Listen to the Land

Listen to the Land is the story of pastoralists in the Willandra Lakes Region World Heritage Area. It tells of their struggle to understand World Heritage and the many years they waited to see what would happen to their pastoral properties.

It is a forgotten episode in the history of the region and in the history of World Heritage.The 20 pastoralists lived through a lot over that period, but they also had a big impact upon the World Heritage process as it is practiced in Australia.

The episode serves as a lesson for stakeholders, policy makers and governments about the broad-scale impact of rushed decisions made without a thorough stakeholder engagement process.

Listen to the Land is very different to other government reports—it is a story. There are not policy recommendations or facts and figures to be found in this report.

Communities, like the Willandra, are often drawn together for a shared love of place and a way of life. People remember life’s moments as a series of episodes that they recount as stories. Today, the oral tradition of communicating stories with our neighbours and friends continues to flourish in spite of a rapidly changing technological world.

Compiling and recounting stories also has a value to help the Willandra region reflect on its past and prepare for the future. Most apparent in this story is that listening to the community was a fundamental part of finally achieving positive outcomes for the region.