Permaculture Honours its Elders

The 2015 Australasian Permaculture Convergence, APC-12, was held in Penguin on the north coast of Tasmania in March. This was the first ever permaculture convergence to be held in Tasmania, where the permaculture concepts were originally developed by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren in the 1970s. It was also the first convergence in Australia that wasn’t attended by Bill Mollison, now 88 years old, and whose mobility and health prevented his attendance.

Another “first” at the convergence was the honouring of permaculture elders, who were each awarded a plaque, made of Tasmanian wood, for their contribution to permaculture.

permaculture elders presented with award — Permaculture elders present at APC12: Back: Virginia Solomon, Miles Duran, Graham George, David Watson, David Holmgren, Robin Clayfield, John Champaigne, Robyn Francis. Dick Copeman. Front: John McKenzie, Ian Lillington, April Sampson-Kelly, Stuart Hill and Michelle Margolis.

Bob Brown gave the opening address at the welcome dinner, first time Bob’s spoken to a permaculture conference gathering. He got an enthusiastic round of applause when he stated that “what really fires my boiler is being here with 200 permaculturalists – if the world was run by you we’d be fine”