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00:02I was just wondering would you like some poetry? I would love some poetry. All right.
00:08So I'm gonna drop the word about the turd from the first to the third to the beast of the
00:13bird
00:13and how absurd for our sons and daughters that we keep on flushing our turds in their water.
00:17It's the toilet. Goona kakashiza and crap. I'm MC Fisi and that's my C wrap. MC Fisi,
00:24that was amazing. Thank you. They're a bit different in El Dorado. That was awesome.
00:35This time Backroads heads up the highway to Victoria's northeast goldfields. The little
00:41town of El Dorado is big on charm and community spirit. But don't let that fool you. Scratch
00:51beneath the surface and you'll find some pretty radical ideas. Like recycling human waste.
00:58It's a hot one. Yeah.
01:02And living in haystacks. That's good hun.
01:06Or even teepees. They thought oh god here comes the hippies kind of thing.
01:16I'm Mif Warhurst and I'm here to find out what makes this town of El Dorado so different. I'm looking
01:22forward to getting my hands dirty and seeing how the dream of alternative living keeps the lights on in this
01:29town.
01:45There's gold in them there hills. Or at least there used to be. El Dorado was built during the gold
01:53rush.
01:53We might have to go over a bit hun. But these days a new breed of pioneer is calling the
01:59area home.
02:02I'm on my way to meet a couple of them on a small farm just outside town.
02:09Beautiful. Look at that. I like a bought one. That's fantastic. Perfect.
02:20Hello you two. Hey Mif. G'day. What on earth is going on here?
02:24Well we're building a house out of straw. Do you want to come and have a look?
02:27I would love to. Thank you. Great. Come over.
02:29This is the steel structure. Wow. Sam and Katrina Anderson are self-building their dream home.
02:37And like the first little pig, they're finding that building with straw has its challenges.
02:44We're not anxious, but we have to get it done before the rain comes. And the mice.
02:49And the mice. Rodents. Yeah.
02:52Why straw? I just love the idea of living in something so natural.
02:57And the insulation values of straw is just extraordinary.
03:03The walls are made of jumbo straw bales.
03:06Not the little ones you usually see.
03:10Once they're rendered, they'll be almost a metre thick.
03:14Long term, this will be so beneficial for not only us, but for other people coming into our home.
03:20They'll be able to see how sustainable and how cool it is during summer and how warm it is
03:25during winter. And the heating and cooling bills will just be zip.
03:30It's all part of a dream to tread on the earth lightly while being as self-sufficient as possible.
03:36Too easy.
03:38Right now, we've got the solar panels on the shed. So we are feeding into the grid. Eventually,
03:44we'd like to get our own batteries and just be completely self-sufficient.
03:49And we have water here. We'll have a big tank from the roof. And there is something about living that
03:56way that I really love. And it's a dream that's becoming more popular in these parts.
04:01We do have a lot of eco-minded people in the community. A lot of our friends who we've got
04:07to know, they're sort of quite alternative in their building.
04:10I love this idea because I grew up in some really interesting houses. For some part of it,
04:16we lived in a tram, a converted tram. And then we built our own mud brick house. So the straw's
04:22very familiar because we used to mix the straw into the mud. And we all made the bricks as kids.
04:27And it was such a fun thing to do. And I really genuinely think it's had a huge impact on
04:31what I've done with my work and, you know, how I've lived. I want to see things come alive.
04:37Yeah, fantastic. Yeah. For Sam, building is just a sideline. His main gig is sculpture.
04:49Well, this is brilliant. This was definitely a fun piece to make. So much recycled materials on this.
04:56Got the old tractor seat. Yep. Even got the old padlock from the grandfather's old farm.
05:01Love it. Love it.
05:07What got you started doing sculptures?
05:11Basically, I had a motorbike accident and nothing like a near-death experience to cement
05:17basically what you want to do in life. Prior to his accident in 2005,
05:22Sam had been making his living as a freelance shearer, fencer and farm labourer.
