Ueli Hurter’s Biodynamics Tour Down Under

Celebrating 100 year anniversary of Rudolf Steiner Agriculture lectures

 

Ueli Hurter’s biodynamics tour of Australia to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the biodynamics movement took place from 7-15 May 2024 –  and has been deemed a great success!

Hamish McKay’s chronology of BD development in Australia from 1924-2024

‘A 10-day whirlwind of activity,’ writes co-organiser Mark Patton ‘of some 11 formal lectures in Australia, contributed at three field days, presented to three Steiner schools, had two formal Demeter representative meetings, recorded an extended podcast, and contributed to numerous Anthroposophy branch meetings.’ The tour definitively placed the Australian movement on the global map of biodynamics. And as Ueli joked, we discovered that “Tasmania in the centre of BD universe!”’

‘So in the seed we get an image of the universe’ 

Rudolf Steiner

‘The flow on effect of the tour is both seen and unseen’, continues Mark: ‘fellowship amongst participants, information sharing between Ueli and participants, increased communication amongst participating Steiner schools, collaboration amongst anthroposophical branch members, communication between a representative of the Goetheanum and its membership, not to mention the collaboration amongst a small working group in achieving the goal of both raising the profile of biodynamics and celebrating the 100-year anniversary of biodynamics.’

‘Thank you, Ueli, for your generosity of spirit in your trip down under!’

Mark Patton, on behalf of the BD Zoom working group of Paul Martin, Rob Birse, Mark Patton, Cole Bradshaw, Steve Kapolice, Brian Keats, Simon Martin, Jane Bradshaw, and Trevor Crowe.

Watch videos from Ueli Hurter’s Tour 

There are several recordings of parts of the tour, which are available for viewing on BioDynamics Tasmania’s YouTube channel. Find out more about how the tour unfolded below – read the collection of state reports listed below and browse the gallery of photos. 

Read Mark Patton’s full overview of Ueli Hurter’s tour

Excerpt: To acknowledge and help celebrate the centenary anniversary of the creation of Rudolf Steiner’s 1924 Agriculture Lectures, a group of biodynamic friends came together via fortnightly zoom meetings to plan an event. What would the relevance of these lectures be for Australia today? What would be a suitable way to commemorate such an important milestone? Read more …

Read the Biodynamics Tasmania report for a detailed description of centenary events.  

Excerpt: The celebrations in Tasmania aimed to develop authentic dialogue between healing and regeneration across land, people and community, so that new harmonies may emerge and guide further BD developments into the future”.

It was an honour for Biodynamics Tasmania to host Ueli Hurter (Co-head of Biodynamics International), along with Brian Keats (BD Elder in Australia and creator of the Antipodean Astro-Calenda), Jason Andrew Smith (palawa man), and over 150 Biodynamics Tasmania guests, commemorating 100 years since Steiner’s Agriculture Lectures.  Read more…

Read Paul Martin’s brief report on Ueli Hurter’s Queensland tour

Excerpt: Ueli Hurter visited Queensland for less than 24 hours, arriving on the evening of the 13th May! During that very brief time he gave an all-encompassing evening lecture to about 50 people at Samford Valley Rudolf Steiner School. At Blackall Range, he briefly experienced our sub-tropical climate, our warm winter temperatures, our greenness and our verdant growth forces. Read more…

Read a brief report on Ueli Hurter’s Sydney visit

Excerpt: Saturday’s lectures were inspiring, professional and alive. They were followed by an evening concert of music, speech, eurythmy, and an amusing play on composting. Read more…

 

Final words

A final word from Ueli Hurter at the airport as he was leaving:

I’m deeply impressed and enriched from all this encounters. I guess that I reached up to 1000 people all places together. Biodynamics has been absolutely in the forefront, even I had also 3 encounters with groups of members.

Biodynamic is a lifestyle, it touches people’s hearts and creates hope and courage and engagement. For the ones who are farmers and gardeners, it’s just a key for success and a joyful work. I guess that the soils here in down under are in a way receptive for the preparations which we don’t know in Europe.  

The tour had been worked out by Mark and his Zoomgroup of Rebels. Great work!

And most important the tour has been enabled by the Anthroposophical Societies in NZ and AU through your initiative. I think it’s right as it shall be. The AG as an enabler for the life,  which is in the same time the school (at least in its dimension of the sections) and touches the karmic substance in peoples heart.

So – Thanks you so much! Please take this thank to your boards and members. I express it on behalf of my person, on behalf of the section for agriculture and on behalf of the BD movement.

“As that man may become sun for the earth”2

 

Ueli Hurter
Vorstand am Goetheanum
Read Ueli Hurter’s own report on this tour of Australia and New Zealand.  

 

Photo Gallery 

Click on each photo to enlarge

 

 

 

 

Photos: courtesy of Emily Samuels-Ballantyne and Fiona Campbell

1 Rudolf Steiner, Lecture II, Agriculture, 10 June, 1924, Koberwitz, CW 327 
2 from Sergei Prokofieff, And the Earth Becomes a Sun The Mystery of the Resurrection