Expressions of Interest open for Plumwood Mountain Caretakers Position

The Stone House at Plumwood (Brian Rapsey, 2024)

Plumwood Inc. are seeking expressions of interest for a couple/two people interested in caretaking the residential area on Plumwood Mountain from 2025 onwards. Please see the call-out below, and feel free to share with others who may be interested and suitable. The second-round of EOIs are due 31st Feb 2025, but will remain open for candidates interested in future timeframes. Plumwood Inc. will respond to all applicants and interview a short-list of prospective candidates in early 2025. If this opportunity interests you, please reach out to  plumwoodmountaincommittee@gmail.com now!

CARETAKER CALL-OUT

Plumwood Incorporated is searching for a couple/two people to live onsite as caretakers of the off-grid residence on Plumwood Mountain from 2025 onwards. Surrounded by exceptional old growth forest and Val Plumwood’s personal museum and library, this position offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Plumwood’s living legacy and contribute to the  communal management of eco-cultural heritage on Indigenous-owned land. 

Through a non-financial reciprocal relationship, caretakers live rent free in one of the cabins in the residential area on Plumwood Mountain. In exchange, their key responsibilities include maintaining the dwellings and gardens in this area, caring for Val’s ‘living museum’, and hosting residents and guests. Caretakers must facilitate BBLALC aspirations and access to the property and continue established relationships with the Walbunja Rangers, Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Land Council, and Walbunja elders and community. Caretakers will actively participate in the Plumwood Inc. as committee members and, in turn, will be supported by this small but active organisation committed to fostering decolonial and eco-cultural change. 

The ideal candidates must be determined to live a sustainable, minimal existence in keeping with Val Plumwood’s ecofeminist philosophies as well as the environmental-cultural values of the BBLALC and Plumwood Inc. While some existing off-grid skills are ideal, the current caretakers and wider Plumwood Inc. members will help guide the new caretakers into this position. The caretakers role is undertaken on a three-year contract with an initial six-month trial, that is open to further extension if successful. 

If this truly unique opportunity speaks to you, please submit an Expression of Interest to plumwoodmountaincommittee@gmail.com. The second round of EOI are due by the 31st Feb 2025, but will remain open always for interested candidates. EOIs should explain who you are, why you are interested in this role, and why you would make suitable caretakers plus two referees.

*As Plumwood is a secluded off-grid property, we have found that couples (of all kinds) offer the appropriate level of safety and support needed for this role. We apologise to those who do not fall under this category.

Plumwood Caretakers Cabin (Clancy Walker, 2021)

ABOUT PLUMWOOD MOUNTAIN

Plumwood Mountain is 120-hectare property on the unceded lands and waters of the Walbunja peoples of the Yuin Nation, near present day Braidwood, NSW. Home to ancient Gondwana plumwood (Eucryphia moorei) forests, Plumwood Mountain became the home of pre-eminent environmental philosopher and activist Val Plumwood in the 1970s. Surrounded by National Park and protected under the state’s first Voluntary Conservation Area agreement, the Mountain is largely forested with a small off-grid residential clearing comprising an octagonal stone house, slab hut, and residency cabin overlooking the coastal escarpment. After Val’s death in 2008, stewardship of Plumwood Mountain was passed to Plumwood Inc., an evolving non-for-profit organisation committed to conserving Plumwood’s legacy and engaging a wider community in workshops and residencies. After surviving the 2019/2020 fires, Plumwood Mountain was listed on the state heritage register as a place of exceptional cultural/natural significance. In 2024, Plumwood Mountain was returned to Walbunja custodianship, and is now owned by Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Land Council (BBLALC). Walbunja Rangers care for the entire bush property using traditional land management practices, while Plumwood Inc. retains responsibility for maintaining the 1.4-hectare cleared residential area containing the dwellings and gardens, which BBLALC has leased back to Plumwood Inc. on a 99-year basis. 

Plumwood Reading Well (Brian Rapsey, 2024)

View from Plumwood Mountain (NSW NPWS, 2024)