After thirty years in the spotlight, the father of the Permaculture movement, eighty three year old Bill Mollison now prefers the quiet life on his farm in the northwest of Tasmania. However he travelled to the tenth National Permaculture Convergence recently to catch up with old friends and new ones in Kuranda, Far North Queensland, Australia. He doesn’t have a telephone and says he does better on his own without them. When he had trouble reading his own notes, he quipped that not only could he not type, but he couldn’t read very well either. When Bill laughed, everyone else laughed. It was contagiously funny.
Bill was among friends spanning forty years, back to his days at the University of Tasmania, where he and student David Holmgren developed the design system they called Permaculture. Sitting in the front row was former student and Mayor of the City of Cairns, Val Shier. Bill made special mention of Ro Morrow who he likened to a spirit sister. Her ability to bounce back from her stroke had inspired him to get over his stroke. Bill said that they both carried a lot scars, and would probably pick up a few more if they were lucky. Local “Bruce Zell was typical of many old friends” he said. “I’ve known them for many years. They’re always there, they’re always the same and it’s beautiful to see them again”.
Then it was Geoff Lawton’s turn for the spotlight. Geoff was one of the few people alive that did Bill’s early courses in Tasmania. “He is an inspiration and hard to keep check of” laughed Bill. “He is always running about in strange places, like Jordan where he picked up a family… of several hundred … his wife has got 28 sisters”. Bill had left his post as a teacher at a Permaculture design course with Geoff Lawton at the Melbourne University to be in Kuranda. The crowd cheered, clapped and laughed along with their ultimate strategist and renowned raconteur. “I love you all” he said and the crowd love him back. ‘We’ve got good spirit here” he concluded “and if we had to take our gear off, it wouldn’t be much better.”
So long Bill, it’s been great to know you.
Truly an inspiration by walking the walk not just talking the talk! Permaculture course should be a mandatory class simply to make people aware of the world in which we live! Thank you