Connecting people with nature is Wendy Gellard’s passion, and her desire to share her love of the natural environment has led her
through an in-depth journey of discovery in the Chittering area. Her booklet “Every walk has a story” ” is a history and story collection that has sprung from the paths beginning at her aptly named property, Peace Be Still.
When Wendy bought the property 30 years ago she developed it as a guest house, offering a place for busy people to retreat into nature, to relax and recover from the stresses of a busy world. She began walking along firebreaks to reach the Moondyne Nature reserve ( part of the Avon Valley National Park) adjoining the eastern boundary of Peace Be Still. She documented her first walk “Out and Back” as something for her guests to do – and to make sure they were able to find their way home. Wendy contacted CALM (Conservation and Land Management – the
then governing body of parks and reserves) who gave her permission to mark the walk with poles they provided. Wendy and her volunteers took on the task of painting and digging them in.
Since then Wendy has continued to discover and map new walks often using history as her guide. “A story can expand your experience of a walk” says Wendy “All that occurred has given more substance, more richness to where we live and move and have our being and it helps to discover some of the history that is behind the beauty of the place.”
Her walk “Joe’s territory” was named after Moondyne Joe – a bushranger who camped in the area in the early days of the colony in the
19th century. The 9.5km trail invites walkers down the paths of history, following Joe’s tracks to the secret ‘cage’ where he trapped and rebranded horses and stray cattle, earning him lengthy stints in jail and his bushranger moniker.
Other walks pass sites of Wendy’s own experiences, like that of the carpet snake she witnessed swallowing a whole bird. Over the years her widely-varied guests have also contributed their knowledge and discoveries.
An early guest and contributor Harry Butler AO, CBE left a legacy of suggestions as well as the philosophy that “In nature, it’s not
important what it’s name is, but why it’s there, and how it works the other elements of nature around it”.
Wendy views nature as “God’s garden” and encourages her guests to allow the bush to speak to them and guide them. She also leads them in meditation, sharing her gifts of peace and inner calm with those who seek it.
“You may, by being still, sitting on a log or rock, and allowing Nature to talk to you, come up with something deeper and more profound – our planet is indeed old and the rocks and trees can tell us many tales and impart much wisdom,” she writes in the introduction to her booklet. “The earth the air the water is our gift, it’s what we survive in, and if we don’t protect it we’ll lose it,” she continues.
Believing that by providing an avenue for people to love nature, they will grow to love and protect it.
“My real buzz is when I see people come up and they are stressed; something has happened…and I can see the difference by the
time they leave. They come for a rest but end up finding a lot more.”
Wendy welcomes campers and walkers at Peace Be Still on Chittering Rd as well as guests who stay with full board in the homestead. Her booklet, ‘‘Every walk has a story” is available to buy at Peace Be Still and the Chittering tourist office.
