Green Adelaide Podcast
Do you want or have a career in South Australia’s environmental sector? Then this podcast is for you!
Green Adelaide Podcast
Ep 16: w/ Vicki-Jo Russell AM & Jill Woodlands | South Australia's Nature Festival + nature events + careers in conservation + biodiversity advocacy + horticulture + community engagement + resilience in environmental management
On this episode, we’ll be talking the Nature Festival! The Nature Festival is returning for its fifth year, with over 400 nature-inspired events across South Australia, from 28 Sept until 13 Oct. The pod is joined by the co-founders of the Nature Festival, the Festival Chair Vicki-Jo Russell AM, and Nature Curator Jill Woodlands, to chat how it came about and why you need to check it out this year.
The festival is about fostering SA's love of nature. It's a festival with a cause and if that cause speaks to you, please head along and support it. The program has something for everyone! Check it out now.
Disclaimer: Green Adelaide is the Principle Sponsor of the 2024 Nature Festival.
Browse Nature Festival 400+ events: www.naturefestival.org.au
Brush up on the 2016 Nature of SA research that inspired the Nature Festival: https://www.natureofsa.org/
Green Adelaide Podcast is your insider scoop on all things cool, green, and wild in metro South Australia. The Green Adelaide Podcast is hosted by Green Adelaide's Communication Manager, Melissa Martin.
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It's heartbreaking. Grief is definitely something you have to learn to manage and manage responsibly, with a great deal of self-care. But you meet some of the best people in the world. You see some of the most wonderful things and I've never been lost nature and I get teary. Already it's so early in the podcast to get teary. You know, if nature's your tether, you'll never get lost. Yeah, there's a great quote actually that says, basically to be a conservationist is to walk through a world full of wounds and it's very obvious to any of us that can see them. But I've seen many. I've had many disappointments, many disappointments in where great things could have happened, should have happened, great protection was promised or whatever, and didn't come through, and you have to stay optimistic.
Melissa Martin:You are listening to the Green Adelaide Podcast. This podcast is your insider scoop on all things cool, green and wild in metropolitan South Australia. I am your host, melissa Martin, and on this episode we are talking the Nature Festival. Green Adelaide is actually a principal sponsor of the Nature Festival and it is returning for its fifth year, with over 400 nature-inspired events across South Australia during the school holidays, from the 28th of September to the 13th of October. The festival celebrates South Australia's love of nature and reminds us of the wellbeing that a deeper connection to nature can offer all of us.
Melissa Martin:I am joined by the co-founders of the Nature Festival the Festival Chair, vicki Jo Russell AM, and Nature Curator Jill Woodlands. Vicki Jo has been a driving force in biodiversity conservation in South Australia for more than 25 years, initiating and influencing a range of significant programs, plans and policies, predominantly for environmental non-government organisations. Jill is a horticulturalist and she builds the relationships and partnerships that are at the heart of what makes the Nature Festival possible. Outside of the festival, jill is a manager at the Diggers Garden Shop, the home of heirloom vegetables and flower seeds at Adelaide Botanic Gardens. Welcome Vicki Jo and Jill to the Green Adelaide podcast. Thank you.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Thank you very much. I like that. Cool, green and wild. That's us, isn't it Absolutely late?