05:29I had a car go through a stop sign and ended up in hospital for a little bit and an
05:35orthopaedic
05:36brace for six months. And then, yeah, so I obviously physically wasn't able to do the
05:42physical work anymore, which was required in the farming industry. And so that's what, you know,
05:47helped my transition into art. I was getting a little bit down on myself, but I thought,
05:53well, why don't I just make a sculpture? So I run my shoe in my grandfather's old
05:58steel dump and saw some lovely shapes in the recycled materials and ended up making a goanna.
06:04And then I decided, oh, I'll see if I can sell it. And obviously it was requiring an income
06:09and took it to a local gallery and it was sold in less time than it took to make. This
06:14gives me the
06:14motivation to get up every morning and get stuck into it. It's that classic statement, isn't it?
06:19From the worst of times comes the best of times. Yeah. I haven't looked back since.
06:29In the 20 years since then, Sam's art career has gone from strength to strength.
06:37Being able to recycle is probably one of the main drives for me being an artist.
06:43We're at a point of time where we need to be thinking about recycling all the time.
06:48And I feel like I'm doing my little part for the earth and also it's helping me out too,
06:54with all these beautiful shapes that I use in my sculptures.
06:58He's now created over a hundred sculptures from recycled materials,
07:02some of which he keeps here on his property. Wow, this is impressive. It's huge.
07:08Yeah, it's huge. All right. The humpback whale.
07:12It's made from heaps of recycled materials. We've got some nuts and bolts as the barnacles.
07:18And as you move to the eye, that's actually made out of toe balls.
07:22You've made something beautiful out of other people's trash, really, haven't you?
07:26Yeah, basically. Yeah, yeah.
07:28Oh, it's very impressive. It's wonderful.
07:32Sam now plans to open a sculpture park to share his artwork and his message with the community.
07:43I'm loving how Sam's embracing a modern interpretation of your nan's favourite saying,
07:49waste not, want not.
07:53Next stop, Off Grid Living Festival, where Sam reckons I'll meet more locals looking to live sustainably.
08:06The Off Grid Living Festival was born in El Dorado in 2018.
08:11It's grown so large that the organisers have had to move it to bigger grounds half an hour down the
08:17road.
08:18While these days some country fairs find it hard to draw a crowd, Off Grid attracts thousands.
08:26How are you going? Have a good time.
08:30Have a good one, thanks.
08:31See you later.
08:32The person behind this shindig is El Dorado's own Kate Nottingham.
08:36How are you going?
08:37How are you going? Congratulations, Kate. This is amazing.
08:40Thank you, yes. It was all about, from the beginning, inspiring people to live more sustainably
08:44and with the Off Grid theme. So it could be Off Grid power, it could be Off Grid water,
08:49or it could be Off Grid thinking, you know, like health and wellbeing, taking your power into your own hands.
08:53So ways that you can live greener. We wanted to present sustainability in a fun way.
08:58So often it's presented in a bit of a doom and gloom way, and we wanted to show people that
09:03actually
09:03the future's pretty bright if we're all doing the right thing together.
09:07Kate and her husband Ralph moved to El Dorado in 2014 after falling in love with a bush block.
09:14We had gone from living in the city to really living in the country and with nothing.
09:20We had a little bit of shelter, but we really had to start everything from scratch.
09:25And we ended up getting a big teepee to live in, so we were living in there for a year.
09:30Had no power, outdoor toilet, outdoor shower, and just a bed and an open fire in the teepee.
09:36We loved it so much, and we felt that we loved the freedom and the happiness that it brought us,
09:42that we really wanted to start sharing that with others.
09:44And we started opening up the farm for workshops where people could come and get together,
09:49and we would bring in other people to facilitate the learning.
09:53Those humble workshops were the seed that grew into today's Off Grid Living Festival.
09:59How did the locals take to you, turning up and living in a teepee holding sustainability workshop?
10:05Yeah, I think at first they saw the teepee and they thought, oh God, here comes the hippies kind of
10:11thing.
10:11But then Ralph and I made an effort to go to the local pub and meet everyone,
10:15and pretty soon they realised we're, you know, fairly normal.
10:19We had people offering us to borrow their tractors and showing us how, you know,
10:24those kind of mechanical things work. And we had lots of people wanting to share their
10:28food and produce with us. And I just love that small town vibe where everybody sort of knows each
10:34other and supports each other. You found your people.
