FOULKES-TAYLOR OAM Janette Floyd (Jano)

1940 –

The 20th century saw vast changes in the management of the fragile pastoral areas of Western Australia from relatively unrestricted exploitation to careful and sustainable land-use to preserve its cultural, scenic and pastoral potential. Jano Foulkes-Taylor is recognized for her active role at the forefront of this continuing technological and social development.

She was born in the Eastern Goldfields and spent most of her life on stations in the Murchison. She is noted for her passion for the conservation of the region’s resources. She has coupled this with a commitment to diversifying enterprises in the rangelands and to educational, communicational and social changes that have allowed young people to acquire the skills to live and work successfully in the region.

She has been an articulate advocate in State and Federal forums and committees on distance education, remote-area communication, and the use of new expertise to improve productivity.  At the same time, she actively contributes to the running of the family’s properties, using, for example, her skills as a pilot during mustering and her intimate knowledge of the rangelands to experiment with growing and marketing of wildflowers and opening a farm-stay resource.