I still have vivid memories of when I was nine, perhaps ten, being with my father as he travelled to some of the fantastic landscapes of northeast Victoria in Australia. Travelling, learning about the landscapes and listening to discussions with people about their work, landscapes, communities and hopes for the future made a big impression. I didn’t realise the significance of this until later in my life.

But the significance did emerge – through university studies, my professional work, teaching in various universities and being ‘out there’. I’ve been fortunate to have understood more about rural landscapes and the people who live in them – mostly from those who live in them.

This combined with being a walker, cyclist, canoeist and camper for a long time – long enough to remember the pain of walking with external frame rucksacks.  When I first discovered hiking (bushwalking, tramping, trekking) I embraced the maps and the ideas of getting from Point A to Point B. I’d walk, camp, walk again to the next point and repeat. I was walking through amazing landscapes and layering sights, sounds and smells of the mountains, forests, national parks and world heritage areas I’d visit.

“By being in a landscape, we have conversations with these spaces that are shaped by human activity and also with the people who have been shaped by these landscapes.

As my conversations with communities and their landscapes occurred around the world, I began to focus on the ways landscapes get protected and the benefits and the costs this can have for communities. This  might be what a government department does, what a community does, what an NGO does or what we do as travellers. As I understood more about this, our own roles came into sharper focus and I began to ask myself one really important question: How can we engage with landscapes and communities, so that we understand more about landscapes, communities and our roles in sustaining both? This led to another really important question:  How are we able to contribute to protecting landscapes and supporting their communities through our actions? My attempts at trying to resolve these questions in my professional life and, indeed, in my own travels have led very specifically to LST.

Come and join me. You can get in touch/stay in touch via the links below.