Story by Tracie McMahon with volunteer writers Maddy McLean and Mikayla Chadwick
“At first, I thought this wouldn’t have been my thing but that one day changed that. I encourage everyone to seriously give this a go and see what the outcome is.” Mikayla Chadwick
Key Points:
The pace of everyday life can lead to a feeling of disconnection with people and place.
Nature journaling involves observing nature and recording personal observations, questions and connections using words and pictures, either hand drawn or photographed.
The activity is accessible to all. You do not need to be an artist. All you need is something to write and draw with and a natural setting
In late 2023, I had the privilege of sharing nature journaling with the women and girls from Barrinang: a Lithgow and district Wiradjuri corporation, working to promote and support wellbeing. The possibility of writing a story was discussed, as nature journaling is about creating awareness of the natural places we see every day.
As the group sat and yarned, it became clear that this was not a story of an event, but an experience, particularly for the younger women. I’ve been journaling for almost five years, and I’ve got a lot of years between me and a twenty-something, so I asked if they would like to contribute, sharing their experiences directly, rather than through my slightly hard-of-hearing old-person filter. Two young cousins agreed to meet with me and share their thoughts.
When we met a few weeks later, I was surprised to find not only were they interested, they were keen. This new ‘thing’ had not been replaced with the next big thing, in their busy lives. They wanted to encourage others to give it a go.
As we chatted, we came up with a few questions and they decided they would each write about their experience, imagining yarning with a mate. The questions are mine, but the responses are the unedited work of two very talented volunteer writers.
Q: What do you want to tell people about nature journaling?
Mikayla: Gurll, you wouldn’t believe it. I tried nature journaling the other day and it’s changing the way I see everything. The land and nature are not just a background anymore. I see them. I notice them. I’m connecting to them. I notice the little things and I wonder about them.
Like trees: have you ever thought about how long they’ve been around? How many things they’ve seen? Imagine the stories they could tell. I see the beauty around me, I don’t just think of everything as a background anymore.
Yeah, I did see the pretty sunsets and the amazing views, but I never noticed the things I do now. Gurll, I’m telling you the nature journaling stuff is a real flip on a point of view.
Maddy: The biggest take away for me is the feeling of connection to not only the women around me but also culture, nature and myself. The most important aspect is that we are doing something we all never thought we could do or would ever try.
Participants journaling on the yarning mat outside Hermitage Hall (Photo: Tracie McMahon)
Q: Can you explain what you did and what was involved?
Maddy: We walked out of the hall in the direction of the park, and I noticed it wasn’t quiet as usual. I began to see the bigger picture, a vast collection of books, paintings, pictures, paint brushes, watercolour paint, watercolour journals and everything we would need to bring out our inner artist. We sat down, introduced ourselves then went on walkabout to get our heads in the zone and to gain inspiration for our artworks.
We came together to share our experiences, what we saw, what we felt, what we saw that was interesting and what we learnt on our walk, then we just jumped straight into our journaling and bringing out the inner artists that many of us never knew were inside us.
Mikayla : We started with a lovely walk through the park to see what we wanted to draw. Before we even started, I knew I wanted to draw and write about a tree. Some of us sat on the ground in a circle all laughing, talking and learning. We shared our thoughts about everything around us and memories we had from being outside, from our childhood. It opened my eyes, as it did for our whole group.
Participants taking a walk on the Farmers Creek shared pathway. First stop waterways. (Photo: Mikayla Chadwick)
Q: Did you finish the pieces you started on the day and have you kept going with it?
Left: Maddy (front) intently working on her journal piece. Right: Mikayla’s finished piece (Photos: Tracie McMahon)
Mikayla: A couple of days after I tried it, I was overthinking, so I decided I should have a wander and do some nature journaling. One minute I was nearly bawling with how overwhelmed I was and the next I found myself drawing on a bench and three hours flew by. Being out in nature can expand the mind and release anger. There are so many positives to it. It helped me escape the highway in my head.
Maddy: Many of us found that we were actually really good at water colour painting, such as me. To go into something with no idea and to finish with my own artwork and a newfound hobby, was really uplifting and a surprise. The best part of it all is there is no skill set required. All you need is a keen mindset and you.
