The Futures Foundation

Australians used to pride themselves on their “can do” attitude, an ability to make the most of circumstances – with a bit of fencing wire or 4x2, perhaps.  It’s one reason why Australian executives have done so well in the global marketplace.   In a world of constant change, the value of past experience diminishes.  This creates a need for just-in-time learning combined with the ability to design solutions with available resources, and then take fast action.  

But are we losing this capacity, in our city slicker 21^st century Australia?   Has our massive coastal urbanisation made us wholly dependent on the supermarket, the sewer and the small screen?   Do our education systems point us away from expressing our ingenuity?

“Not where we live,” says an extraordinary group of rural women who have won national awards for their ingenuity in a host of areas. Whether they’re knocking on the front doors of Savile Row tailors with alpaca samples or exporting the private parts of crocodiles to Asia, these women are demonstrating Aussie get-up-and-go every day.

“Not where I live,” says Queensland futurist and educator Dr Paul Wildman, who wants to formalise Australian “bush mechanic” ingenuity in a code of action learning that reverses the separation of learning and practice that has overtaken western education systems.

“In Australia there is a term for someone who links thinking and doing,” he explains, “someone who can act forward wisely and solve problems with what is available while developing innovations that respond to broader needs.

“A bush mechanic is committed to self reliance and excellence at her task and is not to be confused with a ‘backyard mechanic’ who does shoddy work.”