The conference brought together a wide variety of people with different backgrounds and concerns including artists, scientists, community development workers, funding representatives, academics, teachers and planters. There were many people wearing multiple hats – such as Stephen Routledge, a photographer who runs his local Landcare group as well as harvesting his own chestnut tree crop.

To give you an idea of some of the personalities seated around the rather formal conference table there was Marco the Director of an international contemporary art space in the small dusty town of Kellerberrin, W.A, Peter Pollard a scientists who managed to enthuse everyone with his passion for micro-organisms, David Curtis who had recently completed a PHD on how art influences attitudes and values.

Day One was a deluge of information and text. There were seven programmed papers:

1. Lyndal Jones, the Avoca project