#074 City Farm

From industrial wasteland to cultural icon, with founding director Rosanne Scott

Last year was the 25th birthday of a cultural icon and regenerative hub, nestled into the inner eastern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. City Farm is an extraordinary place – an urban farm with a big vision. This half hectare block was a degraded industrial wasteland. But an inspired community transformed it into a place for organic food, farming, community connection, arts, enterprise and education that enables people to live richly and regeneratively.

It’s first load of soil actually came from the original theatre production of another cultural landmark, Bran Nue Dae. So much of how City Farm came to be is an incredible story, often looking far from likely. And in the current context of the world, it feels like a powerful symbol of what’s possible, and an instructive experience for going about it.

“Anything that I’ve done has taken years to do. So when you want to do something that’s cutting edge, you have to be prepared to go the distance. It’s not just going to happen.”

— Rosanne Scott

Rosanne Scott is a colourful, open-hearted visionary. She was founding director of City Farm for its first 17 years, and is now Chair. All the while, she has been a trailblazer across many other areas and projects, all over the state, and has been honoured by organisations across the political and cultural spectrum for her decades of pioneering work. Born in Calcutta to a South Indian Anglican Minister and accomplished Armenian mother, and initially a primary school teacher in Australia, not much of Rosanne’s story seemed particularly likely either. We met up at City Farm a couple of days ago for this conversation.

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