When SBS journalist Christopher Tan visited Yaraguia Farm, he didn’t just find a property - he found a story of healing, heritage, and hope.
His feature, aired nationally on SBS World News, shone a light on how Ballardong Noongar man and Noongar Land Enterprise Group (NLE) vice chairperson Oral McGuire is restoring both Country and community through cultural land management.
From the air, Yaraguia looks like a patchwork of green regrowth and ancient red soil.
But as Mr Tan reported, it represents far more than that - it’s “a movement to heal Country and community.”
Located in the heart of Western Australia’s Wheatbelt, Yaraguia carries the deep scars of 170 years of clearing, cropping and overgrazing.
When Mr McGuire and his family began restoring the land in 2008, it was exhausted and lifeless.
Yet where others might have seen damage, they saw potential.
“For 170 odd years, this land, and the whole landscape through this region, has suffered abuse from settlement and colonisation,” Mr McGuire said.
Guided by Noongar cultural law and regenerative practice, Mr McGuire’s vision has been to let the land heal itself.
Controlled burns are carried out at the right time of year to recharge the soil and reawaken ecological balance.
“We do it to replenish Country,” Mr McGuire said.
“Kambarang, the season we’re in now in September, is the right season for us to be doing it.”
That cultural understanding of fire, water, and native vegetation is central to the farm’s transformation.
More than one million native trees and shrubs have been planted across the property.
Bush tucker species like wattle seed and bush honey now thrive where bare paddocks once stood.
For Mr McGuire, every returning plant is a sign the soil is recovering, and culture is too.
“They’re indicators that the balance and health of the soil is returning because they haven’t been here,” he said.
The success of Yaraguia Farm was recognised nationally at the Regenerative Food Systems Conference in Perth on September 17–18, where it was showcased as a model of Indigenous-led land management.
Mr McGuire shared the story of Yaraguia alongside farmers, researchers and global experts, demonstrating how traditional knowledge can coexist and collaborate with modern science.
Soil health expert Dr Jacob Purnell, who travelled from the United States to attend, told SBS that Indigenous knowledge must be a cornerstone of regenerative agriculture.
“Indigenous people were farming for thousands of years,” Dr Purnell said.
“We need to go back to understand what they were doing that was right, and how they interacted with the soil.”
For NLE, Mr McGuire’s story represents the heart of its mission - empowering Aboriginal landholders to lead sustainable enterprises grounded in cultural values and deep connection to Country.
As Christopher Tan concluded in his report, Yaraguia is more than a farm.
It’s a living example of how listening to Country can restore both the land and the stories that belong to it, ensuring they thrive for generations to come.
