The Walbunja Rangers are a terrific team committed to land stewardship and cultural preservation in Yuin Country. 

Established by Bateman’s Bay Aboriginal Land Council, they work with Local Land Services, National Parks and Wildlife Services and many other partners across Southern NSW, responsible for cultural burns, revegetation, pest management, cultural education, the management of Travelling Stock Routes and more. 

They will play a big part in the development of the First Nations Water Skills Certificate, and visited the Mulloon farm for the first time last week. Ryan, Chris and Laura hosted the tour, sharing the history of the Institute and providing a snapshot of landscape rehydration principles and techniques. The team were curious and observant as we toured a range of landscape contexts and demo sites in the sunshine. 

 We know the future Certificate will benefit enormously from their skills and experience – thanks for a lovely day Andrew, Jim, Robert, Bettina, Jade, Zethan, David and Peter!  

This event was supported by the Australian Government through funding from the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program under the Natural Heritage Trust.

Landscape planners, Brooke and Mitch from Mulloon’s TIMME project team, headed to Lutruwita/Tasmania recently to join professionals from all over Australia for a week of Healthy Country Planning training.  

Aboriginal representatives from the Top End, Northern and Southern WA, APY lands and South Australia were joined by non-indigenous individuals working in and with Aboriginal communities. Together they created a community of varied experiences and perspectives that brought comradery, depth and often laughter to the room.  

Sticky notes were absolutely the theme of the week, as each small working group worked to make order from the chaos that emerged from each stage of the creative process. Healthy Country planning (HCP) is an indigenous led, structured approach to land and sea management, that has been developed to adapt the international Open Standards for the Practise of Conservation for application by Aboriginal Communities.  

Pictured at right: Brooke presenting her teams vision and scope for their HCP

Wakawikiwayna (Maria Island) was used as the case study for the week, with each group developing an abridged HCP for the island. A mid-week field trip to Wakawikiwayna provided a welcome break from the classroom and an opportunity for deeper understanding of the natural and cultural values of the Island. Miraculously, there was not a wombat in sight, but Tasmanian devils and stunning Cape Barren geese were welcome replacements.  

Over the course of five days, each team was gently guided through the steps of the planning process by the expert facilitation of the Our Common Place team. The final day was celebrated by creative presentations from each team showcasing their weeks work.  

Pictured at right: Sticky note flow charts dominated the week. 

This project received funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

Pictured at right: Organisations working together for Healthy Country: L to R – Jim Underwood (Gondwanalink, WA), Robbie Miniter (Gnowangerup Aboriginal Corporation), Brooke Cunningham (Mulloon Institute), Mitch Lennon (Mulloon Institute).

Reconnecting water, land and community at Brogers Creek

Over the past year, an inspiring collaboration has been unfolding in the Brogers Creek catchment in Kangaroo Valley, bringing together local landholders, the Brogers Creek community, and Mulloon Institute under the shared goal of improving how water moves, infiltrates and cycles through the landscape.

This work forms part of a broader Water Stewardship initiative, supporting community-led action to regenerate waterways and strengthen catchment resilience in one of the highest rainfall landscapes within the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment.led action to regenerate waterways and strengthen catchment resilience in one of the highestrainfall landscapes within the Sydney Drinking Water Catchment.

A community-led beginning

In early 2025, invited by the Brogers Creek Landcare chair, Greg Thompson, Mulloon Institute met with members of the Brogers Creek community to walk the landscape and learn from local observations.

The Brogers Creek valley has a long history of agricultural use, having once been extensively cleared for dairy farming. While decades of revegetation and weed management have made an enormous difference, more recent heavy rains have exposed new challenges — including channel incision, creek bank erosion and reduced connection between waterways and their floodplains. Locals have noticed that sections of Brogers Creek and its tributaries are now carrying water faster and deeper than they once did. Rainfall events have exposed new challenges — including channel incision, creek bank erosion and reduced connection between waterways and their floodplains.

Together with landholders, two small but highly informative demonstration sites — Beauridge Creek and Secret Creek — were identified as priority areas where small-scale, well-designed works could make a meaningful difference.

Pictured at right: Brogers Creek Landcare initially invited Mulloon Institute out for a chat and a chance to see potential water stewardship sites in May 2025. 

From observation to understanding

Later in 2025, the team returned to the valley to survey the selected sites and begin developing designs, deepening their understanding of how these waterways function.

This visit was enriched by the involvement of John McInnes, an Indigenous ranger and ecologist from Aroona Project Management, who joined the site assessment to share cultural, ecological and Country-based insights. John prepared a Preliminary Cultural and Ecological Assessment of Secret Creek and Brogers Creek, grounding the project in a deeper respect for both natural systems and First Nations connections to place.

