Cam Wilson

Instructor, Researcher

Cam has a natural ability and passion for integrated ecological design systems, which he has expanded and refined working with a range of experienced mentors in implementation, design and education.

Cam manages the hydration and agroforestry systems on the farm, integrating these systems in ways that benefit the livestock and pasture.

The hydration management includes the maintenance of the Natural Sequence Farming demonstration, implementation of water-harvesting earthworks and Keyline cultivation.

The agroforestry systems include contoured forestry belts, shade and shelter for livestock, revegetation for both habitat and high value furniture timbers along the creek, productive nut crops, fodder and forage, erosion control as well as aesthetic beauty.

This year kicks off a major design and research project focusing on pasture improvement through Keyline cultivation, pasture cropping and planned grazing, supported by contoured forestry belts to provide not only shelter but firewood, polewood, fence posts and high value sawlogs on rotation. Earthworks will reverse gully erosion and turn it into a positive by supporting the trees.

Rous Family

Nicole and Ed met in South Africa many years ago and after returning to Canberra to get married, they moved to Ed’s hometown of Colesberg, South Africa, where together they ran their farm and bed and breakfast. Nicole is a primary school teacher and taught the English Class for 10 years. In 2008 they moved back to Australia to give their children a brighter future. They have been at MCNF since June 2010.

Their three children (all born in Bloemfontein, South Africa) are Eimile age 12 who is loving the opportunity to ride the horses, Connor age 9 who is very proud of his Nguni calf, and Caitlin age 3 who is the boss of the household.

They all contribute to the domestic pleasures such as feeding poddy lambs, milking cows, and we hope they grow up "wanting" to stay on the land because if offers a rich and rewarding future.

Wilson Family

Cam and Jessie with their young children, Yarrow (now 3) and Mairead (1 and a bit!) came to MCNF in January 2010. They have created their home completely off grid with a reed-bed greywater system, solar energy, composting loo and a beautiful, productive garden.

Jessie has worked as a journalist and sub-editor on both Australian and Asian newspapers, was one of the key organisers of the now famous "Permablitz" in Melbourne, and taught Intro to Permaculture courses. In 2007 she returned to Uni to become a midwife.

They have spent significant time overseas working on Permaculture projects in places such as Samoa and Burma, and bring a "multi-cultural" dimension to our community.

Yarrow likes feeding the farm chooks, riding in the excavator, squashing wombat poo with his blue gumboots and is always happy to take anyone on a tour of the vegie garden and explain how the greywater system works.

Mairead likes toddling through the garden foraging for strawberries and tomatoes, and the occasional unfortunate bug!

Toni Dale

As Tony Coote’s life partner, Toni’s primary interest is in supporting Tony's vision as well as helping him to live a successful, balanced and happy life.

Fortunately for The Mulloon Institute, she has had a long and successful career in hospitality and inspires and directs the team to create events of the highest possible standard.

Over the course of her professional career she was one of the first women allowed the position of selling household electrical appliances (believe it or not, once upon a time it was seen as a man's job) then, starting with limited financial resources and two young children to care for, Toni set out to achieve success. Toni owned and managed a country retreat, conference centre and boutique hotel, "The Carrington of Bungendore". She has been very involved in a number of boards and appointments in relation to the tourism industry, including the chair of The Canberra Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Her sharp intellect, along with impeccable taste and attention to detail, has ensured success in all she does as she contributes to the leadership of our team. This is visible on the farm in the architecture, tree plantings and garden areas that she has been instrumental in helping to create, along with development of policy.

Toni’s love of good food, good friends (and good times) help keep us all nourished, in many ways!

Dr. Michael Wilson

Science Manager, Sustainable Rivers Audit, MDBA

Michael has a PhD in science and has studied and supervised study of the behaviour and affect of willows in streams and rivers in Australia. He has been involved with MCNF through his review of Peter Andrew’s work in the repair of the incision of The Mulloon Creek and has contributed to knowledge about the contribution of willows to the accelerated repair of degraded stream systems.

Donna Spillman

Donna has lived at MCNF since 2005. She has been involved in the establishment of The Mulloon Institute from the beginning, and continues to help drive its development. Her primary role is as a support to Tony, to help him make his vision a reality, and to Toni, to help entertain the multitude of interested and interesting visitors we have. She also handles most of our marketing material and is the main interface between the farm and our customers, as well as between Tony and Toni and the rest of the team. She has a diverse and practical background in hospitality management, alternative health education and life coaching, and has a special interest in the developing community and our social sustainability.