10:37Yeah, we did. Yeah, we found our place and our people.
10:56Yeah!
11:08Love it. I'm having a blast. But for me, there's one thing that can make or break a festival experience.
11:16And that is the Dunnies.
11:22As far as festival toilets go, this is a Rolls Royce. Excuse-ah.
11:30Unlike many festival toilets, these ones have nice pictures and, I'm happy to report,
11:37very little offensive smell, which means satisfied patrons.
11:42I'm told the man responsible for curating this pleasant experience is Hamish Skermer.
11:48Hamish, I hear you're the person behind these amazing looms.
11:52Yes, I am, yes. And we like to make them look good as well as feel good and smell good.
11:56So, yeah.
11:56What was the inspiration?
11:58For making these toilets, giving people dignity at events. I've been running my own event for many,
12:03many years and that was it, is that portaloos don't give you that experience of good times.
12:09And I did environmental science as a student and this just brought it all together. Events,
12:15science, composting loos, changing the world from the bottom up.
12:18What are the features of these loos?
12:21Well, I think the first feature is that we don't use any water or chemicals and we make them clean.
12:26They're green. They're 100% compostable. We're turning the nutrients back to organic compost and we
12:33hope to grow food with it.
12:35Oh, my God. Food? I've got to find out more.
12:41So, Hamish has invited me to his family's block on the outskirts of El Dorado
12:46for a little lesson in environmental science.
12:49You can go for the long range shot. Oh!
12:53Oh!
12:54Oh, ha, ha, ha!
12:55You're 12.
12:59Anyone who's got a garden understands that the gardener or the farmer with the most manure wins.
13:06It's the ancient rule of life and soil development in Australia, if you don't have manure,
13:12you're behind the eight ball.
13:14But people are a bit weird about human poo being put on the garden.
13:17Why is that? Is it because we haven't treated it properly?
13:20Well, yeah, I think largely, like, there's a really good reason why your bum hole and your
13:26mouth is separated. And that is because we're not supposed to eat turds. And I'm all up for
13:33no turd burgers. Like, I'll never put it on the menu.
13:36Well, that's a relief. Hamish's toilets rely on natural composting processes that kill harmful
13:43pathogens and break the effluent down into safe organic material.
13:47So it's just accepting that we're part of ecology, not separate to it.
13:53Hamish and his family run a successful music festival on this property called Folk, Rhythm
13:58and Life. And it was that experience that led him to his Purika moment.
14:04Well, this is where it all started. This is the ground zero of the ablution revolution.
14:11Oh, my God. Where composting is a solution.
14:13This is the first festival composting toilet system in the world.
14:18Wow. There was no other festival to have 100% compost toilets. We built it over a few days
14:25with my dad and my brothers and some friends, and we really knew that what we had done was
14:30going to have local, national, international significance.
14:33Hamish created packable, portable toilets and started a business called The Natural Event.
14:40Pretty soon, his dunnies were gracing festivals across Australia.
14:45That's the saying you can't polish a turd into a diamond.
14:47Well, you can. I'm like, well, you can.
14:49These are the sorts of nuggets I like finding.
14:53His next step was to take his simple technology overseas. So far, he has serviced some 480 festivals
15:02across 13 countries, including over 1,000 toilets at Glastonbury.
15:08He now claims to possess the largest pile of human excrement in the world, a mountain in the UK
15:15of some 350 tonne, which begs the question, what happens to all that poo?
15:24So here's the pile of aged, matured, cooled compost.
15:31Yeah.
15:32This is an amalgamation of both our festivals, toilets and other events that we've done.
15:38And I'll just dig out a little bit.
15:39Yeah.
15:41Okay, so you can see that there's no definition.
15:44No smell. Well, there's earthy smell.
15:46Yeah.
15:47But that's it.
15:48And it's really just like any other matured, properly made compost pile.
15:53Yeah.
15:54Looks like any other mulch.
15:55Now, be game. Just feel that, because I want you to feel the temperature.
15:58See how it's a bit warm.
15:59It's hot.
15:59It's a hot one.
16:00Yeah.
16:02But it's not a steamer.
16:04Not a steamer.
16:05No.
16:05No longer.
