ACTIVATE THE WHEATBELT 2021 - GABBIN

Activate the Wheatbelt is extremely excited to announce our return to Gabbin for our SEVENTH consecutive year and our biggest year yet!

Join us on the weekend of July 2nd to July 4th to help us plant a record 85,000 native seedlings to rejuvenate degraded farmland in the Wheatbelt. This fun-filled weekend will consist of tree planting, live music and DJs, dancing, workshops, kids activities, community connection and education.

This is a drug free and family friendly event open to all ages, where everyone is welcome to come and help us restore habitat & biodiversity and reconnect to the bush landscape!

WHAT TO EXPECT AT THE EVENT

At the event we will be hard at work planting trees during the day, with the motivation of DJ's and musicians to inspire us along in the field. At night things really come to life with a diverse range of musical acts to listen and dance to. All organic meals are provided while you enjoy serenity under the stars and warmth by the bonfire. You will be encouraged to have some great conversations, play some music if you’re inclined, and make friends with like-minded people. This is a community effort where everyone is included and part of the Activate the Wheatbelt team.

Through the spirit of celebration and the physical planting of the trees themselves, Activate the Wheatbelt events get you back in touch with Mother Nature. We aim to encourage a hardworking and ethical community of people that support our environmental and societal causes. This is an opportunity to help repair our environment whilst meeting new friends and experiencing some of the rawest West Australian Bush festivals brought to you by members of the legendary Activate team.

TICKETING

Price (including all fees) includes:

• Tree planting equipment

• Delicious organic, ethical and low waste food, made from scratch with love over the whole weekend (morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner). Produce is generously donated by local businesses and farms and prepared by the famous Activate Kitchen Witches. Vegetarian and Vegan options are always available 

• Optional bus transport from Fremantle to Gabbin and return

• Workshops with environmental specialists and Noongar Elders Viv and Mort Hansen

• Children’s activities by Eco Action, Yoga with Shelley and many impromptu workshops

• Music in the field

• Evening entertainment featuring live painting, DJ sets, live music, & jam sessions 

• Campsites with showers, toilets and plenty of space to spread out

At these annual events we aim to continue to plant trees and protect our environment and the species that live in it while growing our hard working and ethical thinking community of people. We also wish to encourage community based and environmentally friendly thinking with a direct-action orientated approach by connecting people who care and who relish putting their hands to work.

The Eastern Wheatbelt landscape where this planting will take place is largely cleared and prone to wind erosion. We will contribute to fixing a badly eroded area of the Lake McDermott catchment to prevent excess sediment and nutrient runoff. This is an initial part of a larger Coopers Creek restoration project which aims to rehabilitate the watercourse landscape by managing runoff through earthwork swales and mass plantings.

For the second time in a row, we are collaborating with Hugh and Dee Morgan on their regenerative farm to plant native trees to provide much needed habitat and shelter for native wildlife, which will naturally benefit the livestock as well. 

In many areas, Hugh and Dee Morgan’s farm is exposed and sandy, high in the landscape topography, and is desperately in need of vegetation cover to prevent further wind-erosion and loss of top soil. Hugh & Dee continue transitioning into Regenerative Agricultural practices on their farm and Activate’s planting will assist with this. We will plant 25,000 mixed native species and 50,000 saltbush seedlings on the same site. Planting saltbush in between the native trees will help to lower the watertable, reduce evaporation and rain runoff. Saltbush grows happily on saline soil, lowers water tables and make productive use of saline land. It will also provide a native grazing opportunity and both the native trees and the saltbush will assist in pulling carbon from the atmosphere into the ground and the plants themselves.

The Trillion Trees Community Gift Fund is very generously providing  25,000 mixed native species to plant on Hugh Morgan’s farm in Gabbin.

Furthermore we are also the lucky recipients of a WA State Natural Resource Management Community Stewardship Grant. This grant will allow us to plant an additional 10,000 biodiverse mix of native species in nearby Koorda, on the land of aspiring regenerative farmers Megan and Matt Brooks. Findaway farmers Matt and Megan are first generation pioneer farmers who aspire to create an holistic rotational grazing and biodiverse farming system on their Koorda property, directly adjacent to the Koorda town reserve. Their farm property is mostly sandy wodjil soils and the remnant bushland has been overgrazed and is in a state of decline. Developing a fenced biodiverse wildlife corridor between the Shire nature reserve and neighbouring bushland will enhance wildlife habitat and movement, increase groundcover, manage stormwater and reduce wind erosion. Matt and Megan hope to create a demonstration farm for the region, based on holistic management principles. This will be our second day of planting and dancing.