Melissa Martin:podcast, thank you, thank you very much. I like that. Cool, green and wild. That's us, isn't it? Absolutely so. Thanks for being on today. Before we dive all into the Nature Festival and its history and what's coming up this year, I just want to get to know you both a little better and your career journeys into the environment sector. So, starting with you, vicky Jo, can you tell me about your career journey into the sector and how you ended up where you are today?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:I love the use of the word career. That sounds like there's been some strategic planning there. This is a tricky one. I started as an athlete which is very hard to believe now for people who know me and I thought I was going to be an athlete and go into physio, but I Athlete in Basketball predominantly. Yeah, lots of sports, but predominantly basketball would have been the one I could have made a career out of, the one I could have made a career out of.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:And I got to the end of high school and I thought you know, I just didn't know, I didn't know if it was the one and I didn't get into it. I could have gone into podiatry and moved over, but I thought you know what I'm just going to, I'm so young, I'm just going to throw it open and I'm going to go with things that I'm passionate about. So at university I went with biology and psychology and my first degree was a double degree in those two, which was totally the way to go. And during that degree it was like, well, I want to help people and I want to help nature. What do I do? But then I worked out very clearly that to help people one of the best things you can do is look after nature. It sustains us all in all aspects of our living. So I went and did a conservation and land management degree after that, and then I travelled Australia because I'd spent six years but really, if you think about year 11 and 12, eight years at a desk and I wanted to see this stuff for real. So I volunteered and travelled around Australia in a combi, which I would highly recommend to people who are passionate about this. It really made things real. And you know it's 35,000 kilometres or whatever, and you see amazing, magnificent things, but you also see there's not a square inch of this country that hasn't been affected by us as well. So the enormity of what was ahead was also made very real. And on my way back down on the East Coast, I was sitting there on a creek thinking what am I going to do with my life Because I was 23. It's a great time to really think about that and I thought right, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to spend the rest of my life looking after the biodiversity of the continent of Australia, and that's pretty much what I've done. So what a privilege that is.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:I came back to Adelaide. I got married to the man I was engaged to around this trip, which was rather extraordinary, and I had my first job at Con Council so Conservation Council of South Australia on a front desk job, information typing, just like get in there, find out, you know, get your first foot in the door. What an amazing experience that year was because I learnt and met so many amazing people. I learnt all about what was going on in the movement. It was so exciting and inspiring. You know, you'd come in and there'd be groups meeting over here for some sort of protest and then you'd have the planning group and then you'd have First Nations come in and then you'd have a media interview happen in the library and it's like this is my place. I had definitely found my tribe and my home and actually I went.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:I got a scholarship when I was 28 to go to the States to spend some time with WWF overseas and I rang. So pathetic, but I rang Con Council to hear the voice of the voicemail because I just missed the place so much. So, yeah, I worked there in that information officer job and then I was very lucky to get the job as a Threatened Species Network Coordinator, working for WWF and and yeah, a lot has happened since then Was that based sorry, in Australia for WWF? Yes, it was based in Australia, predominantly in southeastern Australia. And then I worked for Con Council a little bit later on that.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:That job actually went for 14 years but many things happened in it, so it wasn't one job, it wasn't one project. I actually did a number of collaborations with Tony Flarty, who works here at Green Adelaide. So we co-founded Dragon Search together and also Making Waves, a marine and coastal radio show, and so there were lots of little bits along the way that also were on grasslands and so lots of bits in there. But that was the overall job. And then, yeah, I worked at Con Council as a conservation program manager for a while. Then I worked at the zoo. So I was six years at the zoo, first as a conservation policy person.
Melissa Martin:Adelaide.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Zoo, adelaide Zoo Well, the zoo is both, you know, monarto and Adelaide, but yeah, south Australia Zoo, yep Zoo's, sa. And then I was the I was a director there in conservation policy sustainability. That was an amazing journey because the zoo sustainability challenge is quite an extraordinary and bespoke one, you know. And then I'm very fortunate to come to work for Trees for Life. Yeah, while I've been in that role, I've co-founded with my colleague here, jill, and also with Ryan Hubbard, and Amber Cronin joined us very early in the program as well. We're the four co-founders of the Nature Festival. And here we are. So I still have other roles at the moment.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Still, I'm the chair of the Parks and Wilderness Council for South Australia. I'm also the chair of the National Recovery Team for the Southeastern Red Tower, black Cockatoo, and I also have a consultancy called BJ Consults. It's primarily aimed at supporting conservation groups trying to do strategic planning or reviewing things that need someone technical to understand it and also happy to work with their budgets. So, yeah, that's kind of where I'm at. It's hard, it's heartbreaking. Grief is definitely something you have to learn to manage and manage responsibly with a great deal of self-care. But you meet some of the best people in the world. You see some of the most wonderful things and I've never been lost nature and I get teary already. It's so early in the podcast to get teary.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:You know, if nature's your tether, you'll never get lost.
