As Linda enters her 80’s, she looks forward to enjoying more recreation and social life when her time-consuming building project is completed. She’d like to get back to writing and enjoying more art and books. Linda has been building an extraordinary house, with her passion for natural building that was sparked when, as a WWOOFer volunteer in UK, she experienced her first strawbale workshop.
Arriving in Australia late 1966, Linda worked at Mount Isa Mines, NW Qld for the Chief Mine Geologist. During her 3 years in The Isa, she dabbled in amateur theatre and enjoyed a rich social life. Years later, returning to England for 9 years, after living in Sydney, her passion was buying, renovating and selling property.
Having discovered the appeal of strawbale, building her own natural house became a strong motivation. Linda met Lyndall, the founder of Narara Ecovillage, in Sydney when it was just a dream and realised an ecovillage would be the ideal place to build a natural dwelling. Involved with the project since 2006, Linda sold up and put funds into buying the land in 2012/13.
Continuing her passion, Linda travelled to Morrocco in 2017 to learn about Tadelakt, a way of burnishing clay to make it glossy, beautiful and waterproof. On the back of her host’s motorbike, Linda travelled to several building sites to learn from the masters of this skill. She attended several workshops in Spain, England and back in Australia.With a natural building specialist, Linda collaborated on a design for an octagon straw bale house as well as an earthbag (Super Adobe) studio. Having taken postgraduate design at UTS, Sydney she found this gave her much confidence in making design decisions.
“My initial concept was straightforward but it evolved from a simple round house, and round art studio into something striking, artistic and quirky. The lot being on a slope, it was necessary to have several levels with connecting steps. Many natural building techniques such as straw bale, earthbags, cob, earth and lime plastering were used.”
The project has taken Linda rather longer than expected. “It started in 2019 and once all construction is completed, I look forward to showcasing and creating art. For instance, inside the house, a decorative macrame balustrade overlooking the living area was created with my international volunteers. The carport will feature a ‘Gaudi’ mosaic wall. The hobbit style doors on the front of the art studio always attract attention and its ‘green’ wildflower roof creates extra insulation and sheer beauty”.
Linda continues to defy age limitations. She stays fit and active and is up and down stairs all day; there is continual heavy lifting of sand and rocks, landscaping and climbing ladders to get the project completed. Recently there was a concert in the art studio which was enjoyed by participants and volunteers to an ecovillage experience weekend. There are plans for more such events and art workshops. Interested people could contact Linda: [email protected]