Bill Mollison

Bruce Charles ‘Bill’ Mollison (born 1928 in Stanley, Tasmania, Australia died 24 September 2016 Sisters Beach, Tasmania). He left school at fifteen to help run the family bakery and before 26 was a shark fisherman and seaman, forester, mill-worker, trapper, snarer, tractor driver and naturalist. His lack of formal education gave him many learning opportunities in how the real world works. Bill joined the CSIRO (Wildlife Survey Section) in 1954 and gained extensive research knowledge. His time in the Tasmanian rainforests gave him the founding structure for what became his life’s passion – Permaculture. Upon receiving his degree in bio-geography, he was appointed to the University of Tasmania where he later developed the unit of Environmental Psychology. In 1974, with David Holmgren, Bill developed the beginning of the permaculture concept, leading to the publication of Permaculture One. Leaving the University in 1978, Bill devoted all his energies to furthering the system of permaculture and spreading the idea and principles worldwide. In 1981, Bill Mollison received the Right Livelihood Award (sometimes called the “Alternative Nobel Prize”) for his work in environmental design. The pinnacle of his career to his students was the publication in 1988 of PERMACULTURE: A Designers' Manual, honoured to this day by devotees as ‘The Bible of Permaculture’ Bill Mollison founded the first and original Permaculture Institute, which was established in 1979 to teach the practical design of sustainable soil, water, plant, and legal and economic systems to students worldwide (currently based at Tagari Garden Farm, Sisters Creek, Tasmania, Australia – where Tagari Publications is also located). Bill’s legacy is that hundreds of thousands of past students have created a world-wide network to take his concept forward. All of Bill’s books are still published by Tagari Publications and can be purchased directly from their websites where they can be sent worldwide. Part of the above bio. was originally published by Graham Bell.