132 australiancountry.net.auThese pages:
Fred and Colleen
Fahey have created a
three-hectare, park-
style haven in the
bush near Cowra.
There’s no such thing as a straight line in nature
and Fred Fahey has done his best to follow this
inspiration in the garden he has created in the
NSW central-west. The Cowra agricultural pilot
and his wife, Colleen, have created a splendid
park-like expanse on their farm, Banna Billa,
which means “place with lots of water” in the local
Wiradjuri language.
And water there is in abundance. With proximity to
the Lachlan River, good-quality bore water, three above-
ground tanks collecting roof water, one 160,000-litre
underground tank and a huge dam that serves as both
further water storage and the garden’s centrepiece,
there is no question of ever running out of the precious
resource. It has allowed Fred to create an eight-acre
(three-hectare) haven in the bush.
“Colleen and I both grew up at Boorowa, about 80km
to the south,” he explains. “Forty years ago, I learned
to fl y at Cowra and I’ve been an ag pilot ever since. I’ve
worked all over, but I started my business here 27 years
ago and we put down roots here. We found thisGARDEN PROFILE