Please meet us from 4.00 pm onwards on Friday 4 June at Gabbin Hall, Brindle Street, Gabbin, WA 6476.

If possible, try to arrive before dark on Friday. If you plan to arrive on Saturday, please inform us, do your best to arrive early so you don't miss out on instructions, inductions, on the morning music and he fun !

Directions

Please make sure you have a map and copied the instructions before leaving home. Phone reception is poor on on the way and at the farm. (Do not rely on google maps, the road suggested is longer)

• Take Roe Highway to the Great Eastern Highway turn-off in Midland. 

• Take the Great Eastern Highway towards Kalgoorlie for 80km to Northam (route 94). 

• Take the turn off for Goomalling from the highway (you don’t need to go into Northam). 

• Travel to Goomalling for 42km on the Northam-Pithara Road (route 115). 

• At Goomalling continue on same route to Dowerin (24km) on the Goomalling-Wyalkatchem Road. 

• At Dowerin continue on the same road to Wyalkatchem (30km). 

• At Wyalkatchem go through town and turn left onto Honour Road to Koorda (30km) on the Wyalkatchem-Koorda Road. 

• At Koorda go through town and take a right toward Bencubbin on the Koorda-Bullfinch Road. 

• After 16.5km turn left onto the Gabbin-Trayning Road towards Gabbin.

• After 6.5km you will reach Gabbin Hall in Gabbin town. 

In brief: Midland – Northam (or Toodyay) – Goomalling – Dowerin – Wyalkatchem – Koorda – Gabbin (245km).

• Bedding, camping mattress, sleeping bags/swags/pillows/rugs.

• Tent.

• Warm, dry, extra clothing, and a rain jacket.

• Boots/closed in shoes to plant in and gum boots, the planting site is very muddy.

• Hot water bottle (we have a dry space and fires outside, but it can get pretty cold at night)

• Your own cup/plate/bowl/spoon/knife/fork. You will need to bring them in the field with you for lunch too.

• 5L of drinking water

• Water bottle

• Snacks

• Toiletries, towel.

• Medications

• Hat, sun cream, lip balm.

• Bug repellent.

• Torch

• Musical Instruments if you would like to participate in the music.

• Yoga mat and a blanket (to be conducted outdoors at sunrise)

• Great energy!

• Please do not bring your dog or other animals to this event.

We will endeavor to keep as close to the schedule as possible although the nature of our events are organic and may see changes happen without notice. We have plenty of surprises in store for you too!

FRIDAY

• 16.00-20.00: Arrival on site / tents set up

• 19.00: (onwards) light supper

• 20.00: Opening Ceremony / Welcome to Country / Introductions and volunteers’ briefings

SATURDAY

• 7.00: Yoga

• 8.00: Breakfast

• 8.00-9.00: Departure to planting site

• In the field: OHS / Tree planting induction / equipment distribution.

• 9.00 to 17.00: Tree planting on site

• c. 10.30: Morning Tea

• c. 12.30: Lunch

• c. 15.00: Afternoon Tea / Kids Activities (back at the hall)

• c. 17.00: Return to Gabbin hall

• 19.00: Dinner

• Celebrations, evening entertainment and live music

SUNDAY

• 7.00: Yoga

• 8.00: Breakfast

• 9.00: Group Photo

• 9.15: Departure to planting site

• 9.30-13.00: Tree planting on site

• c. 10.30: Morning Tea

• c. 13.00: Lunch

• c. 14.00: Return to Gabbin Hall

• 15.00: Clean up / Pack up

• Closing Ceremony

Please don’t rush straight home. As a volunteer run, community event, we would LOVE you to help contribute to pack up (and not miss the closing ceremony)

Meet some of our Activate crew and our partner farmer Hugh Morgan in the following video, by Jane Hammond, Gabbin 2020.