Lynette Vint
Farmers need WWOOFers: Now more than ever..
40 years ago, the dream of WWOOF Australia was born. Founder Lionel Pollard is one of those special individuals who never leaves your mind after that first interaction. We visited the now 84-year-old Lionel at his home in South East Victoria, and he was as sharp as ever. It was an honor and a privilege and a day I will keep in my heart forever. The beginning: Lionel’s interests started in alternative rural
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BioLogical || a journal for change
communities and alternative power sources. Still living in Boronia Victoria at this time of his life, Lionel’s dream was to own land and live a sustainable lifestyle with his wife Valerie and family. He had many subscriptions to various groups and societies across Australia, from Organic gardening communities, alternative communities, spiritual communities, and he had at that time a yearly
subscription to the Tasmania Organic Farming Society. In late 1980 Lionel read a story about an English girl who had already WWOOFed back home in England. She was extremely disappointed to learn on a visit to Australia that there was no WWOOFing organization here, and Lionel could not let that go. He called the Editor and told them yes, there now was one, and hence on that day WWOOF Australia was born.
