Taking Root in Barkers Creek is a 50-minute soundwork about the Barkers Creek Landcare & Wildlife Group and the story of the Country they care for. The work premiered in August 2025 as a big screen experience at the heart of an event in Castlemaine made for local environmental groups and supporters.

Join a Sunday working bee near Castlemaine, planting and weeding with Kyla Brettle as she traces the impact of the 1850s Victorian gold rush on the 30 year story of the Barkers Creek Landcare & Wildlife Group.

Listen in as Kyla unearths a bigger story about changing community attitudes towards the natural environment and a group determined to do more than weed in circles as the bush dies around them.

There is a ‘Plan’ brewing to take action at the bushland reserve in Barkers Creek and restore health to the landscape from the subsoil up…

Featuring:

Lois Denham, Nico Pye, Phil Munari, Cath Jolly, Sunny Pearson, Arlo Morris, Peter Sansom, Paul Foreman, Marg Ollerton, Boxer Cole, Lis Johnson, Tony Cormack, Ffion Morris, Lou Marsal, Daryl Colless, Brian Morris, Sally Polmear, Brian Walters, Nick Lewis, Karyn Maguire and Uncle Rick Nelson

Taking Root and Branching Out was a community event on Djaara Country in Castlemaine. A clear eyed celebration of local conservation and landcare work, the event launched an ambitious plan to regenerate the 35ha Harcourt Bushland Reserve.

Co-hosted by the Barkers Creek Landcare and Wildlife Group, Connecting Country and Kyla Brettle, the event featured a ‘listening in’ of the screen version of the soundwork, Taking Root introduced by ecologist Cassia Read and followed by a sticky supper and a panel conversation including representatives from Djaara and Biolinks Alliance.

Read about the event on Kyla’s Substack - Making Media in a Crisis

The many voices and rich observational sounds of Taking Root in Barkers Creek filled the Phee Broadway Theatre in Castlemaine when it launched in 2025.

The screen version starts in darkness and features a long slow shot of dawn rising over the Harcourt Bushland Reserve. Presented amongst a small potted forest of eucalypts enlivened with bushland smells, the work for screen brought audience together for a shared sensory experience.

Credits
Concept/Presenter/Producer/Editor/Recordist Kyla Brettle
Original Music, Rob Law
Cinematography, Richard Wynn
Photography, Carmen Bunting
Audio Mix, Brian Morris
Visual Design, Elizabeth Geddes

Thanks to Advice and Support from Cassia Read, Lori Arthur, Karyn McGuire, Cath Jolly.

Commissioned by Barkers Creek Landcare and Wildlife Group as part of a 2024 Victorian Landcare Grant. Event produced with support from the Mount Alexander Shire Council, The Good Op Shop, Harcourt Apples and ASQ Gardening & Landscape as well as the Victorian Landcare Program, I&SN Foundation and North Central CMA.

Recognition
WINNER, Indi Producer Award, Kyla Brettle, Sonarr Awards 2026
FINALIST, Video For Audio Award, Sonarr Awards, 2026

License
CC BY-NC-SA (Attribution NonCommercial-ShareAlike)

If you would like to share this show with your audiences contact us to request file

Links
Rob’s music
Carmen’s photography
Kyla’s substack