16:06No longer a steamer.
16:07Was a steamer.
16:07Ex-steamer.
16:08Ex-steamer.
16:09Oh, I love it.
16:09Yeah, so to me, it really is nine-tenths of it's in your mind.
16:13It used to be banana, then it was a turd, then we've composted, and now we're gonna make basil.
16:23These days, Hamish's focus has changed to helping out communities in need around the world.
16:29The thing that does inspire me is taking this really simple technology into places where
16:35community members are actually affected both in health and in happiness with a constant lack of good sanitation.
16:442.6 billion people don't have toilets.
16:48Yeah.
16:48Where sanitation is a real impact on their health.
16:52Today, Hamish's passion is seeing how composting toilets can help at-risk communities and disaster
16:58zones.
16:59And look, the basics are this.
17:01Less transport, less chemicals, less water, more chance that the nutrients can return to the soil
17:09profile and potentially grow food.
17:12Hamish, you have changed my perspective on how we deal with human poo.
17:16Thanks.
17:16It's wild.
17:17Yeah.
17:18The next time you're at a festival, having a crap, think at me.
17:24Yeah.
17:26Oh my god, yes.
17:31It seems that turning trash into treasure is a way of life in El Dorado.
17:45Every month, the local community runs a food share day.
17:49I've arrived just in time to check it out, and I haven't come empty-handed.
17:57I've arrived just in time to check it out, and I haven't come empty-handed.
18:15Hello, Sue.
18:16How are you going?
18:17Sue, how are you?
18:18Lovely to see you.
18:19Lovely to see you too.
18:21Look at this incredible produce.
18:23Absolutely wonderful.
18:23Some amazing items today.
18:25Look, I brought some things.
18:27Brilliant.
18:27Some lemons and limes for you.
18:29I love it.
18:30Sue Phillips is a doyen of El Dorado.
18:33She's been helping out with food share for years.
18:37What is food share?
18:39Well, food share is the opportunity to bring people together, bring along their own produce
18:44that they grow in their own gardens.
18:46If they have excess, it's there for people to take.
18:49If they come along and they don't have those items in their house, they can actually come
18:54along and take whatever they like.
18:55You don't have to bring stuff to take stuff.
18:59It's all free.
19:00And it's a wonderful opportunity to get community together and chat and join in with one another
19:06and be supportive.
19:07It's an event, isn't it?
19:08It's for the town.
19:10It's great.
19:10It's an amazing little event each time.
19:19I'm loving how this unwanted produce is being turned into the chance to share
19:24and the chance to hang out together.
19:30Is food share an indication that the community is interested in ecology?
19:36Yes, people make sure that they don't have to send their food to waste.
19:40It's there for other people to use.
19:42If there are items that really can't be used, people will take them home and compost them.
19:47And we do encourage people not to use plastic bags.
19:50If we can, we're into paper bags and that sort of stuff as well.
19:54Yeah.
19:54I brought a plastic bag.
19:56I know.
19:59I'm learning.
20:00I'm on my L plates.
20:03Food share is also an opportunity for local community groups to raise much needed funds
20:08through sausage sizzles and cake stalls.
20:11The generosity in the community just touches my heart.
20:17It's just beautiful.
20:20El Dorado is golden.
20:23It's the place that's just right.
20:36I'm keen to find out more about El Dorado's golden history.
20:40So I'm checking out the local museum.
20:43Welcome to the El Dorado schoolhouse and museum these days.
20:48What an amazing old building.
20:50And look who's here.
20:51My new best friend, Sue, who also just happens to be president of the Museum Association.
20:59So this is the main story about the gold mining history in here.
21:04When did the gold rush start here?
21:06About 1850 they did initially first find gold, but they didn't start mining it until about 1857.
21:13That's when the mining companies actually started to go in and do deep lead mining.
21:19And at that time then the population started to build.
21:24And you can tell that because of the number of pubs that actually ended up being here.
21:30There were around 10 pubs, three newspapers, banks, butchers, general stores and blacksmiths
21:37in this bustling little town.
21:39But gold production dwindled in the 1870s and so too did the population.
21:46Today just 382 people call El Dorado home.
21:51Only one pub remains and it also serves as both a post office and general store.