Q: What made it different to other things you have tried?
Mikayla: Nature journaling is more than just pen, paper and looking at nature. You can get some good vitamin D and some exercise. You may even meet new people. Maybe even meet a community of people who do nature journaling.
We are all so busy 24/7 it’s so hard to find the time for the simple things. Such as a simple walk in the bush. You don’t even have to go bush, you can always stroll throughout the park or sit at a window and try to notice things you normally wouldn’t even think of. You can start small and work your way up if bushwalking isn’t your thing. The best thing about nature journaling is you do not have to run off anyone else’s time except yours. You can choose to do this whenever you’re free.
You can learn heaps from trying this. Learn about nature and the land that surrounds us every day. It can make you wonder about plants and flowers. Then you can learn what they do for the environment and their names. You could also learn about birds, lizards and all sorts of animals and insects. And the purpose of why they are here. You can learn about how the food chain works and why it works in different ways. Did you know that dolphins use pufferfish to get high? Did you know crocodiles can’t stick their tongues out? And that octopus punch fish to beat them to food but sometimes they just do it for fun? Slugs have four noses and only female mosquitoes bite?
Maddy: Nature journaling is part journaling and part nature. Many people use journaling to help them in many ways in their life but doing that in nature is also recreating the beauty of nature that surrounds you.
This helps connect us to the land and our ancestors by taking the time to give honour and to go slowly in our lives. Being in nature and being able to connect to other people in mob by yarning, bringing us back to our roots. It is one of the best ways to ground, express yourselves and release energy.
Finished journals from the day. (Photo: Tracie McMahon)
Meet the Journalers
Mikayla Chadwick
Mikayla is a proud Wiradjuri woman. She loves to create beautiful portraits that show their stories with culture, history and personality. She’s had three exhibitions and has won many awards for her images in local competitions.
Maddy McLean
Maddy McLean is a proud Wiradjuri woman who works on Wiradjuri land. Maddy enjoys and is passionate about spirituality, storytelling, creating art and anything to do with getting into nature or getting in touch with her ancestry. Her work involves helping the community and learning about diverse cultures.
Take Action:
You can learn more about Nature Journaling at https://johnmuirlaws.com/. The site includes several free downloadable resources for journalers and teachers.
The Australian Nature Journal Association has a Facebook page, where members share their journal pieces.
Take a slow walk in your local area, with a pencil, paints, paper and sit down to record what you see, describe it, wonder what else you would like to know and then record what it reminds you of: it may be a song, a memory, a childhood game. Write it down or record it visually.
This story has been produced as part of a Bioregional Collaboration for Planetary Health and is supported by the Disaster Risk Reduction Fund (DRRF). The DRRF is jointly funded by the Australian and New South Wales governments.
Yesterday the community gathered to celebrate Sister Jacinta Shailer`s 98th Birthday! Earlier this year at the Planetary Health Centre she urged us all to join a revolution centred in the transformative power of love, by joining heroic communities that foster compassion, justice, care of the needy, creative imagining, ways of life-giving thinking, ways of contemplating the wonders of our world in the small and the large, the weird and the wonderful. Watch an excerpt of her speech here or read our full story published earlier this year in Katoomba Area Local News (link in profile): https://www.katoombalocalnews.com/create-heroic-communities/
Council is calling on the community to contribute to the development of a Community Climate Risk Assessment and Adaptation Plan (CCRAA). There will be a Community Climate Risk and Adaptation Workshop on Saturday 30 August, from 10am to 1pm at Springwood Sports Club, followed by lunch.
You can also contribute by completing the online survey before 29 August.
Your knowledge and experience are critical in helping identify local risks, priorities and practical solutions. Many in our community are already taking action, and these stories, along with diverse perspectives, will help shape a more resilient future for the Blue Mountains.
We encourage you to attend and share the event with your networks to help ensure every voice is heard.
Places are limited for the workshop, so register early here (link in profile): https://climateriskworkshop.eventbrite.com.au Complete the survey here (link in profile): https://yoursay.bmcc.nsw.gov.au/community-climate-risk-and-adaptation-plan-community-survey
The development of this plan is being funded by the NSW Government’s Western Sydney Infrastructure Grant Program.
