The Hendry's at Arrawatta Station

NSF Champion #4: Susan Hendry – From Drainage to Rehydration at Arrawatta Station

Our fourth Natural Sequence Farming Champion story takes us to Arrawatta Station on the New England Tablelands, where Susan Hendry is proving that sometimes the best infrastructure already exists — it just needs to be reimagined.

The Inheritance

Five years ago, Susan purchased Arrawatta Station. This property had been heavily fogged and was dominated by large drainage banks designed to move water off the landscape as fast as possible.

The infrastructure was there. The earthworks were in place. But the system was working against the landscape.

As Susan explains in her story: "We started with a property that was a drainage system through large drainage banks."

Rather than accepting this as the way things had to be, Susan asked a different question: What if we could retrofit the drainage system to work with the landscape rather than against it?

The Paradigm Shift

"At Arrawatta Station, we're changing the paradigm from the water drainage system to a landscape rehydration system," Susan says.

The solution was elegantly simple: retrofit the drainage banks into chains of ponds.

"I've retrofitted the drainage system into chains of ponds so that they can retain the water and let it slowly filter into the landscape."

This wasn't a complete rebuild. It was a strategic reimagining of existing infrastructure — turning a system designed to remove water into a system designed to hold it, slow it, and allow it to rehydrate the soil.

The Opportunity

Natural Sequence Farming consultant Will Cannington, who worked with Susan on implementing the systems at Arrawatta, sees massive potential for this approach across the slopes region.

"When you look at an aerial map or satellite photos of the slopes region, 25% of the cleared country would be contour drained, which is moving water off the landscape as fast as we possibly can," Will explains. "So there's an opportunity there to create chains of ponds and slow that system down."

That's not a small opportunity. That's 25% of the cleared slopes country — tens of thousands of hectares across NSW and Queensland — where existing drainage infrastructure could be retrofitted to rehydrate landscapes instead of draining them.

And the work itself? It's remarkably straightforward.

"It takes about 15 minutes for the days that we've got available here on the farm. It might take you 20 minutes, 25 minutes with the front-end loader and chisel plough. It's very, very simple work to do," Will says.

Simple work. Profound impact.

Creating the Conditions for Recovery

When Susan purchased Arrawatta, the property was in poor condition. "It was in pretty poor state when we bought it," Susan reflects.

But rather than trying to force immediate productivity, Susan focused on creating an environment where the soil could repair itself.

"Over the time we've been here, we've been working on an environment where the soil can repair itself. The plants that it's growing can change and evolve until they're into a fodder-style plant."

For the first few years, Arrawatta grew what Susan calls "accumulator plants" — species that most people in the industry call weeds.

"We didn't spray them. We used our cattle to trample them, eat them where possible, and where not possible, we slash them. So we created a nutrient cycle."

This is Natural Sequence Farming in practice — working with what the landscape is growing, understanding its function, and using livestock as a tool to process and cycle nutrients back into the soil.

A System Approach

Susan's work at Arrawatta wasn't limited to retrofitting drainage banks. She took a whole-of-system approach.

"One of the other key things we did with our cropping land here — it had all been set up in a big drainage system. So over that period of time, we've put in some significant Natural Sequence Farming work from little contour chains of ponds through to a lot of rock work in areas where we were passing across various water flows on the property."

The goal? Slow the flow from the top down to the bottom.

"None of them were eaten out. And we've put in lots of structures high up in the country so that we slow the flow right from the top all the way down to the bottom."

This top-to-bottom approach is critical. You can't just work at the bottom of a catchment and expect results. You need to slow water from the top down, creating a cascade of benefits as water moves through the landscape.

The Results

Susan didn't implement this work alone. Kate and Ryan, the land managers at Arrawatta, have been working alongside her to regenerate the landscape — and they're seeing clear results.

"I suppose what we've noticed is the area where the work has been done is the first to green up, and it's the last to dry out," Kate explains.

That's not a small thing. In a variable climate, having areas that green up first and dry out last is the difference between feed availability and feed shortage.

"So you are potentially growing more dry matter because you do have access to water in the landscape for longer," Kate continues. "It's basically given us a second bite at the cherry, and that's money in the bank for us."

This is what resilience looks like on the ground. Not just surviving droughts, but maintaining productivity through them.

The Nutrient Cycle

For Susan, this work extends well beyond water management. It's about the entire nutrient cycle — from soil to plant to animal to food.

"I know it's a bit of a cliche, but you are what you eat, and this is very much the same for the cattle," Susan says. "So the Natural Sequence Farming allowed us to retain water in the landscape to feed the organisms in the soil, which then feeds the plants, which then feeds the cattle — and that translates all the way through to the nutrients they all put into the food that you're then going to eat."

This is systems thinking at its best. Every part of the system affects every other part. When you rehydrate the landscape, you're not just adding water — you're feeding soil biology, supporting plant growth, improving animal health, and ultimately producing more nutrient-dense food.

Native-Bred Aberdeen Angus

Susan runs what she calls "native bred Aberdeen Angus" — cattle raised by the Scots and line-bred for 200 years.

"We brought with us what are called native bred Aberdeen Angus that were raised by the Scots, line-bred for 200 years," Susan explains. "Perfect home for Scottish cattle" on the New England Tablelands.

The connection between landscape, cattle breed, and production is clear to Susan. The right cattle in the right landscape, managed with the right principles, create the right outcomes.

From Drainage to Rehydration

Susan Hendry's work at Arrawatta Station demonstrates a critical point: transformation doesn't always require starting from scratch.

Sometimes the infrastructure is already there. It just needs to be reimagined.

By retrofitting drainage banks into chains of ponds, Susan has turned a system that was degrading her landscape into a system that's rehydrating it.

And the opportunity to replicate this work? It's enormous.

As Will Cannington points out, 25% of the slopes region is contour drained. That's a landscape-scale opportunity for rehydration — one property, one retrofit, one chain of ponds at a time.

The work is simple. The results speak for themselves. And the future Susan is building at Arrawatta? It's one where soil, water, plants, cattle, and people all thrive together.

👉 Watch Susan's full story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ASM_-Xofe8

Peter Andrews OAM spent his life showing people that there's a better way to work with the landscape. This story continues that mission — proof that the work is happening, right now, across Australia.

Let's Rehydrate Australia — together.

We'd love to hear your thoughts after you watch Susan's story. Comment below and let us know what resonates with you.

P.S. If you know someone who's managing drained country — someone who's looking at old drainage banks and wondering if there's a better way — please share Susan's story with them. The infrastructure might already be there. It just needs to be reimagined.

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🌏 Learn more: rehydrateaustralia.com

This is the fourth story in our Rehydrate Australia series, sharing the journeys of farmers and land managers implementing Natural Sequence Farming across Australia.

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