Melissa Martin:Yeah, when you say grief, what do you mean by that?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Well, grief is very real, uh, for people who care. There's a great quote actually that says, basically, to be a conservationist is to walk through a world full of wounds and it's very obvious to any of us that, um, that can see them. But I've seen many. I've had many disappoint, many disappointments in planning or policy or processes or projects or funding or whatever, where great things could have happened, should have happened, great protection was promised or whatever, and didn't come through, and you have to stay optimistic. But I've also seen I mean I've been doing this now for 30 years I've seen sites that have been valuable and important to me and to the world eroded.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Probably the first really big experience I had with grief was when I was working on the Mount Lofty Range's Southern Emurin Project, where emurins had been found and I won't give any specifics of this, it would not be wise to do so but it was found on a private property and we were all delighted with that and we thought the landholder was too, and the next time we went out there they had absolutely demolished the site. My lifetime we have known that this is not the right thing to do and that this is not in our long-term best interests, and yet we continue to make the sort of decisions that we do. So, even though I know people love nature, and that's something as a Nature Festival chair, I've been absolutely reinforced with. We love nature, and yet somehow we continue to make a Nature Festival chair. I've been absolutely reinforced with we love nature, yep and yet somehow we continue to make decisions that aren't in keeping with our true hearts. So let's hope that by the time I finish this lifetime, that might be different.
Melissa Martin:And Jill same question how did you get into the sector and how did you end up where you are today?
Jill Woodlands:A very different story to Vicky Jo. I grew up in Sydney in the middle of a plant nursery. My parents were gardeners but I actually studied nursing when I first left school. And then I travelled for 18 months and came back and then decided I guess the garden was calling and I studied in horticulture in Sydney. And then I travelled again and worked in Cyprus and England and then I moved to South Australia in 1990. So I developed, I guess, a horticultural career all over, working in Adelaide Hills, plains Coast, et cetera very much focused on building people up as gardeners.
Jill Woodlands:And then when I was about 40, when my son was five, I wanted to see what was beyond the garden fence, I guess, and I went to uni and I studied environment studies, so it's now environmental management and policy, and then I did honours in natural resource management engagement, because for me it was really important, because I had the context of the garden and the fact that nature is a journey of a lifetime but it usually starts in the garden, and for me it was really important to be able to keep switching between understanding bigger environmental challenges, but also the fact that I could keep coming back into the garden bigger environmental challenges, but also the fact that I could keep coming back into the garden. So it allows me to actually operate at different scales as well, and it also allows me to cope with the grief Vicky Jo was talking about, because the garden always beckons, but through studies.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:I got a position at the Conservation Council where I met Vicki Jo.
Jill Woodlands:I worked as the Natural Resource Management Facilitator for 12 years and then I also started work managing the Digger's Garden Shop in the Botanic Gardens. So I continued with both roles part-time. And then I started work with Vicky Jo we will be talking about this but the Nature of South Australia project and then amongst it at Nature Conservation Society and then, moving on to the Nature Festival, I'm also Deputy Branch Head of the Mediterranean Garden Society, so I helped form that as a founder 22 years ago, yep. So I'm very much involved still in the garden world as well.
Melissa Martin:Would you say you're born and bred into the garden world, reflecting on the fact that you said your parents brought you up in a nursery?
Jill Woodlands:Yeah, I guess so, although I didn't as most young people you don't always follow what you are expected to follow but I guess an innate love of the garden and nature. I guess because I used to go and talk to my mum after school and she was propagating plants outside.
Jill Woodlands:So it was always well, my dad would take me in his little red truck to visit garden designers, and so I always went. So my world was already firmly fixed, I guess, in the garden and also beyond, and I probably also have only just kind of just realised that my dad was the ultimate connector because he had relationships with so many people around Sydney, from gardeners to quite well-known garden designers and landscape architects, and I guess building those connections were, I guess, something I cherish but also see again firmly through the eyes of being a gardener.
Melissa Martin:What drew like. Obviously you were surrounded by it growing up, Mm-hmm, I guess what made you not rebel and go in that path? So I guess what drew you to the field? Was it just through your parents pretty much it was their world or was it a different reason that drew you to continue down that field in the environment sector, horticulture, or then going on to more environmental?
Jill Woodlands:studies I think it was a similar age to Vicky Jo or environmental studies Well, I think it was a similar age to Vicky Jo. Well, I think I was 22 in England and thinking the way we did health, I couldn't stand the idea of being inside actually, and my parents had a plant nursery in Sydney and they wanted to go on a long break and because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I said, okay, I'll manage the business while you go, and I think that's something I think is a thread through my life in terms of having a crack at something.
Jill Woodlands:If you're not quite sure, put yourself in it and then I realized how much I loved it and then I went on to study horticulture. So I, as Vicky Jo said earlier, I've never considered myself on a particular career path, but often having a crack and saying yes to opportunities helps, so that it's actually not a linear pathway but different. And actually since I moved to South Australia, most of the work I've been involved in has just been through word of mouth.
