Wilding - A Different Kind of Rewilding

Published on 01 September 2025

Back when I worked at NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, one of the Rangers involved in pest control and reintroducing native species suggested to me that there could be as much biodiversity in 100 square metres of Australian bush as there is in 100 square kilometres of British forest. While I know he was somewhat exaggerating, it gave me pause for thought: as a British expat, I hadn’t ever considered what constitutes a species ‘native’ to the British Isles.

A little online research reveals that when it comes to ‘rewilding’, the UK and Australia speak the same language, but they’re often talking about very different things.

In the UK, landscapes have been shaped by people for millennia, with species introductions stretching back to Roman times. Today, rewilding projects like those at the Knepp Estate restore lost ecological processes, sometimes using long-established non-natives such as fallow deer. It’s a vision that blends ecology and culture, accepting that ‘wild’ doesn’t always mean untouched; it can be a living, evolving mix.

In Australia, the story is far starker. Here, the range of species remained relatively stable for tens of thousands of years under Aboriginal stewardship until 1788, when European settlement triggered a wave of ecological disruption. Feral cats, foxes, rabbits and cane toads have devastated native wildlife, making rewilding a race against extinction. Efforts focus on eradicating invasives, fencing safe havens and reintroducing endangered marsupials like bilbies and bettongs.

These contrasting histories mean that while UK rewilding often involves reintroducing species for their ecological role, even if they’re centuries-old arrivals, Australian rewilding is almost entirely about protecting endemic biodiversity from outsiders. Yet both share common ground: habitat restoration, species recovery and the joy of seeing ecosystems come alive again.

The award-winning documentary Wilding tells the story of Knepp, a former English farm transformed into a thriving rewilding project. It’s a rare opportunity to witness the UK’s approach: process-driven, culturally layered and full of surprises; and to reflect on how rewilding might look in our own landscapes.

Join us for a special screening of Wilding on Thursday 18th September at Memorial Hall, followed by a panel discussion featuring Blair Beattie (Farmer's Footprint) and special guests on. It’s a conversation exploring what ‘wild’ means in an Australian context and our shared hope of letting nature flourish.