A Spiritual, Self-Sustaining Community: Alternative Living

Living in a Sydney hostel while looking for a job in Australia turned out to be extremely expensive. For an interesting accomodation alternative for the weekend we looked up some contacts on Couchsurfing.org. Not only would it give us the opportunity to save some money, but we found a few interesting people who we thought we'd like to meet- Rowan Classen was one of them. He emailed us back almost immediately and told us to come visit for the weekend, he would send his girlfriend to pick us up from the train station.

We would have arrived at Rowans one hour after boarding a train from Central Station, however luck would have it that we boarded the right directional train, but the wrong train! Turns out the tracks split at Blacktown, so we had to take an additional train to back-track to Blacktown, and then an another train which took us to our destination: Mulgrave. 

We arrived in Mulgrave, a small rural town 50 km from Sydney 3 hours later! By this time some funky weather was mixing in the sky as the sun went down- which made for an amazing sunset as we drove to his home. As we arrived we were told about its history. We were standing in front of a 180 yr old slab house! Built simply of stone slabs, wood and a tin roof, it was miraculously still standing. With some minor restorations and a few fire places added, the house functioned properly, although it did get pretty cold at night!

Rowan, his mother, father and brother all live on the property, in separate houses which are spread through-out the land, which is actually a cut off section of the rainforest. The property lies on a river in between 2 national parks, and is surrounded by beautiful tropical flora, fauna and wildlife. Although it is just outside the city limits the area has a fantastic country feeling. The area is very quiet, rural, and at night the sky is so clear the constellations could be mistaken as a ceiling. The area is dotted with several farms, and Rowan himself has pet alpacas and ducks roaming the property. Down by the river is where I spotted my first kangaroo- it must have been nearly 7 ft. tall!

Over the two days we were guests of Rowans, we learned that he is very passionate about seeking the truth in all things. We talked for hours on end, but one of the things he said still repeats clearly in my mind today. He said,“When money comes first, everything else comes second, including the truth. “It is difficult to describe exactly what this may mean, because we discussed so many interesting subjects, but if you care to know you must meet him for yourself. Being very knowledgeable about ancient history, astrology, natural remedies, and sustainable development Im sure he could have interesting coversations with any open-minded individual. He is currently developing alternative energies to self-sustain during a time of need. We were given a tour of his property and shown the different technologies he is currently using. Since having city water brought to the property is extremely expensive and latent with flouride, (something he aggressively disagrees with) Rowan prefers to collect water in creative, alternative ways. He recycles and filters rain water for drinking and for showers. While I was there he was expanding his catchment system to be able to provide water for more people. He also uses dehumidifiers to extract clean drinking water from the air.

A natural, compost toilet which requires no water from the city is also one of his completed projects. He built it himself after attending a workshop at a festival called Confest. From what he explained to me it seems relatively simple and an environmentally friendly alternative to wasting fresh water and/or using lime to decompose waste in the typical out-house. Also, its almost stink-less! (The waste goes down into a catchment system which is virutally air tight. There is a fan at the bottom which removes methane- ideally the toilet lid should be closed after use, so when reopened a suction is created, pulling air down, pushing methane out. This reduces any foul smell while natural organisms decompose the waste.) Its ZEN too!

Rowan is in the process of developing a sustainable and spiritual community, which will be called White Gums Community, after the native tree that covers the rainforest. If you are an open-minded, spiritual individual, please visit to learn more!

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