Bite size highlights from 2025: A huge week ends with a bang back in Australia

Our curtain-raiser series of bite size highlights drawn from the 2025 wrap up episode continues, with some pinnacle moments from the huge week in Western Australia on our return home.

Here are the voices, places and tunes you're hearing:

0m - Oral McGuire (ep 279), Noongar leader, with possibly the quote of the Regenerative Food Systems conference, Perth Stadium WA

0.28 - My day's summary at that conference (ep 280), with Barefoot, by Mark Grundhoefer (from Artlist)

1.40 - Heidi Mippy (ep 281), Bridgetown WA (at the 2nd running of the Grounded Festival, and the 1st in WA, bringing home a huge week of events)

2.10 - Ian Haggerty (ep 282), also at Grounded Festival

2.33 - Rowdy, by The Lonely Ramblers (from Artlist) (ep 282)

2.42 - Matthew Evans (ep 283), heralding the final session of Grounded

Title image: AJ, Heidi, Di & Ian Haggerty at Grounded (pic: Alan Benson)

To access all episodes, including the full 2025 highlights package in ep 289, head to the website (where there’ll often be photos with each episode), or wherever you get your podcasts. 

With thanks to our wonderful guests and the musicians who generously granted permission for their music to be heard here.

And thanks for listening and supporting the podcast!

Chapter markers

Chapters

• 0:00 Land Tenure And Cultural Loss
• 0:38 Merging Knowledge Systems
• 1:40 Healing Country With Community
• 2:09 Urgency, Support, And Honest Talk

Transcript

Oral McGuire: 0:00

And they didn't live in one place, they moved across it. So land tenure is another massive issue. The minute that people could say that this is my land, I can do what I want with it, and the government was complicit and gave it to people and took it away from us, essentially, the problems began. And we're still dealing with those problems today because private land is open slather for whatever you want to do with it. And that's not culture, that's not law, and that's not nature.

AJ: 0:38

And essentially their entire thesis, bringing together what was termed the most powerful knowledge system ever, with of course this modern powerful knowledge system. Who can deny, for all the good and bad, the power of the Western knowledge system? What if we brought them together? It was about transcending that to indeed a new knowledge system. Which then brings us full circle, no? To Walter, doing that together. It's together or not at all, but wow, what if we did it together? And then that was echoed time and again. Listening, like deeply listening, gratitude mindset, scaling deep. And for what it's worth, there was a guest on a podcast who I actually then met again in New Mexico not long ago, who works in this stuff too, bringing people together in fractions, often brought in last resort, right? People coming to arms even over in the States. Go slow to go fast. And that was an evidence-based phrase.

Heidi Mippy: 1:40

Where I see our kids strongest and where I see us, like myself, strongest and other people strongest, is on country. And anywhere on country. That's why I'm particularly passionate about um working with farmers to heal country, because I know the benefits of healing our people. I've had uh drug addicts just come and stay on our place just to detox young kids who for the first time seeing live animals or Nan or Auntie, you know, like I feel so good when I'm here.

Ian Haggerty: 2:09

And the other area was was through the governor and the governor general. The governor general pulling us aside saying, I am so excited for this, for this. We have to do not waste this opportunity. It is such a crucial pivoting point in human history and planetary health that we get this message out there. The support's there.

Matthew Evans: 2:41

The idea with this session was for me to go, Dan, you talk about some weird shit. But I know you can talk about some weirder shit. And you know how I had this thing, you know, if you've got a recipe and you want to test it, don't do it at a dinner party. You know, so he and I probably should have done this over a beer.