John’s assessment identified Kangaroo Valley as an area of deep cultural significance for the Woodi Woodi (Wodi Wodi) people, historically known as Noggarah, meaning “Big Gully”. The valleys and waterways once served as seasonal gathering places, travel routes and resource-rich landscapes where people fished, harvested aquatic plants, collected medicinal species and maintained longstanding cultural practices.

Ecologically, John’s survey highlighted encouraging signs of native freshwater life, including whirligig beetles, common yabbies, and potential evidence of rakali (native water rats). The presence of these species — particularly yabbies and rakali — was noted as an important indicator of freshwater health and habitat integrity, strengthening the case for restoration approaches that slow water, stabilise channels and support regeneration rather than hard engineering solutions.

These observations have helped shape how the project responds to the landscape: not simply addressing erosion, but working with natural processes, protecting culturally significant features and creating conditions that support ecological recovery over time.

Both Secret Creek and Beauridge Creek are focal points of the project. Flowing through a steep, high rainfall landscape, these creeks have sections where past land use and recent flood events have left the channel incised and disconnected from surrounding flats. The intent of the project is to slow water, reduce erosion, encourage sediment deposition and support natural regeneration, improving creek health before flows reach Brogers Creek itself.

Pictured at right: Kangaroo Valley community comes together at Brogers Creek to build brush packs which aim to slow the flow in high gully catchments, August 2025. 

Learning together in the field

One of the highlights of the year was a community field day, attended by around 40 local landholders and community members.

Walking the landscape together, participants explored how water behaves in different parts of the catchment, why some areas are eroding while others are stable, and how small-scale natural infrastructure using rocks, vegetation and thoughtful placement can help restore balance.

These conversations weren’t about imposing solutions, but about building shared understanding, confidence and a common language around landscape rehydration and water stewardship. The enthusiasm and curiosity demonstrated on the day reflected the strong foundation already present in the Brogers Creek community.

What’s next

As we move into 2026, the project is entering its final design stages. Detailed plans are being prepared for livestock exclusion fencing, assisted regeneration and riparian revegetation and a series of small instream structures across the demonstration sites, with construction planned later this year.

These works are designed not only to improve local conditions, but to act as learning sites — places where the community can observe change over time, reflect on outcomes, and adapt future actions across the broader catchment.

The collaboration at Brogers Creek demonstrates what’s possible when community knowledge, ecological understanding and practical design come together with a shared commitment to caring for water in the landscape.

Thank you to the Brogers Creek community, especially Greg, Sonya, David and Belinda, Andrew, Ruben and Liz, and Alexandra and John for their generosity, curiosity and leadership, and to everyone contributing their time, knowledge and energy to this ongoing project.

Pictured at right: Secret Creek landholders David, Andrew and Liz with Landscape Planners Erin Healy and Sharni Pike. 

READ NOW

The end of this year has been a time of reflection and gratitude. The efforts and determination of our hardworking team have been rewarded.  Highlights include:

• successful completion of our national Communities of Practice Project funded by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.
• a formal two-year partnership with state-owned corporation WaterNSW supporting the Water Stewardship Program, along with support from The Ian Potter Foundation (pictured at right with Stuart Naylor from WaterNSW launching The Regenerative Power of Water)
• co-design of the First Nations Water Stewardship Skills Certificate Program funded by the Australian Government’s ‘Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) Climate Smart Agriculture Program.
• development of LiFT, the Landscape Function Monitoring Toolkit funded under the (DAFF) Climate Smart Agriculture Program.
• early planning for TIMME, (Training, Implementation, Mentoring, Monitoring and Evaluation) – six catchment scale projects across Australia, funded by the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

This is also a time to welcome new members of our executive team, Glen Norris, General Manager and Jeanette Rawlings as Chief Financial Officer.  They join Matt Smith, Project Engagement and Delivery Manager, with myself and Executive Landscape Planner Nolani MColl to round out the executive team.

Kathy Kelly has finished up as Executive Director, Company Secretary and CFO. Kathy has accepted the offer to be the inaugural chair of the Mulloon Farm Advisory Committee and will spend the coming months consulting on the terms of reference for that committee.

Dr Emma Carmody has accepted the offer to chair the newly reformed Mulloon Law Advisory Committee. Emma’s depth of experience across water law and policy has been invaluable in progressing Ministerial awareness of the issues we face in NSW, and I very much look forward to working with Emma on much-needed regulatory reform.

Mulloon Institute is naturally outcomes-focused and is set to deliver increasing areas of landscape rehydration and restoration across Australia in the coming years. Underpinning our success is collaboration with key stakeholders in the regenerative agriculture sector.

Our founders, Tony and Toni Coote and our late chairman, The Hon. Gary Nairn AO, have left a remarkable legacy. It has been our task to take that legacy, generate an overarching strategic plan, win and secure the required funding and then deliver against that plan.