She and Toni also manage the events we hold on the farm. Along with the educational courses and field days that are so important, they take great joy in holding social events and concerts that bring a little more entertainment into the lives of all who live here, and in the surrounding community. “It’s not only people’s bellies that need nourishing … it’s also their hearts and minds!”

And for fun … loves exploring the property on long bush walks, milking the cow, separating the cream, harvesting and preserving fruit and veg, incubating the chickens and all of the other activities of self sufficiency that allow her to be outside and interacting with nature.

Dr. Walter Jehne

Director, Healthy Soils Australia

Walter Jehne is a retired scientist with a specialist background in soil microbiology and plant ecology and has worked in Australia and overseas including for CSIRO. He is very interested in catalysing urgent regional action by local communities and land managers to practically and profitably create on farm microclimates to offset warming and restore rainfalls and to draw down carbon from past emissions safely into our soils and ensure opportunities and stability for all.

Mark & Julia

Mark and Julia came to the farm in March 2005. After totally re-landscaping the garden at their home in Canberra, they decided to do it for a living. Having spent a few years in Northern NSW, fate brought them back south to MCNF where Mark is the gardener and Julia the housekeeper.

MCNF being a biodynamic farm was initially daunting, but was soon embraced by them both under the wonderful teachings of Lynette West.

The farm has grown considerably since 2005 and they look forward to many more happy years living and working within such a rewarding environment.

Sue Ogilvy

Strategy and Research

Sue has spent the 20 years of her career building skills and experience in Sales and Marketing in the IT industry on top of an undergraduate degree in Physics. She has now moved to Mulloon Creek Natural Farms to assist Tony Coote and the team to develop, demonstrate and disseminate knowledge to build natural capital and resilience in our landscape – for the benefit of future generations. 

Her role in The Mulloon Institute is mainly on development and execution of the strategy to achieve Tony’s vision and coordination of the on-farm research program. She enjoys the opportunity to work closely with her husband Danny, learn something new every day and hopes that this work will help future generations to thrive.  

Danny O'Brien

CEO, The Mulloon Institute

After spending 21 years in the IT industry working for Hewlett-Packard in both technical and business roles, in 2010 Danny moved to Mulloon Creek Natural Farms to lead the establishment of The Mulloon Institute along with his wife, Sue Ogilvy (Strategy and Research). The change of career was driven by a deep concern about the state of food security in light of the challenges of climate change and peak resources, and the new role provides him an opportunity to be closely involved in finding solutions to such threats to our future.

In addition to his role as CEO for The Mulloon Institute, Danny plays an active part in daily life on the farm – whether that is feeding and milking the dairy cow, helping to weed the veggie patch, processing animals for local consumption, or making cheese (he’s the “Cheese Executive Officer” too!). All these activities go towards building a deeper understanding of what it really takes to provide a healthy and abundant food supply for the community on the farm.

Dr. John Field

Senior Lecturer Fenner School of Environment & Society ANU

John has been involved with MCNF for over 20 years through his and his students’ interest in agriculture and forestry and the critical relationship that exists between plants (trees) and soil. He shares our interest in the utilisation of trees in agricultural and forest land management and in the "intangible values" of privately owned forestry and farm forestry including environmental services, capital value of land and aesthetic values.

Ed Rous

Farm Manager

Ed grew up on a horse stud and stock farm in Colesberg in the Karoo in South Africa. He has a Bachelor of Agriculture from the University of The Orange Free State in Bloemfontein majoring in Animal Husbandry and Pasture Science. His early career was spent working as a Safari guide and conducting photographic tours in Southern Africa as well as assisting his veterinary father on the farm at home. After his father died, Ed ran his own farm in the Karoo for 17 years, producing Dorper and Damara sheep and building up a stud of Nguni cattle and Indigenous goats.

When the farm was purchased by the ANC, he took the opportunity to immigrate to Australia with his Australian wife, a Canberra girl, and their 3 beautiful children. Ed and his family are still excited by the opportunity to make Australia their home and assist Tony to make his vision for MI and MCNF a reality.

Professor John Crawford

Chair of Sustainable Agriculture, Sydney University

John Crawford was awarded the prestigious Judith and David Coffey Chair in Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Sydney in 2008. He holds a BSc in Physics from the University and Glasgow and a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics from the University of London. He has published more than 100 papers in international peer-reviewed journal articles with over 1700 citations.

