Gidja Walker OAM has spent more than four decades helping people understand and care for the Mornington Peninsula. An ecologist, ethnobotanist and artist, she brings an extraordinary depth of knowledge and experience to the landscapes she has spent much of her life studying.

She is also a wonderful person to be around. Like an ecological web, she has a way of connecting all the different interactions in nature, showing how even the smallest relationships can be important to the way a landscape functions.

In this episode, we spend time in her garden on the Nepean Peninsula, exploring the coastal Moonah Woodlands and Calcareous Swales that make this part of Melbourne so distinctive. It’s an average-sized house block, but her understanding of nature has transformed it into something much more: functioning habitat for swamp rats, blue-tongued lizards, microbats, birds, insects and an extraordinary diversity of local plants.

Her knowledge is vast, and her mind is incredibly sharp. You can throw a question at her from almost any corner of the natural world and watch her begin making connections. Our conversation moves through geology, ancient Moonah, fungi and orchids, lost fauna, fire, restoration and the wildlife living around us.

Along the way, Gidja draws together history, cultural knowledge, detailed science and personal experience to tell a much bigger story about how landscapes work, how much we still have to learn, and why protecting what remains is so important.

Time with Gidja gives you a sense of just how connected the natural world really is, and how much there is to discover when we take the time to look closely.

https://www.gidjawalker.com.au/

https://filmfreeway.com/Dreamweavers-GidjaWalker

https://www.spiffa.org.au/

https://www.aabr.org.au/portfolio-items/lessons-i-have-learnt-from-calcereous-swale-grasslands/

https://gardensforwildlifevictoria.com/