BLISS FOR BIRDS

Fred Fahey has been an agricultural pilot for 40 years. Now he has built a haven for his fellow aviators, native and migratory birds in the garden of his home in central-western NSW.

- KIRSTY MCKENZIE

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. More than 40 years ago, he learned to fly at Cowra and became an ag pilot. "I've worked all over, but I started my business here and we put down roots here."

Fred says that when they found this place, he knew straight away that it was the place to fulfil his dreams of creating an expansive garden. "It's five kilometres from town and close to the hangar, so it's perfectly located."

Starting with what Fred describes as a "blank canvas with a few gum trees", he set about planning the garden with the dam as the focal point. "Some might call it a lake because that sounds more decorative," he says. "I didn't dig a hole; I basically built a wall and filled it with water. I then created the garden around it in two stages, starting at the front and spreading into the back after I bought another paddock."