About
It is said that the first vessels were created not to hold objects, but to hold stories. Wonderground is a vessel for stories that grow from the soil. Stories about who and where we are, where we want to go, and how we might get there.
Regeneration is the word that best describes the Wonderground mission, ethos and output. How can we move towards a way of being – as individuals and businesses and societies – that gives more to the world than it takes? How can we grow a world that fosters life, in all its wild expression?
Wonderground holds these questions, whilst traversing the terrain of nature and ecology, design and architecture, art and culture. We defy easy definition, because meaning is not genre-specific and life is messy.
2024 UPDATE: Wonderground is currently dormant. The website is not being updated, and no new print journals are in production.
What makes Wonderground unique?
- We focus on the often-intimate relationships between humans and the other-than human world, in the context of larger ecological and cultural crises.
- We are writers, not content creators. The stories we publish and share are thoughtful and highly-crafted. Language is a powerful tool to be wielded with skill, compassion and the utmost care.
- We’re in love. Love is an explicit underpinning of our work. It is present, visible, celebrated.
- We cultivate beauty, meaning and mess by celebrating the spaces between things. We make room for truth, in all its multiplicity.
- We occasionally lean towards irreverence. Life is tragic, occasionally magic, and in-between, it’s often comedic. We love telling big stories in ways that are unexpected, sideways, human.
- We aspire to humility. We don’t know much and we know it. We’re interested, curious and wonder-struck.
Our History
Wonderground began as The Planthunter – an online publication founded and edited by Australian writer and editor Georgina Reid in 2013. Over nearly a decade of online publishing, The Planthunter grew a deeply engaged international audience, celebrated for its fierce commitment to communicating the importance and wonder of the natural world through rich, evocative and real storytelling.
In 2020, Wonderground print journal was born. It grew from the realisation that times of upheaval and change are also great times to take risks. What do we choose to do with our time when contrivances are stripped away, when the realness of life shows itself? Do we sit with complacency or hurl ourselves towards action? We choose action, always. In 2022, The Planthunter online platform evolved into Wonderground, consolidating our vision and output into one digital home.
Our Values
Integrity, always.
This shapes how we engage, what we publish, who we work with.
Do good.
We’re growing a financially sustainable for-purpose publishing house grounded in doing good business. We print our journal on 100% recycled paper in Australia, pay contributors, raise money for not-for-profit organisation Groundswell Giving through community partnerships and fundraising events. We can do more, always, and we will.
Be humble, be curious.
We are more interested in questions than answers. Like: What does it mean to be alive right now, as our world slips towards dramatic transformation? How can we – the writers, gardeners, farmers, ecologists, artists and designers – be of service at this time?
Make it beautiful.
Cynicism doesn’t provoke insight and new perspectives, but beautiful words, ideas and visions do.
Our Team
Editor and Publisher
Georgina Reid
Sub Editor
Leta Keens
Photo Editor at Large
Daniel Shipp
Design
Evi O Studio
Editorial Advisory Board
Tamryn Bennett, Trisha Dixon, David Godshall, Janet Laurence, Adam Simpson, David Whitworth