This video captures the most moving speech at the Peace Symposium: that by journalist and teacher Harumi Hayakawa, who described the true horror and tragedy of nuclear weapons. She went on to describe how, after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the people of both cities dedicated themselves to peace building from the grassroots. Small yet courageous actions by these individuals have reached and changed countless lives in the world. After her presentation, Harumi taught families at the Community Peace Picnic how to fold paper cranes.
At the Peace Symposium, Rotarian Jennifer Scott AM outlined how Rotarians around the world are taking action for peace: from providing mental health first aid in our local community to working for social and environmental justice on a global scale. You can watch an excerpt from her presentation in this video.
In his opening speech for the Peace Symposium Dharug man Chris Tobin shared a Dreamtime story about the Waratah, which emerged from a bloody conflict as a symbol of reconciliation.
@mark_greenhill_oam, Mayor of the City of Blue Mountains, welcomed participants to the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium. As a signatory of Mayors for Peace he spoke of the urgency to act to prevent nuclear war and to end the genocide in Gaza.
The Peace Symposium was organised to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
You can watch our full playlist of videos for Making Peace on our YouTube channel (link in profile): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&list=PLBu_QF9Pp5hPoaLWW0ZLHhwS6hPd-x-Rl
View Ecopella`s rousing anthem `You`re Needed Now!` They performed it at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium on the eve of the March for Humanity and the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Contact them if you`re interested in joining the choir which has branches around Eastern NSW.
If you`d like to hear the other presentations at the Symposium visit the Planetary Health YouTube channel (link in profile)
Renowned Permaculture teacher and Katoomba resident Rowe Morrow has been a Quaker for 40 years. She spoke at the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium about the extraordinary work Quakers have done, and are doing, for Peace, and the strategies they`ve developed: from working to abolish slavery, to being instrumental in starting Oxfam and Amnesty International, to training communities in non-violent communication and conflict resolution, conscientious objection, direct action, divestment strategies and more. You can listen to her discuss these in her presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kODwpPinQx4&t=5s
This week President Trump gave an order for two nuclear submarines to proceed towards Russia. This act was the starting point of Robert Tickner`s talk at the Forum: Ban the Bomb, Sign the Treaty in the Blue Mountains Peace Symposium yesterday.
This week marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and, as ICAN Ambassador, Robert Tickner helped launch ICAN`s Week of Action for Abolition at the Symposium. You can listen to his full talk in the video below or view it on YouTube via link in profile:
Despite the very challenging weather for the Peace Symposium yesterday we also enjoyed an indoor `Community Picnic` with delicious food, origami crane and badge making workshops, a book stall by RoseyRavelston books, and wonderful performances by Ecopella and the Bearded Ladies Community Choir. The venue was dotted with historical posters reflecting a long history of the Blue Mountains taking a stand against war and nuclear weapons and we were thrilled to hear during the Symposium that the Supreme Court had authorised the March for Humanity today.
A huge thank you to the @bm_peace_collective, the speakers, very engaged participants, performers, volunteers and staff who helped make the inaugural Blue Mountains Peace Symposium such a success yesterday! We heard from CEO Dr Rosemary Dillon, Dharug man Chris Tobin, journalist and teacher Harumi Hayakawa, Rotarian Jennifer Scott, Quaker Rowe Morrow, artist Matilda Emmerich, Peace Collective members Bruce Cornwall and Catherine Dobbie, Mayor Mark Greenhill, MC Nick Franklin, ICAN Ambassador Robert Tickner, Indonesian ambassador Siswo Pramono, Federal Member Susan Templeman MP and members of the audience. If you`d like to get involved and receive information about future events you can subscribe to receive our newsletter via the Planetary Health website here (link in profile): https://www.bluemountainsplanetaryhealth.com.au/
Tracie lives, writes and walks on the unceded lands of the Dharug, Gundungurra and Wiradjuri people. Born in Lithgow, she and her family have spent most of their lives living and working with the people and places of the Lithgow area. Her passions are nature and community, which she pursues through story, art, and volunteering in Lithgow and the Blue Mountains.