Melissa Martin:And how, vicky Jo, do you define success in your field? Oh my goodness.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Impact. So there's definitely some things that I'm incredibly proud of that were just plain effective in securing a biodiversity outcome. Supporting others so increasingly and maybe it was more partnering when I was younger, but now it's more supporting but seeing other people succeed and flourish and go on and have their own impacts, that's a huge sense of pride when that happens, yep.
Melissa Martin:How do you manage because sometimes impact and influence can take a while to see? How do you manage the lack of instant gratification to keep you going?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Well, interestingly, I'm of a generation that's not used to instant gratification, so I don't have that problem as far as some I'm reflecting on the fact that I have two young children yeah, you've got to be patient, far out Empathy that's really the crux. I think being empathetic allows you to have just to take your time and look. I think there'll be some things that I would have influenced, that I'll be dead and I won't know that I've influenced. So you've got to be. You've just got to trust. Trust in the process that you're doing good things with good people for good reasons.
Jill Woodlands:Don't forget, though, the importance of celebrating. You've got to celebrate and I think that's the thing that's really, really important. It doesn't matter how small it is or even just celebrate the crap.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:That's true.
Jill Woodlands:Don't forget you're not trying to have some hero moment. It's really important to just have a chat with people along the way, go out to a pub or a picnic or whatever it is or celebrate the ridiculous, some of the ridiculous things that might happen in Parliament, even.
Melissa Martin:Yeah, yeah and Jill. How do you define success?
Jill Woodlands:Yeah, I was probably all of what Vicky Jo said, but probably, in particular, I think the thing that excites me the most is exciting other people. Yeah, helping people on their journey, I guess, trying to form connections and open doors. Sometimes it's just the little things, the little conversations along the way. It is the most rewarding.
Melissa Martin:Now we're going to jump into our rapid-fire round, which means I'm going to ask each of you ten questions.
Jill Woodlands:Let's look at each other. It feels like hard quiz day.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Without Tom Sark as a winner. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Melissa Martin:I actually tried to. I looked at applying to go on hard quiz, but they covered every topic.
Jill Woodlands:They've covered everything. It's pretty obscure, I'm sure there must be something in there, green Adelaide.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Sure you could have that as a topic, something so specific Barbie dolls from March 1971.
Melissa Martin:Like something very narrow, very narrow.
Jill Woodlands:Feel is really important.
Melissa Martin:I'm going to ask you each ten questions super random about yourself, pretty much this or that. What's your favourite is going to be their kind of questions.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:I'm more nervous about this than any other section and you know we'll go through it.
Melissa Martin:quick Jill definitely does Jill We'll? Go with Jill. All right, Jill First question. All right, jill. First question Do you like spicy cuisine? Yes, would you rather drink tea or coffee? Coffee Are horror movies something you like to watch?
Jill Woodlands:No.
Melissa Martin:Which pizza topping is your go-to?
Jill Woodlands:Not PC ham and pineapple.
Melissa Martin:So that's not your go-to oh sorry that not your go-to.
Jill Woodlands:Oh sorry, that is my go-to.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:She's just expecting, you know disapproval, Disapproval yes, yes, yeah, yeah.
Melissa Martin:What's your favourite thing about your job?
Jill Woodlands:Probably the little kids that come in who come in and they buy a packet of seeds. This is the diggers side and they're desperate to see it grow. The nature festival side, working with Vicky Jo actually.
Melissa Martin:Working with your friends. Yeah, morning or night, morning Netflix or YouTube, youtube. If animals could talk, which one would be the funniest to have a conversation with? Magpie? What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten?
Jill Woodlands:That's tricky Seaweed.
Melissa Martin:What is your hidden talent?
Jill Woodlands:Maybe it's around what I have decided I've started collecting. I like these little matchbox cards from the 1960s and 70s Fascinating, so it's more of a, it's just kind of a weird thing, and the other it's not really a talent. I've just discovered a liking for going to the football. And, yeah, port Adelaide's, port Adelaide.
Melissa Martin:Go Yep Tonight. Yep. Well, by the time this podcast is published, we might be very sad Yep.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Belief, remember going to have belief.
Melissa Martin:Proper power supporter has no belief. I've got my beanie. Actually I do.
Jill Woodlands:Yeah, no belief. That's actually really humbling. That's my hidden talent is recognising the power of football, supporting Port Adelaide and the fact that it's really good not to believe.
