174. The Ambassador

Wendy Albert’s permaculture paradise, systemic regeneration & legendary Kimberley life

Join us on an insightful journey with Kimberley legend Wendy Albert, a woman who's lived an extraordinary life, challenging the status quo and advocating for sustainable living. From her early years growing up on a farm in Victoria, to joining Mother Teresa's sisterhood in India, Wendy's experiences have shaped her into a fierce advocate for food security and sustainable agriculture in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and beyond.

“Kids are getting up to mischief half the time because they’re starving and it’s making them crazy. If they’re getting good food, they won’t be crazy. ”

— Wendy Albert

Join us on an insightful journey with Kimberley legend Wendy Albert, a woman who's lived an extraordinary life, challenging the status quo and advocating for sustainable living. From her early years growing up on a farm, to joining Mother Teresa's sisterhood, Wendy's experiences have shaped her into a fierce advocate for food security and sustainable agriculture in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and beyond.

Wendy is the owner/manager of Kimberley Cottages, and Windjana Wellness and Sustainability Services. And this is where we are blessed to be based when we’re up this way - rained upon daily by tropical fruit, veg and herbs. And inspired by this septuagenarian great grandmother enabling it all. In some ways, she’s still just gearing up, and continuing to invite others in to make more of the running on the foundations laid. But how all this came to be, is another story. Well, many!

Wendy’s ultimate migration to the Kimberley came after a chance meeting in Central Australia with the late great musician and actor Stephen ‘Baamba’ Albert. Eulogised as the ‘Patron Saint of Broome’, Stephen was a co-creator of iconic theatre and film productions like Bran Nue Dae.

All the while, Wendy herself was continuing to blaze other trails in Broome, and later here - from the phenomenal Kimberley Bookshop and Magabala Books, to a pivotal Royal Commission, and on to the transformation of a landscape towards health-centered food systems over profit-driven ones. On that, we hear how the former can have enormous effects on youth crime epidemics too, and a cautionary tone on new slogans like 'green ammonia'.

Join us at Wendy's place, on a beautiful sunny morning amidst this season’s tropical bounty.

Head here for automatic cues to chapter markers (also available on the embedded player above), and a transcript of this conversation (please note the transcript is AI generated and imperfect, but hopefully serves to provide greater access to these conversations for those who need or like to read).

Recorded at Wendy’s place, Kimberley Cottages and Windjana Wellness, on 20 July 2023.

Click on the photos below to zoom in, and hover over them to see captions where added (all photos by Anthony James unless noted).

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