Worimi man, Joshua Gilbert is one of the most influential young men in agriculture in NSW, especially when it comes to the environment.
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At this year's Nature Conservation Council environment awards, Joshua won the Rising Star Award, presented to an outstanding environmentalist aged under 30.
"I was pretty surprised but honestly I'm just really humbled," he said.
"For me it's obviously a really important award and it's good to have the recognition."
He is keen to not take the credit just for himself.
Nominated by Reconciliation NSW, Joshua says the award also is a celebration of the work undertaken by that organisation.
Joshua is the Indigenous co-chair of Reconciliation NSW.
The citation for his Rising Star Award says that Joshua is: "Developing a new narrative in the agricultural sector that represents Indigenous agricultural interests that have a strong links to environmental land management and stewardship."
With a vast and impressive resume, Joshua was instrumental in campaigning against the NSW Biodiversity Conservation Legislation that led to broadacre land clearing.
Previously the chairperson of NSW Young Famers, he resigned that position over the organisation's stance on the legislation and worked with conservation groups to advocate against the policy changes.
He developed the first pro-active climate change policy of a political farming organisation (NSW Farmers Association) that recognised that farmers were on the frontlines of climate change.
This led to him attending the 2015 Paris Climate Change summit as a representative of the agricultural sector.
Josh was a founding member of Farmers for Climate Action in Australia which led to him attending the 2015 Paris Climate Change summit as a representative of the agricultural sector.
He was a Young Australian of the Year finalist, and in 2016 was named Australian Geographic's Conservationist of the Year.
He produced a documentary for inclusion in Al Gore's Climate Reality Project, viewed by more than 100 million people throughout the world.
He also gave a TedX presentation in Canberra.
Josh is working as a researcher at the University of Technology, Sydney while at the same time studying for a PhD from Charles Sturt University.
He is the first Aboriginal to conduct higher degree research in the agricultural sector, exploring the role of Indigenous identity and culture through western agriculture, post colonisation, the citation for the Rising Star Award notes.
While he now lives in Gloucester, his family has a farm at Nabiac, breeding Clydesdale horses and Braford cattle.
He and his family are regulars at local shows
Josh is on the Wingham Beef Week committee, and, further afield, is also on the committee for the St Heliers Heavy Horse Field Days near Muswellbrook.
He tries to spend as much time on the farm as he can, continuing the family tradition.
His family has been farming since 1825 using western agricultural methods, but have been living on the land for 60,000 years before that, he says.
"I'm sure that we will have young Aboriginal people farming on my country for the next 60,000 years," Josh said.
"I think the biggest narration that comes out of this is that we need the combination of Indigenous people and knowledge interwoven with western agriculture to make sure that we have the best benefit for all into the future."
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