The Diggers Foundation Podcast - inspiration for the subversive gardener – Details, episodes & analysis

Bruce is a leading voice in the discussion about Australian Aboriginal land use and agricultural practice. His book, Dark Emu: Aboriginal Australia and the Birth of Agriculture, reconstructs the evidence of indigenous agriculture and challenges the colonial narrative of a hunter-gatherer society.

Today he lives on his farm on the shores of the Wallagaraugh River in East Gippsland where he and his team run Black Duck Foods, an Aboriginal social enterprise committed to traditional food growing practices. Bruce’s knowledge of landscape and cultural history mean he has long experience with fires and the fire ecology of eucalypts and in this episode he explores the relationship of vegetation and community.

Find out more about Diggers at https://www.diggers.com.au/

Joost is a sustainability powerhouse with a talent for uniting like-minded folk with a passion for the future. Starting his working life as a florist foraging blooms for Melbourne’s leading restaurants, Joost was inspired to build the world’s first carbon neutral and zero-waste restaurant.

Joost is a passionate advocate for environmental conservation and sustainable living through design and grows native and exotic plants on his flower farm in the hills east of Melbourne. He offers a thoughtful perspective on the planting of eucalypts in our living environments.

Find out more about Diggers at https://www.diggers.com.au/

Clive and Penny Blazey founded The Diggers Club in 1978 and subsequently established The Diggers Foundation in 2011. Clive is the author of eight gardening books and was instrumental in achieving five awards for The Diggers Club for the preservation of heirloom vegetable seeds.

Clive is a self-taught passionate gardener and current Diggers Club magazine editor who campaigns against corporate control of our seeds via seed patents, monoculture agriculture and its impacts on our soils, our climate and health. Clive was made a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for his “significant service to horticulture, to conservation and to the community.

In this, the second episode in our series, eucalypts: friend and foe, Chloe talks to world renowned tree authority Prof Greg Moore. In addition to his general interest in horticultural plant science, revegetation and ecology, Greg has a specific interest in all aspects of arboriculture, which is the scientific study of the cultivation and management of trees. He is an advisory board member of TreeNet and Greening Australia and is a former Principal of Melbourne University's Burnley campus.

Greg’s insights into living with and managing trees in our cities, gardens and public spaces help enliven the discussion of the appropriate use for eucalypts for amenity and beauty.

In this episode, we kick off the discussion on the suitability of eucalypts for gardens with Jeremy Francis, the creator of the internationally acclaimed Cloudehill Gardens in the ranges on Melbourne’s peri-urban fringe.

Jeremy has long been interested in the impacts of fire management and the Australian ecology and the use of fire-resistant plants, putting into practice his theories in his own garden as well as contributing to the national debate including a detailed submission to the 2009 Bushfire Royal Commission.

Find out more about Diggers at diggers.com.au