Melissa Martin:All right, vicki, that was the last one. Thank you, Jill. Vicki, jo, your turn. What is your favourite month?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:March. I was born in it and I love autumn. I normally this is rapid fire, I must stop talking, but I normally celebrate it in some kind of ceremony. It's a deep month for me.
Melissa Martin:Where did you go on your last holiday?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Proper holiday, new. Zealand. Where did you grow up your last holiday? Proper holiday, new. Zealand. Where did you grow up, adelaide, wyala, america?
Melissa Martin:What time do you usually wake up? In the morning.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:As late as possible. It's normally about quarter past seven, that's not late at all. No, it's not late. I wake up, you know unhappily. Yeah, that's when my life requires that I wake up. If I woke up, naturally it's more around your half past eight, nine o'clock yeah describe your style in one word, dag.
Melissa Martin:what is one thing you regret spending money on?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:I'm quite frugal. Some of the garbage you just buy for your kids, yeah, what dish do you cook best? I do a pretty good spaghetti bolognese.
Melissa Martin:Who is your favourite Disney character? Moana?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Love Moana. I don't care if she's dead or alive in there, I don't mind. There's a lot of theories about whether Moana's actually yes, alive or dead in that character. Oh yes, whether or not she actually goes when she's shipwrecked, whether she actually goes to the other side. That's how she's able to do some of the things that she does. I love Moana. She's such an empower. I know Disney's, you know.
Melissa Martin:I love that you answered that so quickly and confidently. That was great. Yeah she's an extraordinary female character.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:yes, what kind of landscape would you like to live in Near the beach? It's beach or desert Red sands. Either one of those, for me always.
Melissa Martin:And last question what were you afraid of as a child?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Not doing enough with my life, oh gosh. And as a teenager sleep, believe it or not. Yeah, I had to get some therapy for that. Those are the two great fears that I remember quite clearly. I know my poor parents.
Melissa Martin:What about the monsters under your bed? I wasn't worried about that.
Jill Woodlands:I was thinking about the dark, but okay, yeah, it wasn't even dark.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:It was just, yeah, falling asleep terrible. If you have that phobia, please get some help. It does make a big difference to your life. That's here to wrap up a fire round. Thank you. I'm so glad I didn't get some of your questions, jill. I was really struggling to know which ones to answer.
Melissa Martin:Now we're going to jump into the history of the Nature Festival a bit. And first off, how do you describe the Nature Festival to those who haven't heard about it before?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:It's a celebration of our connection to nature and the diverse relationships of that, and it makes complete sense as South Australians. We look after nature. We're South Australians, it's part of what we do.
Melissa Martin:Can you talk us through how the idea came about and that research that went into it before it kicked?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:off Sure. So I will put this under the umbrella of a project called the Nature of SA, which people can still find information on the internet about, and that started with the fact that the biodiversity strategy for South Australia needed to be renewed, and there was a big conversation between government and non-governments about it, to say, well, how well did the last biodiversity strategy work? Did it have the influence that it needed to? And I guess we reflected that it was a great strategy on paper. It didn't have the influence that we wanted. Well, why is that? And who are the main users of this document and what does it need to do to be effective for them?
Melissa Martin:Sorry to backtrack. The biodiversity strategy was a government direction. Yes, correct.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:So it's a five-year strategy that we had in place and very much we talked about this from a co-design point of view. So who are the people that need to reflect on what a biodiversity strategy says? Who needs to provide? You know, what role does it need to do to be effective? So we went out to that sort of group of people and asked them, as users what does it need to do, what needs to be real for this to be effective? And in this conversation, we really unearthed some big things. What year was this Renata? It was really having we were really having deep conversations around 2016. Yep, and so we thought, well, we need to come back and say, well, what do we need to do? That's different to help biodiversity in a changing climate, but also all the associated societal, economic and political change that goes with that.
Melissa Martin:And the idea of the Nature Festival was for one of the shifts or all the shifts, or how does it? All the shifts?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:yeah, so anything about engaging people, first Nations and also I would say that we weren't as aware that this was going to have so much benefit on the sector itself when we first started, but definitely sort of four or five of those shifts, we said, well, all right, how do we make this real? It's great to have a document. Let's actually make this real now. And we, you know, if only we'd known the impact this would have on our lives when we asked ourselves this question. We started by doing some small experiments, taking those, particularly the communication and engaging people, shifts and trying to work with people to showcase different kinds of projects.