Our members have made it clear they support our work.  The evolution of our board via an open public recruitment process to be an experienced, skills-based board will further support scaling of the Institute and our important work.

Grant and sponsorship funding now provides the means for us to take the generous legacy left to us and deliver against the vision to repair, restore and rehydrate Australian landscapes.

Thank you

This work is all made possible by the energy and commitment of a fantastic team, and I am grateful to each and every one of them for their continued support and hard work.

Special thanks must go to Jono Forrest, who finished up as General Manager of Mulloon Consulting in August this year. Also, a fond farewell to Max Brunswick, a foundational member of the Science and on-ground team – thank you.

A special mention to Peter Hazell, who, after over 20 years of service to Mulloon Institute, retired from his role as Principal Landscape Planner to concentrate on the restoration work required on his own properties. Peter’s dedication to Mulloon and his leadership in all facets of promoting landscape rehydration and restoration are legendary. Mulloon will be forever grateful.

A fond farewell also to Jim Steele, General Manager of Mulloon Creek Natural Farms. Jim has delivered a modern, profitable egg enterprise that is the beating heart of our farming operation.  He departs Mulloon Creek Natural Farms, having left nothing to chance and providing us with a strong future growth outlook.

In 2025, I stepped down as a Board Director of Mulloon Institute, a role I took on at the request of our late Chairman, The Hon. Gary Nairn AO, in 2020. I thank my fellow Board Directors, it has been an honour to foster the Institute through this period of growth and change.

Thank you to you, our loyal supporters for your ongoing interest. 2026 promises to be a year of action and expansion for Mulloon Institute, and we are so excited about what lies ahead.

Carolyn

(All photos: NVIRO Media)

Cattle

Cattle have made the most of the favourable conditions, delivering outstanding growth. The 2024 drop heifer weaners grazing the poultry paddocks have been a particular highlight, achieving weight gains close to two kilos per head per day through September, and they are maintaining a rising plane of nutrition heading into joining.

Poultry

The poultry have also benefited from the good spring, with plenty of clover, bugs and grubs on offer. Egg production is set to increase with an additional 10,000 pullets now at point of lay. Mulloon Creek Eggs have made some minor changes to the egg cartons and removed the Humane Choice logo, which sadly came about by the certifying body NASAA going into receivership.

In other news…

Over the past three months, the farm has continued its general clean-up program, recycling more than 50t of scrap steel, upgrading roads and sheds, and keeping the ongoing infrastructure maintenance on track.

We welcome back Belle to the farm team, where she will take up a new role as farm overseer.

Recent months have seen high levels of activity across the organisation, with increased workloads occurring alongside reduced staffing capacity. While this has placed pressure on staff, it also reflects the relevance and uptake of Mulloon’s programs. Resourcing and developing capacity as the organisation continues to scale will be a key focus along with nurturing and supporting our exceptionally talented and professional team.

A highlight early in my role was the Home Farm Field Day, which provided a powerful demonstration of the depth of expertise across the organisation and reinforced my confidence in our strategic direction. Events like this exemplify Mulloon’s ability to connect science, practice, and community in meaningful ways; and I encourage you all to check out The Regenerative Power of Water publication which captures the essence of our organisation beautifully, and was recently celebrated with a soft launch at the Home Farm Field Day.

Another highlight was meeting the incoming Board of Directors at the recent Board meeting and AGM. The combined experience of this group, along with the depth of their experience, gives me great confidence that we have the right leadership team to deliver on our strategic goals in a meaningful way.

Have a safe and restful holiday break with friends and family. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves with the Mulloon team, our partners, and communities with what is shaping up to be an exciting year ahead.

Glen Norris
General Manager, Mulloon Consulting

Pictured top: Home Farm Field Day 
Pictured right: General Manager, Glen Norris with CEO, Carolyn Hall on Home Farm.
(photos: NVIRO Media)

Program updates

Across the Mulloon Rehydration Initiative (MRI), we delivered our spring seasonal monitoring campaign, including groundwater downloads, surface-water instrumentation checks, and ecological surveys across frogs, birds, vegetation, and soils. We also continued strengthening our internal data governance and workflows, ensuring MRI’s long-term datasets remain robust, accessible, and ready for future analysis. This work lays the groundwork for a project we hope to initiate in 2025 to make our science more visible and actionable for landholders, partners, and the public.

LiFT continues to gain momentum, with the literature review finalised, demonstration-site screening tools refined, and ongoing co-design work with landholders and First Nations groups.

STREAM has been deeply involved in shaping the monitoring framework, ensuring it reflects landscape function, drought resilience, and the needs of diverse user groups. The team also provided science and monitoring advice across several Mulloon-supported projects this quarter, such as Turnip Creek, helping align on-ground work with hydrological function, ecological recovery and long-term monitoring requirements.