Jim Kilsby, Vic, President & Treasurer
Jim Kilsby, elected President in 2019, currently runs sheep and olives on his historic family farm Tanderrum, at Kyneton in the Macedon Ranges, Victoria. He established the Kyneton Dry Stone Walling Centre on the property in an effort to teach and further the ancient craft of Dry Stone Walling in Australia.
This purpose-built centre brings together wallers and walling enthusiasts from the region to learn, develop and exchange knowledge about this ancient art. UK Certification testing is also run here for those wanting to acquire professional status without travelling to the UK. Originally Jim came from South Australia but with his careers as an Officer in the Australian Army and as a Senior Executive in IBM he has lived and worked throughout Australia and the world. Currently, Jim devotes his time to managing his family farm and learning as much about and furthering the craft of Dry Stone Walling in Australia.
Andrew Miller, Vic, Secretary
Andrew’s interest and involvement with the wonderful craft of dry stone walling developed when he resided in Camperdown from 1977 to 1999. He was a member of Corangamite Arts at the time and we saw an opportunity to raise awareness of the cultural and heritage value in the walls that crisscrossed much of the Corangamite landscape. The Corangamite Dry Stone Wall Conservation Project, publication of ‘If These Walls Could Talk’, formation of the DSWAA in Ballarat in 2003 and many wonderful field trips with DSWAA members have been highlights for him. Andrew is a civil engineer by training and enjoys volunteering in Timor Leste, especially activity relating to the arts.
Jim Holdsworth Vic
Jim is Past-President, an architect and town planner. While his work is mainly in inner Melbourne he has always been interested in the history of how Australia developed and travels widely in regional areas. He says; Preserving and celebrating the best dry stone structures will allow the stories behind and within them to be remembered and told.
Raelene Marshall, Vic
Raelene is an arts and culture practitioner. She was commissioned by the Australia Council to research drystone structures in the Grizedale Forest, Cumbria, UK. She curated the exhibition; A Stone Upon A Stone; undertook the Shire of Melton Dry Stone Walls Pride of Place Study and represented Australian at the Societe Pierre Seche, presenting at their bi-annual International Congresses.
Bruce Munday, SA
Bruce and his wife Kristin for 42 years ran a cattle property in the Adelaide Hills from which Bruce also worked as a communications consultant. He has had a long fascination with dry stone walls, built a few, run workshops and published a book on dry stone walls in SA: Those Dry-stone Walls. His most recent published book, Those Wild Rabbits, describes herculean but futile attempts to control the pest by every conceivable means including dry stone walls.
Stuart Read, NSW
Stuart Read is a landscape architect, bureaucrat and educator focussed on the contribution heritage landscapes make to sustainable economies. He helps the NSW Heritage Council identify, list, assess and manage key places and has worked for the Australian Heritage Commission and Environment Australia’s world heritage & biodiversity units. He has studied gardens in Australasia, Asia, the Middle East and Europe, including a 2005 Pratt Foundation overseas fellowship study tour of, then in 2010 led a tour of Spanish gardens. Stuart has been an expert member of ICOMOS-IFLA’s international scientific committee on cultural landscapes since 2008. He contributed to the National Trust of Australia (NSW) book Interwar Gardens – a guide… (2003), Gardens of History & Imagination: Growing New South Wales (2016). Stuart wrote Spanish lessons for Australian Gardens... (2005) and contributes to Garden Drum and Australian Garden History.
Geoff Duggan, NSW
Master Craftsman dry stone waller, Geoff Duggan is an advanced instructor, examiner and professional member of the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain. As Director of Geogenic Landscapes, he is also a horticulturist, landscaper and Landscape Architect. His interest is in native plants and all aspects of dry stone walling from free standing walls, retaining walls and their incorporation into landscape, design and sculptural projects. Passionate about his craft and passing on his knowledge, he has conducted over 130 dry stone walling workshops over the last 20+ years.
Laurie Atkins, Vic
Laurie has been a member of the DSWAA since about 2016 and joined the committee in 2019 to lend support in the area of documenting dry stone structures.
He has been keen to develop his own practical skills at walling and has undertaken short courses and workshops with David long, Alistair Tune, Geoff Duggan, Josh Bowes and most recently Emma Knowles.
Outside of dry stone walls, Laurie’s training is in Agricultural Science and his professional work has involved data analysis and data collection design.
Lyn Allison, Vic
Lyn was formerly a Senator for Victoria and held the environment and heritage portfolios for the Australian Democrats. She was, prior to that, an art and design teacher. Lyn takes care of the DSWAA website and heads up the DSWAA communications committee.
Andrew Garner, Tas
Andrew is a DSWA-accredited (UK) waller who has worked professionally in northern Tasmania since 2004 on numerous projects for private, heritage and government sectors. He joined the committee in 2019