Melissa Martin:Sorry. What were the recommendations or ideas in the shifts that I guess helped you go towards the direction of creating an event that was a bit different?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:About to get there.
Melissa Martin:Okay, sure, sure, sure.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:So we sort of tested it at individual projects and they were beautiful, but they didn't have the density or profile to get the attention, to change the narrative. Because that's really what we're about as the Nature Festival, this narrative that most of us love nature, that our lives are intricately woven to the fate of nature, and yet that is not what we talk about in society. So how do we bridge this gap between the citizen and society so that the narrative is hey, of course we take care of nature. That's part of who we are, that's part of being South Australian. So we wanted to have that conversation. We needed to do something to bring it to scale, and that was the point at which we went okay, well, maybe we need to hold all these amongst events at the same time. Well, maybe we need to hold more of them. Well, you know what? Maybe we really need to think about the South Australian psyche here, and South Australians love a festival.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Now, this was the point I was starting to sweat, I'll be honest, because you've heard all the jobs that I do. But it actually made a lot of sense. It's like well, how do we get people beyond the sector to give them permission and invite them into this. And so a festival. It certainly wasn't the scale that it's grown to, but a festival where it was dense. It was one time of the year we could really try and get people to have a think and showcase all these different relationships with nature at once. If we could do that, maybe that would actually allow us to start to have a bigger conversation. But actually, anything is possible. Again, covid showed us that the change some good, some bad, but dramatic scale of change was possible, and whimsy just reminds you that anything is possible, including something wonderful.
Melissa Martin:And we were talking a little bit before we started recording about there's a similar type of festival in New Zealand. Can you talk a little bit about the? Maybe nationally or internationally? Is there anything like the Nature Festival aside from the one in New Zealand, or is it quite like could you look to anyone for advice, kind of thing?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:No, no, you couldn't look to anyone for advice. In fact, we've given advice to some other festivals since.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Yeah to anyone for advice. In fact, we've given advice to some other festivals since, yeah, there was a brief, I think it was two years a nature festival in Victoria which was run by the government and purely showcasing government institutions, so, and they ran at the same time and we definitely connected. Yeah, but no, we are unique. They have stopped that festival was stopped. We're unique in Australia as far as we can tell. We can't. They have stopped that festival has stopped. We're unique in Australia as far as we can tell.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:We can't see anybody else who's got this kind of open access nature connection focus in the world. Now, there might well be one, but we can't find it. The one in Dunedin is focused on wildlife. So, again, it doesn't do some of the things. It doesn't have the same art focus that we have and the sort of diversity of program. A lot of it's curated as well. But it is wonderful and if you're going to New Zealand in April, definitely check it out, because Dunedin has some extraordinary wildlife that they're celebrating down there. So we are unique and we should definitely see ourselves as people to test models for the world.
Jill Woodlands:Yeah, because this Nature Festival is part Adelaide Festival and part Fringe and part. I don't know what sits below that, but it's so. That's quite unique as well. Yeah, having, because curating the arts program which is fabulous you do have a certain control over Curating the, the fringe aspect anything can happen. Anything can happen, which is also very special, and it's also not without risk. But, it's also part of this model of testing.
Melissa Martin:First Nature Festival was held in the year of COVID in 2020. We are now in our fifth year. How have you seen it evolve over the last five years? And obviously, with the different cultural thing, it's changed definitely in the last five years. How have you seen, have you guys seen it evolve? And Vijay's got all the stats. I do, I do have some stats. That's great.
Jill Woodlands:I thought I'd give some stats.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:We're both not numbers, people Jill and I, we're ideas. Ideas exactly, yes, yes and heart, and we both work in plants. So the first festival. So we thought 50, 50 events, what a miracle that would be. Anyway, 183 events we had, and often, with modern recession, in the COVID year, in the COVID year Whoa, I know. So we were as South Australians. Obviously this idea resonated, but we were desperate to get outside and desperate to connect to nature. And then we had 8,000 bookings, which we were thrilled with. Last year we had 31,500 bookings. We had many more people involved who didn't require a booking to attend an event. So I sort of rounded up to 35,000 because we know roughly what some of those events were. So that's extraordinary.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:In five years, 430 different unique events. Again, often these are multiple sessions. So thousands of things you could book into with 230 hosts could book into with 230 hosts. Yep, this year we have 405 events from over 200 different hosts. Seven of those are Green Adelaide events and 240 of those, roughly, are seen in Adelaide and surrounds. We'll see what the numbers are. I mean, it's always really tricky. You sort of hold your breath at this stage because Adelaideans are also classically late ticket bookers and also, you know, the spring holidays is kind of a little difficult in terms of weather as well. So those two things make us hold our breath until the end of the festival. And then we find out that lots and lots of people have connected with our festival.
