Skills, experience and knowledge matter the most when they’re passed on, especially to younger generations.
As an EOV Master Verifier and qualified TAFE teacher of Holistic Management, Tony Hill delivers physical and online training courses to participants widely dispersed across Australia, which includes innovative practical exercises for participants.
More recently, he has designed and led the implementation of online systems for securely storing and sharing data among the geographically dispersed monitoring and verification teams of AHMC, and the use of online tools for effective interaction between domestic and international team members.
Over twelve years with the NSW Rural Fire Service, Tony trained multiple groups of firefighters in the correct calculation, coordination and safe usage of technology, including an assessment event for fifty early-stage firefighters. He also mentored women in firefighting roles, shifting the perception that they could only participate in support positions. Under his leadership, women were encouraged to work through the training needed to become effective members of RFS crews, and as a result, women now participate on an equal basis in local brigade crews.
In his work with environmental issues, Tony has also learnt from the knowledge and practices of Australia’s First Nations people, through reading of crucial texts and attendance at ‘cultural burning’ exercises, where Indigenous people lead the discussion and demonstrate techniques for cultivating and caring for the land.
In 2021 Southern Cross University appointed him as a mentor for their pioneering Regenerative Agriculture Mentor Program, designed to facilitate transformative change in agriculture. Successful applicants work with mentors to develop their capabilities in regenerative agriculture, and are also introduced to some of the rapidly-growing opportunities for startup ventures in that field. Tony’s ecological teaching and training work continues, while further university mentoring and student supervision roles are under development.