Australia. We have upskilled these communities in practices that will see our rural communities better prepared for, and more resilient to, drought. This model is being regularly refined and can be replicated in partnership with other rural communities.
The executive team has been busy planning for the year ahead and providing support to spread the workload across the team and to undertake recruiting to provide additional human resources. We recently re-advertised the TIMME project manager role, and we received over 170 applications. The word is out that Mulloon Institute is a great place to work, where people can make a real difference to the future of landscapes and agriculture in Australia.
We are also excited to be working with Oliver Wyman, following selection to be part of their social impact program. Oliver Wyman has worked to provide a snapshot of where Mulloon Institute is today, our key challenges and our opportunities. This Strategic refresh has enabled the new Board to take a deep dive into the Mulloon Group ,and we are all excited to be working on the business together.
Our team has also kicked off work on the Transgrid project. This is a remarkable project that provides the opportunity to work with impacted landholders under the Humelink route to build their capacity to repair and restore the function of their landscapes. This will leave a positive legacy for this project that is part of Australia’s transition to net zero.
Pictured right: Communities of Practice in action in Western Australia
I have also been busy working with our colleagues from the One Basin CRC. The Basin Plan is under review and Professor Mike Stewardson and his team are committed to enabling a variety of voices to be heard. In November last year I was invited by Mike to attend a One Basin CRC workshop on Scaling Up Integrated Waterway and Catchment Management in the Murray–Darling Basin. I was privileged to be one of 20 leaders in integrated waterway and catchment management to be invited to this workshop. The workshop provided a focused environment for honest dialogue, shared insight and collaborative problem-solving. This small, diverse group, including policymakers, practitioners, researchers, First Nations experts and innovators, laid the foundation for broader Basin-wide engagement on the future of waterway and catchment recovery.
An output of that workshop was the Basin SCALE Declaration – a collaborative call for a fundamental shift in how we approach the future of the Murray–Darling Basin, toward integrated waterway and catchment management solutions.
In February I was a panel member on a webinar that over 330 people registered for to explore Integrated catchment management at Basin SCALE. You can view the webinar here. In this new era of landscape repair, building trusted relationships is still at the core of delivering better environmental outcomes, aided now with incredible data and the promise of natural capital markets to incentivise ecological restoration.
This is an exciting time for Mulloon Institute; a new Board, a new General Manager of Mulloon Creek Natural Farms and a new positive energy as our grant projects take shape and our team grows.
Carolyn Hall
CEO
Pictured right: Promotional image for the Basin SCALE Declaration webinar, March 2026.
The Landscape Function Toolkit (LiFT) program has now entered the co-design phase, an essential part of project development. We have conducted several co-design sessions that bring together land managers, scientists and First Nations to discuss the journey of regenerative land management and explore how technology can assist in this process.
We have developed several icons related to agroecology to help inform land managers about landscape functions and rehydration, pictured right. These icons have been developed with the graphic designer Great Gigs to share systems-thinking and resilience thinking concepts in relation to landscape health, including the water cycle, geomorphology, vegetation, soil, biodiversity, productivity and community. These bold and visually attractive icons will be used in our learning programs and for quick reference in the LiFT rollout.
Through our co-design process, we have learned that improving landscape function and rehydrating landscapes is a journey, rather than a simple set of measurements. Land managers require multiple scalable actions that can be replicated over time to build confidence in the improvement of the land. Although land managers and First Nation people have an intimate understanding of their land, they often struggle to see how their actions connect to long-term landscape changes. They encounter delays between their actions and visible results, which can take a year or more to manifest. Additionally, data tools can be challenging to use consistently and often lack a clear process for implementation. There is considerable pressure to balance productivity with land health, along with a desire to leave the land in better condition.
We have learnt that change occurs through vision and storytelling, rather than data alone. Land managers and First Nation people want to understand how their land is evolving, how their actions influence ecosystem function, and seek early signs that they are moving in the right direction, all while reconnecting with their community and Country. Our aim is to empower them to steward their living landscapes, and we see a vital role for LiFT in validating and enhancing their innate ability to read the landscape while supporting the transition from observation to regeneration.
Water has frequently been highlighted as the key to improving landscape function and serves as the most accessible starting point for change. Rather than functioning solely as a data platform, we envision LiFT as a decision support and learning system for landscape stewardship. The next phase, following the completion of the co-design phase, will involve using the insights gained to develop a prototype system for trial with land managers and First Nations groups.
The Landscape Function Toolkit (LiFT) project is supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust.