22:00These days a new generation is moving into the area,
22:04drawn by its charms and the chance to live closer to nature.
22:20Andy Pye is one of those tree changers.
22:25He and his young family moved to El Dorado in 2021.
22:32I just wanted to kind of deprive the kids of a fast life really and just give them the space
22:40to breathe, space to play.
22:44It sort of worked out really well to be honest because when we lived in the city there'd be
22:49no way that the kids would just be like spending hours in nature and be fine with it.
22:56But just naturally over time it's just become the norm.
23:03Good job.
23:05Why El Dorado?
23:06It's literally two to five minutes away from a camping spot, from a billabong, from a river.
23:13No, no, please, please, no, stop.
23:17You're right, use your oar, use your oar.
23:19No, I'm serious.
23:27Andy is a well-known painter, renowned for his landscapes.
23:31He's represented by a gallery in downtown Sydney but likes to paint out in the bush.
23:39Today he's in the hills just outside El Dorado and has very kindly invited me along.
23:49I don't know what I'm doing.
23:53It's a good start.
23:54I've never painted with oils.
23:56Really?
23:57No.
23:58Okay.
23:59Isn't that weird?
24:00Like my dad was a painter but I never painted in oils myself.
24:02Your old man was a painter?
24:04Yeah.
24:05He loves it.
24:06I think it's the only thing that keeps him sane, to be honest.
24:11There's something tremendously freeing about being out in the elements and just creating.
24:16This is so fun.
24:18I can see why it appeals so much to both my dad and Andy.
24:23You get yourself stuck very quickly in a studio.
24:28Yep.
24:29And you miss the interaction.
24:32I can be painting one moment and it might rain a little bit, just a little bit on a hot
24:39day and
24:40that tree in front of you will actually go pink in front of your eyes, you know, pinkish purple.
24:45Now, if you're in a city painting and you're not exposing your creative mind to the landscape
24:52on a regular basis, you're going to forget those things, you're going to miss them.
24:58How do you think your work's changed since you've been here?
25:02In the city, I felt like I was just creating the same picture over and over again.
25:07So now that I'm here, I've been able to just freely experiment and that can do strange and
25:15interesting things to the pictures.
25:17I feel like for the first time, I don't have to think about the bush from a distance.
25:23I can be in it and I can observe it and let it fuel me on a daily basis.
25:30All right.
25:31All righty.
25:32Andy, this is awesome.
25:34Oh, stop.
25:35It's excellent.
25:36I love it.
25:37I love it.
25:37It's free.
25:41It's beautiful.
25:42I love those pinks in the back.
25:44Oh, thank you.
25:45I'm really happy though.
25:46Like it's been, this has been the best thing ever.
25:49I can't wipe the smile off my face.
25:51Thanks for visiting.
25:51Thanks for visiting.
25:53Thanks for taking me out here in this beautiful landscape.
25:55Any time, Miff.
25:56Can I be an artist now?
25:57You are an artist.
25:58Can I pretend?
25:59You are a real artist right now.
26:11My time in this special part of the world is just about done.
26:16And I'm going out with a bang at the off-grid festival parade.
26:27I've had such a good time here in El Dorado.
26:29I've learned that it's a little town with big ideas.
26:33Some of them are spreading across the globe.
26:36I was bold enough to feel as though we could take it from our little patch here in El Dorado
26:42to the world.
26:44The dunnies that change the world.
26:45Yeah.
26:46I love it.
26:47Yeah.
26:48And some are bringing the world to El Dorado.
26:52It's bringing something new to the town and lots of tourists that come from all over Australia.
26:56So that's really exciting for a small town.
26:58Yeah.
27:00I've learned mostly though that you can be doing good for the world and for your community.
27:04But you can also have a good time doing it.
27:22Next time, I'm meeting the Shearers.
27:26A skill that supercharged Australia's early economy.
27:30The good old days, the best thing about the good old days, they're gone.
27:34I'm here to find out what's changed in a world where many now pursue careers.
27:39Teamwork makes the dream work.
27:41And some chase world records.
27:44So it's just a continuous pain barrier you've got to try and get through and you just can't let it
27:49defeat you.