Jill Woodlands:So let's hope that's the case again, I've still got two or three events to put in, so at least 408 by the end of today.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Keep looking. I definitely recommend that you keep looking, keep looking over the whole festival in fact. Yes, there might be.
Melissa Martin:And what over the last five years? So not necessarily this year coming, but what have you found for yourself was the coolest event or the craziest event that you thought wasn't possible, and we pulled it together. Oh, this was.
Jill Woodlands:I'm going to go with one. I think it was in the program two or three years ago and it was called Moss to Mind. So it was a quiz night based on everything to do with moss. So the but moss in history, moss in, you know, kate Moss, the yeah, but we had Jules Schiller from ABC Radio, who is one of the founders of the Moss Facebook group yeah, and Dr Andrew Thornhill from the State Herbarium, who is also a lover of moss.
Jill Woodlands:So we came together at the Gov and there were at least 200 people. It was such a lot of fun. So there were like a standard quiz night. Every round was themed around moss, and then they also had to make a garden around moss, and then they also had to make a garden, a zen garden based on moss, with all these different things on their table, and then George Schiller went around and looked at them and judged them, and so forth. It was. What I really loved too was that the money raised was to pay for the insurance of the. What's the botanical name of moss? Is it bryophyte?
Jill Woodlands:Bryophyte, so it was the Bryophyte Society Insurance yeah. So it was a wacky idea that actually had a really beneficial outcome, yeah, and it really engaged.
Jill Woodlands:What I really love, too, is we had all these competitive tables because we had our university students and we had TAFE lecturers who almost had the bulldozers out creating their Zen garden and I think the university students had a frog prostitute garden. Can I say that, yeah, it was a come hither garden, yeah, it was quite. And then there was the basic Zen garden and everything in between. But this again was a test Can you take like a tried and true format, like a quiz night. But can you elevate a humble moss? Can you turn it into a fundraiser and the answer is yes.
Melissa Martin:It sold out crowd.
Jill Woodlands:It was a sold out crowd and, yeah, we're testing something along the same lines in this festival.
Melissa Martin:Now we'll move on to this year. Why do you think this is to both of you? Why do you think people should check out the festival this year if they haven't been already to a previous year?
Jill Woodlands:Well, there's actually this year in particular, there's a huge amount of variety. Also, this year we're very conscious of cost of living pressures, so we've actually there's more free events than ever before, because we actually are trying to encourage people to test, come and have a crack, come and have a look, dive into the program. So we've really tried to make it as accessible as ever, and there's some magical events as well. Can I tell you about some of those?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Yeah, please.
Jill Woodlands:So one of those is Park Quiz, which is following on from I nearly said, Hard Quiz, again Monster Mind loosely along the lines of Hard Quiz. Inspired by.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Inspired by, it's the best show If anyone hasn't watched it.
Jill Woodlands:It's a great of.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Hard.
Jill Woodlands:Quiz Inspired by. Inspired by. It's the best show.
Melissa Martin:If anyone hasn't watched it, it's a great show. It is a great show.
Jill Woodlands:Well, and the winner does actually take home a grass mug actually.
Jill Woodlands:That's true, but the story is, the reason we're having Park Quiz is a fabulous community woman, jackie Hunter, who's behind this. She wanted to raise awareness about how important the Adelaide Parklands are to us and also highlight the Parklands Art Prize, and so she had this idea to have kind of a part hard quiz, a part quiz, part hearing a narrative, learning more about the Parklands, and a part absolute ridiculous challenge in creating I'm not allowed to say what it is creating kind of this art piece around all the different parks within the Parklands. So it's at the Gov again. It's on Wednesday, the 9th of October.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:We get excited by very different things in the program, and that's great. You know we'll keep nature being better off. That's our ultimate KPI that nature has to be better off by this festival and that it has to be a true reflection of that diversity. So your next question is going to be what am I looking forward to in the festival? Well, I am going. Obviously, the events that I'll be in will be outstanding. I always look forward to participating, but I'm starting it off with a bang.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:I'm going to the Wombat and the Stars event at Brookfield, which is one of my favourite parks in South Australia, on the first night, on the 28th. Can't wait, Taking my family. We'll see wombats, We'll see stars, We'll get out the night. My husband's an ornithologist so we'll be doing some spotlighting as well. That's going to be just wonderful camping overnight, so that's definitely up there. I'm also going to be kayaking with dolphins. So those are two very wildlife things. And Jill and I are big fans of Nature Poetry Slam. So Poetry Slam is a discipline. You've got two minutes, Anyone can get up and do a poem. It's in the nature theme and then again it's audience judging. They've supported us from the beginning. The events are a hoot.
