Board

Our volunteer Board is made up of delegates from each state and territory.

The Directors are:

Australian Capital Territory – Peter Bridgewater (Chair)

The ACT is the place I lived longest in my life, although not concurrently! Born in the UK, I have also lived in Victoria, WA, the UK, France Switzerland and the Isle of Man.

I am passionate about seeing ecological sustainability attained nationally and globally – but that all has to begin locally, which is why the Landcare story is one I am committed to. In the 1990s as CEO of the Australian Nature Conservation Agency the programs that gave me the most satisfaction to see launched and productive included many under the Landcare banner, and many of the –Watch citizen Science initiatives. From 2007 -14 I held the post of Non-Executive Chair of the UK- Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). One of the key challenges faced by the JNCC was the establishment of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) around England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. MCZs were the subject of intense consultation with marine industry (Fisheries, Extractive, Energy), conservation and community groups. And that introduced me to the importance of community involvement in any exercises expected to demonstrate sustainability.

During the nineties and noughties I was proud to Chair of many intergovernmental bodies, including the International Whaling Commission, as well as working within UNESCO on Biosphere Reserves and The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. While all of these had community interaction I am really delighted to be able to work with the ACT Landcare groups, and contribute through NLN to an ever more vibrant Landcare movement in Australia.

Finally, I am also a keen cook and, while living on the Isle of Man in 2009, won the “Queen Scallop Recipe of the year” competition, so I look forward to stimulating a Landcare cookbook, using native and sustainably produced foodstuffs!

South Australia – Gerry Butler (Company Secretary)

Gerry is the Chair of the Landcare Association of South Australia and a founding member of the National Landcare Network.

Victoria – Terry Hubbard OAM

Terry had a varied working life before purchasing his family′s current property, The Three Sisters in Flowerdale, in 1989. The property was extensively cleared, eroded, and weed infested. Over the past 20 years a program of fencing, revegetation, and weed eradication has seen the farm become something of an example of successful Landcare work. Terry is immediate past President of the Strath Creek Landcare Group, President of the Upper Goulburn Landcare Network and President of Landcare Victoria, as well as Chair of the National Landcare Network. He is committed to achieving a strong representative voice for Landcare in Australia.

New South Wales – Rob Dulhunty

Rob has been a passionate member of the Landcare movement since 1989 at all levels – local, regional and national. He was a founding member of Landcare NSW in 2007 where he was appointed Vice-Chairman. He has been Chair since 2011. He has a unique and extensive knowledge of the movement from all perspectives including running a small and active local Landcare group; developing and positioning local and regional Landcare networks; and developing, evolving, and operating Landcare social enterprises. Through this process Rob has demonstrated an outstanding capacity to generate funds and support for Landcare from the corporate, philanthropic and government sectors.  Rob brings this wealth of experience into his roles of Co-Chair of the Landcare and Local Land Services Joint Management Committee, and Chair of the Sustaining Landcare and Landcare Trust Steering Committee, to further develop the recognition, support and resourcing of Landcare into the future.

Rob is a grazier originally from Glen Innes and has extensive experience in agribusiness, and his enterprises have been recognised through multiple awards. In December 2015 Rob was appointed to the Board of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, and is the current Chair of the Winifred West Schools Foundation.

West Australia – Keith Bradby OAM

Currently Chief Executive Officer of Gondwana Link Ltd and Deputy Chair WA Landcare Network Inc., Keith is a long-time advocate for the ecological values of south-western Australia. As a community activist in the early 1980s he helped halt the clearing of some three million hectares of public land for marginal agriculture and as a concerned local he was involved with establishing some of Australia’s earliest landcare groups.  As a businessman he ran beekeeping and native seed businesses, consulted to the mining sector and worked in local enterprise development. As a bureaucrat in the 1990s he managed and reformed the Peel-Harvey catchment program and drove the process that ended large scale land clearing in south-western Australia. He wrote the book ‘Peel-Harvey: decline and rescue of an ecosystem’ and as a film maker co-wrote and narrated the award winning documentary ‘A Million Acres a Year’. He conspired with friends to establish the Gondwana Link program in 2002.  Keith was the winner of the 2005 Great Southern Development Commission’s Medal of Excellence in Natural Resource Management and was awarded an Order of Australia Medal in 2015 for service to conservation and the environment in Western Australia.

Tasmania – Anthea Fergusson

Anthea is co-founder (and currently President) of the Circular Head Landcare Group which is located in the far north-west of Tasmania. The Circular Head municipality relies heavily on primary production and of course this involves the use of and interaction with natural resources. Anthea has a keen interest in good stewardship and the sustainable use of our natural resources, including the protection of threatened native plants, animals and vegetation communities. She has worked as a consultant in the natural resource management field for the past 10 years, after attending the University of Tasmania as a mature age student and obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree.

Anthea grew up on a pastoral property and has farmed in Tasmania most of her life; in their spare time Anthea and her partner operate a small beef fattening enterprise producing “Cape Grim” natural grass-fed beef. She has been a committee member of the peak body, Landcare Tasmania since 2010, and is currently Vice President.

Queensland – Geoff Elliot

Coming from a rural background, Geoff initially pursued a career in supervision and management of large earthwork projects in the eastern states of Australia and the Pacific Islands, working for several of Australia’s major construction companies. An interest in aviation led to Geoff attaining his commercial pilots’ license and the position of owner and Managing Director of a large flying training, aircraft charter and maintenance business in QLD.  His undeniable passion for agriculture eventually saw a return to the land when Geoff and family moved to the Inglewood region to purchase a superfine wool, sheep meat and cattle production enterprise. Living through a pervasive governmental and landholder farming era of ‘clear as much timber as possible to increase production’ did not sit well with Geoff. His resultant deep-seated desire to better manage the property for sustainable production has led to a broad understanding of traditional and innovative natural resource management issues and techniques.

Over the last 19 years Geoff has been an active member of numerous local community groups and held representative positions with the local producer organisation Traprock Group, the Border Rivers Catchment Management Association (presently Vice Chair), and the Inglewood and Texas Landcare Association (chairman for last 8 years).  As an active Landcare advocate for many years, Geoff was invited to join the QWaLC Board representing the QLD Murray Darling region, and at the 2015 AGM was elected to the position of Chairman.

Northern Territory – Sue McKinnon

Coming soon!

Committees of the Board

Finance and Audit Committee

The purpose of this Committee is to assist the Board in fulfilling its responsibilities with regard to financial management and reporting, risk management and compliance with laws and regulations.
Members:
Terry Hubbard
Gerry Butler (Chair)
Anthea Fergusson

Selection Committee

The Selection Committee supports the Board of NLN in providing assurance that the size, composition and diversity of skills on the Board is appropriate for the nature of the organisation and its Aims and Objectives.
Members:
Geoff Elliot
Rob Dulhunty
Sue McKinnon