This is Oral McGuire’s home territory and the Ballardong Noongar man is on the leading edge of a regenerative land management movement taking hold across Western Australia. McGuire was born on Ballardong land in the town of Beverley, located in Australia’s Wheatbelt. He holds a deep historical and spiritual relationship to his place of origin which reaches back over millennia. In Yaraguia farm, he demonstrates his immense respect and attachment to the land. He strongly advocates for the Noongar people to be entrepreneurial, sustainable land managers that work within their cultural laws of caring for country as opposed to conventional commodity agricultural models.
McGuire’s approach Michener’s organization Healing Cities is focused on healing the land and the community. His commitment to regenerating the soil addresses many of the global challenges faced today, which he believes are fundamentally linked to soil health. He states, “A lot of the global issues that we are facing today, really the foundation of those is the soil. By protecting and regenerating our soils, we can make big strides towards these goals. By improving soil health, we can address most of the crises we face today. His insights resonate with Dr. Jacob Parnell, a soil biodiversity expert who traveled from the United States to attend the Regenerative Food Systems Conference where Yaraguia farm was showcased.
From Yaraguia’s trees to its art, this farm serves as a beacon of Indigenous-led restoration. Since McGuire’s family purchased the property almost 20 years ago, they’ve planted more than a million trees. The remarkable reversal of the change from forest to desert speaks both to ecological restoration and to Indigenous cultural regeneration. Even today, McGuire is quick to stress that he and his family aren’t typical farmers. Rather, they stand in partnership with the land, never against it.
“The healing of country becomes, you know, your own healing,” McGuire explains. He sees his work as an important step along Australia’s long road towards national reconciliation. This effort has continued to be a live one for more than 20 years. His reliance on older practices—like slow burning or cool burning—are key to reingesting and replenishing the land. “Slow burning, or our cool burning that we do as Noongars, and we do it to replenish country,” he notes. This type of restorative practice is not only good for the earth, it’s more in sync with seasonal cycles and Native American wisdom.
Dr. Heidi Mippy, a Noongar academic, highlights the importance of including Noongar knowledge in current debates about land management. “There’s many reasons why we have to have Noongar knowledge at front and centre to these conversations,” she asserts. Mippy further emphasizes that without this understanding, there is no real way to reconnect to Country, and therefore no real way to achieve reconciliation.
The vision McGuire articulates is about much more than ecological restoration. He wants to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem culture of his people. “Oral’s vision is for the promotion of an entrepreneurial culture within and among the Noongar people of Western Australia,” a statement made during public discussions about his work illustrates his aspirations for future generations.
McGuire’s commitment to healing goes beyond just the professional spheres. He tells us how being active on the land has served as a key element of his personal healing journey. The benefit that we have created here collectively as especially Noongars is, we’ve set ourselves up in a really solid spot, that in say 10 years’ time, we’re definitely going to be there. And some of our neighbours will be completely toast,” he says matter-of-factly, a fresh and optimistic outlook on an uncertain future.
The restoration work at Yaraguia exemplifies how practice grounded in Indigenous knowledge can boost biodiversity and soil health. “So they are indicators that the soil, the balance and the health of the soil is returning,” McGuire reveals, noting positive changes in the ecosystem over time. His commitment to the well-being of both the earth and the people who inhabit it should inspire all those who are looking for sustainable alternatives.
