UPDATE:  Phase 1 COMPLETE!  

Wonderful people! What a wonderful effort! We reached our initial target in 53 hours!!!   We feel so moved and encouraged and grateful by how much love and support has mobilised around this cause.   

WHAT IS WILD DOG?
Wild Dog is a 65-acre property 2 hours south-east of Melbourne.  For over a century it has been used for traditional farming of sheep and cattle.  In 2008 it was purchased by Sean, Viktor, Mary, Paul and their families.  It's a beautiful piece of land that has a profound effect on those who visit.  We are wanting to create something magnificent at Wild Dog to share with others!

WHAT'S THE DREAM?
If you or your friends have experienced the magic of Wild Dog over the last 8 years, you'll know that Wild Dog has always been about community.  Our dream is a permaculture host farm where, at any given time, up to 25 people can stay and experience regenerative small-scale farming and nature connection. We want to create a place that is a vision of a better and more sustainable future.  A place that leaves visitors with a reimagined sense of how human beings can relate to land, food, and each other!  

WHAT'S THE PLAN?
We're so serious about this that we developed a 40 page planning application with building designs and farm plans and all the rest.  After working with council for over 3 years (!) they've come to love our vision, and recently voted 7-2 in favour of our planning application.  

WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?
Woohoo right? We thought so too.  But there's been a hiccup.  One of our neighbours is fighting tooth-and-nail to stop our application going through.  We don't understand why, but there you have it.  This neighbour is exercising a democratic right.  No hard feelings there.  

But...the scary thing is that we're being taken to VCAT (Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal).  VCAT ignores council's decision and the three years of work we've done with all of the relevant authorities, and START ALL OVER AGAIN!!!  What's worse is that our neighbour has hired a top law-firm to find a way to sink our application.

WHAT'S THE ASK?
All expert advice is telling us that to give ourselves a good chance at keeping our planning application alive, we need to hire lawyers.  We can't do this alone, and so for the first time we're reaching out to the extended Wild Dog community, permaculture lovers, earth lovers, and good souls the world over to say...HELP!  

FEES & TREES

We've found a highly recommended law firm, and they've quoted us $15,000.  So, the $15,000 will go towards paying those fees.  

Update:We have reached this target thanks to your wonderful support.  We are now onto phase two of this campaign, which is to raise funds to begin healing this landscape and revegetating 25 acres of cleared pasture, returning it to indigenous bush...
The project will involve saplings, weed mats, fencing, and tree guards.

(For full transparency, all accounting with distribution of funds will be made available to those who pledge once the campaign is complete.)