The Peter Andrews Story

Born in 1940 on his parent's sheep property on the Wilcannia Road just out of Broken Hill, Peter has lived his whole life affected by the droughts and floods in the Australian country.

As a child he noticed their Broken Hill property was, in certain areas, littered with sea shells. Strange when you think this was a thousand miles from the sea! It showed him that the environment had obviously gone through many huge natural changes.

Over the years, this sparked his attention to look deeper into why Australia was falling into disrepair whilst man was doing everything he knew to stop it.

As a young man he left Broken Hill in the hands of his brother and bought a horse stud property in Gawler, just out of Adelaide. Whilst studying this very different environment to Broken Hill, he noticed that certain fundamentals seemed to be the same.

After a few years he decided to follow this path further and bought a run down, environmentally bankrupt property in the Upper Hunter River Valley.

Over a hundred years before this property had been a shining jewel. It was the first horse stud property in Australia and its site was chosen because it was the 'most beautiful and most productive land' around. Historic journals of the time attest to this.

Still, when Peter bought it, it was a wreck! The creeks had been redirected away from their natural path, the land erosion and salinity was nearly at a 'no return' status.

Whilst operating his thoroughbred horse stud 'Tarwyn Park', he decided to see what fundamentals were the same as the desert of Broken Hill and the lush pastures of Gawler.

Just as he thought, the natural cycle appeared to be the same.

Over the next 20 odd years, he became more passionate about finding what caused these environmental problems in the first place and how to turn them around, using natures own methods.

That sentence doesn't sound too much of a challenge, however in reality it takes a complete 'mindset' change to be able to even comprehend the basics of what he has found.

The difference in what man has done and in fact is still doing to the Australian country and what has to be done, cannot be understood using the same theories that are currently taught and accepted by scientists. It requires a paradigm shift in thinking.

Around 10 years ago, after repeated practical research under various natural conditions, he decided he had proved his theories enough to invite government and university scientists to test them.

Many came and most were amazed with what they saw and experienced. The ones that were able to 'think outside the square' became passionate supporters, whilst those caught in the 'this not what I was taught' syndrome became skeptics. They would come up with scenarios such as, 'it worked there but wouldn't anywhere else', or 'he must be doing something without telling us'.

In 1997 was able to put into place a legal R&D project with the Macquarie Bank and some corporate entities whose gain was taxation benefits. The 2 years of the project was well documented however the 'self interests' of many individuals, corporations and academics involved overtook the actualities of the research. The results and those behind them are still not free from civil or criminal investigation.

Some of the leading CSIRO scientists as well as several extremely highly acclaimed and respected professors and scientists from both here and overseas have now rallied behind him and work is well underway to use his theories in repairing our erosion, salinity and water problems.

Some of Australia's most prominent corporate identities are also behind Peter and are putting into place, legal entities to oversee the implementation of the 'Natural Sequence Farming' practice.

For example, Gerry Harvey of Harvey Norman fame, has had Peter totally reconstruct parts of his his multi million dollar horse stud property.

The results are nothing short of astonishing! The improvements have added so much to the dollar resale value of the property, let alone the productivity and sustainability of its resources.

Today, he continues to fight the bureaucracies holding back his theories and is insistent that one day his theories will help turn the Australian landscape back to what it was before Europeans came here.

______ * ______

Over the years Peter has been acclaimed as a genius in articles in the print media, radio and television. Some of them are..

Press mass media and financial papers.
News Ltd
Packer Media
Independent press

TV and Radio
ABC Radio and TV, Networks, 7, 9 and 10 and radio stations across Australia.

If you want more information about these reviews.. Go to the libraries and search for 'Peter Andrews' and 'Tarwyn Park'

.The following poem was found at this Poetry Forum

A TRUE AUSTRALIAN.

His name is Peter Andrews,he appeared on 'Australian Story'
A man who for thirty years wasn't seeking fame and glory,
All he wanted was recognition in the work he'd undertaken
To save the lifeblood of this land,which without,is godforsaken!

Is there anything more precious, as our history cruelly shows
Where repeated drought has always dealt the most savage crippling blows
And here was a man with answers, who was driven to chronic despair
Personal and financial, for daring to think outside the square.

His ideas, somewhat radical went against the status quo
The experts, the authorities, his theories they didn't want to know,
But he was a man of passion, and quitting was never a thought
And for year after year with tenacity, all obstacles he fought.

Mad! he was called by those, who found it so alarming
When he had the affront to show them 'natural sequence farming'
A system of slowing the water as it flows over the earth
That utilises to the utmost, the value of waters worth.

No crackpot ideas nor rain dances, or rods of divinity
A paradox though it well could be, that deals with salinity,
And restores earth to fertile soil, with all benefits related
And 'pudding proof' is on the farms where wetlands he has created.

Stubborn perseverance, albeit at great personal expense
Finally brought him backing, and support in his defence,
And hopefully the bureaucrats will follow it up, post haste
So this 'true Ausralians' vision, is not laid to barren waste!

And of national importance, is there anything more urgent
Than to make this fragile land, environmentally resurgent,
Here, a debt is owed to a man, who overcame despotic red tape
A resolute man, whose heart is at one, with Australian landscape!

© Ron Boughton. July 20000