***• House made of straw near Broken Hill, NSW - very hot, dry inland Australia***

by

Anika Molesworth

Outback Australia can sometimes be a difficult place to call home – it’s far from city services, it’s scorching hot in summer months, and can wear down spirits when droughts take hold.

It is also a challenging place to create a home when tradies are few and far between and suppliers don’t ship that far inland.

The Outback Climate Smart Home

That’s why the Outback Climate Smart Home is unique. Because, despite all this, in the ‘middle of nowhere’ sits a stunning off-grid eco-friendly house.

This is no normal house – although that’s exactly what its creator-homeowner wants it to be. She wants houses just like this one to become the norm.

Dr Anika Molesworth is a specialist in environmental management, agriculture and climate change solutions, and in 2023 embarked on an ambitious project to create her ‘forever home’ using natural and recycled building materials.

“As much as I could, I wanted to steer clear of new products, synthetics, and to cut out waste. The world has enough resources in circulation, we don’t need to be creating new “stuff” and throwing the old into landfill,” Anika says.

Straw wall panels, giving farm stubble a new and important purpose

One of the most loved features of her house, known as the Outback Climate Smart Home, are the walls made from Durra Panel. This is a compressed straw product that is completely natural and biodegradable, and has incredible thermal and sound insulation properties.

“I love our walls, I really do! I am so proud our house is made from straw. Not only is this an organic product so it’s great for the planet, but it also creates a secondary income stream for farmers who convert their waste straw stubble into wall and ceiling panels.”

“On any building site there is always a pile of off-cuts and waste. But not many building sites then dig those off-cuts into their garden beds like we can! Because Durra Panel is totally plant based we have been able to use any scrap pieces as mulch in the native garden we are planting around our house.”

Eco-friendly walls made from all natural compressed straw

In addition to straw walls, the house boasts recycled glass benchtops from Eco Benchtops, bamboo flooring from House of Bamboo, water tanks from Bushmans, and a complete wrap-around timber deck made out of demolished houses, thanks to the wonderful work of Thor’s Hammer.

“There are some amazing organisations supporting a better building industry when one starts looking, and we need to back them. These businesses are creating Australian jobs, diverting waste from landfill, supporting farmers, and giving resources a second life,” says Anika.

Recycled glass kitchen and laundry bench tops

Many of the furnishings inside the house came from op-shops and hand-me-downs. The corrugated iron sheets were re-purposed from the original homestead as rustic exterior walls. Even the garage boasts an electric car and a rugged off-road Polaris buggy.

“Driving around the property in silence and running off sunshine is pretty nice! Electric vehicles are the way of the future, we absolutely need to be cutting emissions out of the transport sector. The Polaris Electric Ranger is quiet, capable and the dogs riding the back tray absolutely love it!”

The future of farm vehicles is electric… and the future is here

A house made of straw in the outback may seem like a wild concept, but according to Anika we need to be thinking about climate smart housing and living lighter on the planet.

“Designing eco-friendly houses is certainly not impossible. If we can do it out here, then anyone can. We need to be bold and courageous and create houses that look after our common home, Earth.”

Running off sunshine, the Outback Climate Smart Home is completely off-grid

• ***Running off sunshine, the Outback Climate Smart Home is completely off-grid***

Water is precious in the outback, so large Bushman Tanks are essential

You can find out more about the Outback Climate Smart Home here and on Instagram, and follow Anika’s work via her website and read her book, Our Sunburnt Country.

Anika Molesworth

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