A big welcome to author and enviromentalist Jennifer Scoullar.

Thanks Nicole, for giving me this terrific opportunity to talk about my passion for conservation. As a child I always felt a very special connection with animals and plants. This feeling grew stronger, as I grew older. My father, Doug Scoullar, was a great influence in this regard. After time spent jackarooing in Queensland, he later began a nursery specialising in native plants. Dad was a man far ahead of his time, and he passed on to me a lifelong love of horses and the bush. Now I live with my family at Pilyara, a beautiful property in the mountains that was left to me by my father.

My writing is anchored in a great love and respect for our unique land. I’m a member of the Environmental Farmer’s Network, an organisation that supports rural conservation programs, especially those that protect and enhance natural biodiversity. In the Year of the Farmer, I think it’s important to appreciate the important role rural people play as stewards of the land. Too often, green groups and farmers are seen to be at odds with each other.

At Pilyara (the picture above is the view from the back lawn) we carefully monitor pastures so they don’t become depleted, and avoid overstocking and we’ve planted and regenerated hundreds of trees as well as leaving extensive natural corridors. These areas act as a refuge for wildlife and allow local flora to flourish. All the hard work pays off when I see a flock of Gang Gang Cockatoos drinking at a water trough, or the wide night-eyes of a Sugar Glider reflected in my torchlight. Most of my neighbours are equally committed to conservation. They retain stag trees (over-mature or dead hollow-bearing trees) and put up nest boxes to attract birds, bats and possums. They put wombat gates in fence lines and fish ladders beside dams located on waterways. Progressive farmers all over the country know that running a property is about much more than achieving a monetary return – it is about providing an environmental return for the next generation.

Australia’s wild landscapes are powerful settings. In cities, many people live lives so far removed from nature, that they rarely even touch the earth. But at what cost? The cost to our declining environment? The cost to our hearts? I think the world is hungry to re-engage with nature, to ground itself. The rural lit genre taps into this vein. The wildly successful movie Avatar did the same. Losing touch with wildness is losing touch with ourselves.

 Jennifer’s novel, Brumby’s Run, is coming out in July. To find out more do visit her website…

Set among the hauntingly beautiful ghost gums and wild horses of the high country, Brumby’s Run is a heartfelt, romantic novel about families and secrets, love and envy and, most especially, the bonds of sisterhood.