He is fascinated by the fact that we do not understand the natural systems that support terrestrial life, but that we take them for granted. Food and water are the basic human requirements yet upward trends in consumption are at odds with declining capacity for supply. There is good evidence that we have about 20 years to adopt more sustainable approaches or face an unprecedented global scale crisis. Now focusing on systems approaches to agriculture he is studying the integrated behaviour of the soil-microbe system and has shown that the interaction between biological and physical components results in the system behaving like a single self-organising ‘biomaterial’.

Jacko Coote

Born in the back of a horse float around 1999, Jacko was the son of a Jack Russell Dad and Poodle/Jack Russell X Mum, that’s why he’s so good looking AND so smart. Jacko developed his management skills by attending meetings (under the table), eavesdropping on important discussions (in the back seat of the car), and generally just hanging out with his clever human dad (Tony Coote). Like his dad, he loved it when they moved onto the farm full time and gave up the weekly commute from Sydney. It was then that Jacko took a keen interest in bossing the farm animals around and found that he was quite good at it. He is a kind leader, ‘though he learnt the hard way from lots of pecks, scratches and nips from his subordinates.

He’s feeling a little less energetic than he used to, and often opts for doing his farm supervision by car (front seat of course), and has learnt the art of delegation i.e. get the humans to do all the hard work. He still enjoys answering human enquiries via the website and he takes it very seriously. Typing still poses a problem because his paws are too fat for the keyboard, but because of his seniority, he has a D.A (Dogs assistant) to do his menial work.

He responds well to bribes … anything edible will do.

Jim Guilfoyle

Jim first came to Mulloon Creek with his wife Fiona in 1974, when Jim became the farm manager for the original holding which at the time was jointly owned by Tony Coote and his sister Margaret Allsopp. Over the next 24 years Jim worked with Tony and Margaret to expand the original holding at MCNF to include the management of a number of other properties in the area. During that time Jim and Fiona raised two farmers to be, sons David and Don, who revelled in growing up on the farm.

In 1988 Jim formed his own farm management business and took on the role of farm management consultant across a range of farms in the region, managing both the MCNF farms as well as farms for other land holders.

Jim left MCNF in 1997 to take on the role of General Manager and Director for Romani Pastoral Co., and was responsible for overseeing 250,000 acres of property ranging from the Liverpool Plains to the Riverina.

In a neat reflection of the cycles of nature, Jim and Fiona returned to MCNF in 2009 to help Tony implement his vision for The Mulloon Institute. Jim now splits his time between running his own property near Gunning, spending time with his grandchildren, and sharing his experience and knowledge with the extended family and partners of The Mulloon Institute.

Professor Stephen Dovers

Director Fenner School of Environment & Society ANU

Steve has degrees in ecology and geography and a PhD in environmental policy and in addition to undergraduate teaching, supervises research in theoretical and policy dimensions of sustainability, institutional arrangements for resource management, science-policy linkages, climate change adaptation, and Australian environmental history.

Antony Coote AM

Founder

Tony Coote is the founder of The Mulloon Institute. Both sides of his ancestry, going back in Australia to 1840, combined farming and grazing with entrepreneurial business. Tony has continued that tradition of building business that create surplus and capital for the benefit of all stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, the community and government) as well as building natural capital that restores the function of the landscape such that it is resilient and capable of delivering surplus to current and future generations.

He started his working career as a “jackaroo” on farms, then completed a BSc in Boston USA, and later an MBA at the University of NSW in Sydney. He had a long career in the publicly listed Angus & Coote (Holdings) Ltd, whose core business was jewelry manufacturing and retailing with 2500 staff and 350 stores, mainly in Australia. He was the Executive Chairman for some years until the family sold its controlling interest in 2007.

Tony also served as President of the Australian Retailers Association and the Federation of Asian Retailers Association. He was on the board of financial services company ING Australia for 20 years.

He was honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia in 1988 for services to industry and the community.

His life long love of the land and nature led him to buy a small farm holding with his sister in 1968. Over the years, as it became available, he gradually purchased adjoining land to build the total land holding to its current 5700 acres. The Mulloon Institute will ensure that the restorative work that is being carried out on Mulloon Creek Natural Farms goes on, to be of benefit to future generations.