Melissa Martin:Events for kids to teenagers, different age ranges, kind of events on. So something for everyone there is.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Actually, the Office for Aging Well is one of our partners and they normally co-design some events with us. It's history, nature on the Popeye, so there's a couple of those. A bit of music in there as well, so check those out as well. And where's the best place to go to find out what events on near me? Go to the website. The program on the website so it's wwwnaturefestivalorgau. Backslash events get you straight to the program. Otherwise, go to the homepage. It's very easy to find. There is a tab under program that will allow you to see a map so you can actually and when, or if you open up the full program, you can. Also there's search tabs so you can do it by day, theme, location. So all of the SA tourism regions are listed there, so you can. Yeah, it's pretty easy to find. And then there's kind of a random. So if you've got something else that you just think might be in the program, pop it in the anything tab and see what happens.
Jill Woodlands:Yeah, we've added different filters this year so it's actually much easier to search. So there's a long list from, you know, adventure, garden talks and ideas, et cetera. So we click on each day to see what's happening where. So the program does look fabulous.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:If you're in Adelaide, you're going to struggle not to find something near you with 240 minutes.
Melissa Martin:Yeah, and before I let you guys go, just to finish off quickly what's your career advice to people who maybe want to go into the environment sector or studying environmental something at uni? What would your advice be at the start of your career, of how you navigate it? What's something you wish you knew when you started? I'm going to let Jill start with that.
Jill Woodlands:Well, I'd probably go back to what I'd said earlier. It's not necessarily what I wish I'd known, but it was more probably. The approach is say yes. Yeah, it can be quite intimidating if you're 17, 18, starting out and you've got all these environmental heroes et cetera to crack in, but it is very much about seeking opportunities, join groups, go to talks. You've got to find your rhythm, you've got to find your passion. You might end up going to a whole lot of stuff that you don't like, but I think that's the thing is not just sort of going to lectures or going off to work as a barista and not really working out how to move forward. It's actually saying yes, there's heaps of volunteer opportunities, particularly in the garden. For starters, there's some amazing opportunities at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, at National Trust properties et cetera. But there's lots of ways in bird watching et cetera. And so I say yes, vicky Jo, any advice?
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Yeah. So I think follow, yeah, follow with the passion. Think with your heart and not your mind. It will make sense. Volunteer, volunteer, volunteer we both have a. We still have a huge life of volunteering, which we haven't really talked about today, but it's really important.
Vicki-Jo Russell AM:Yeah, I agree with the reaching out to others. And reach out to others like ourselves who want to support you. We want you to succeed. Now we may look very grumpy that morning because we've got too much on like ourselves, who want to support you. We want you to succeed. Now. We may look very grumpy that morning because we've got too much on and we're human, but at our core we want you to succeed. We are looking forward to what you will do. If we can be any small help to that, we will desperately want to be so. So please do not hesitate to ask for that. Don't see any step as failure either. You might go sideways, you might go backwards, you might actually step out for a while. You might step out completely and help nature another way. That's fine, it's all contributing, it's all impactful, it's all important and you know, remember that you're living a life of purpose and, honestly, there's nothing better than that.
Melissa Martin:Thank you both so much for your time. It's been a pleasure.
Melissa Martin:Thank you. And that brings us to an end of this episode of the Green Adelaide Podcast. Thank you to our guests on this episode talking all about the Nature Festival coming up on the school holidays Vicky Jo Russell and Jill Woodlands, who are the co-founders of the festival. I've added a link to the festival website in the show notes as well as a link to the research which Vicky Jo and Jill talked about on the episode which led to the Nature Festival being born. This podcast was recorded on Kaurna land and I acknowledge and pay my respects to the Kaurna people as the traditional custodians of the land. The Green Adelaide podcast is your insider scoop on all things cool, green and wild in metropolitan South Australia. I'm your host, Melissa Martin. Catch you for our next episode next month. Bye, Thank you.