Ray Thompson of Nyngan has been selected as one of three finalists in the Peabody Environment and Landcare Award through this year’s NSW/ACT Regional Achievement and Community Awards.

This annual awards program is presented by PRIME7 and supported by the Commonwealth Bank and recognises groups, business, individuals and communities who play a vital role in enhancing the social, environmental and economic prosperity of regional and rural NSW and the ACT.  

The Peabody Environment and Landcare Award was developed to recognise individuals, groups and organisations educating their community and showcasing their dedication to preserving the environment. 

Ray Thompson has shown outstanding achievements in restoring and revegetating thousands of hectares of scalded semi-arid rangelands in western New South Wales using the waterponding technique over the last 33 years. 

This has taken the total rehabilitated scalded country in the Marra Creek Region to 34,385 hectares with 68,776 waterponds. By waterponding scalded country, Ray can protect and enhance ground cover, stop water and wind erosion and return the scalded land back to a productive environmentally healthy ecosystem. 

Ray is spreading the waterponding technique all over Australia and the world. Ray has conducted four bus tours where he trained another 29 Aus Aid African trainees from 16 African countries. Ray has trained over 71 Africans over the past three years. 

Ray has also had many speaking and education engagements around his waterponding technique and recently lectured at more than 37 university engagements.

He has also conducted two community field days to promote and encourage the use of waterponding within agriculture. Ray hopes to continue to spread the word about waterponding and to encourage more education around waterponding.

The winner of the Peabody Environment and Landcare Award will be announced at a gala dinner on Saturday November 1 at the Wagga Wagga RSL. The winner will be awarded $5000 thanks to the Commonwealth Bank and a magnificent trophy.

Tickets are now on sale for the State Gala Dinner. To book please phone 1300 735 445. 

The awards are proudly supported by the Land Newspaper, Angove Family Wine Makers and the Regional Australia Institute.