Our Courses
Courses are conducted at the Centre located at the heart of Davy's inspiring original farm location in Central Victoria.
The area hosts over 2 km of dry stone walls both internal and external, with old oaks , maple and ash trees planted in Davy's time.
Today the Centre sits comfortably within Tandarrum's 1200 tree Olive Grove.
Our instructors are internationally certified wallers from the UK and Australia. They are all practising wallers with years of experience behind them. Our courses cater to aspiring wallers of all ages and capabilities.
Our instructors teach the ancient methods of Dry Stone Walling that have stood the test of time for hundreds of years.
Introductory Course-Beginner
What you will learn:
✓ Principles of Dry Stone Walling
✓ How to strip out a wall
✓ Setting up your pins and lines
✓ Foundations
✓ First and Second Lift techniques
✓ Through Stones
✓ Applying Coping Stone
✓ Cheekend techniques
Format:
✓ 2 day course, fully catered morning/afternoon teas plus farmers lunch
✓ Internationally qualified instructor
✓ Fully endorsed by the Dry Stone Wall Association of Australia
Next Available Introductory Courses
5/6 April 2025
3/4 May 2025
11/12 Oct 2025
15/16 November 2025
What you will achieve:
✓ Within a group you will be able to complete a wall, applying the learnings from the course
✓ You will gain confidence in being able to understand and build a basic wall that will stand for generations.
✓ Once complete, you will be able to undertake more advanced courses such as Retaining Walls, Project Planning, Curved Walling, Building down slopes and so on.
Pricing:
✓ Price is set for $650 inclusive of
GST for the two days and includes all catering, tools, qualified instructors, pre- reading, handouts and
information takeaways and full
use of the purpose built training centre at Tanderrum for training and practice.
✓ 10% discount for earlybird payment 14 days in advance of course commencement
(use Promotional Code XB24Z when booking)
Special - Dry Stone Wall Repair - Training Course - suitable for beginners and DYI's
Proudly partnering with The City of Whittlesea and Rock Bank Farm, Mernda
What you will learn:
✓ Principles of Dry Stone Walling
✓ How to identify and clean out
✓ Understanding levels and batter
✓ Stone selection and sorting
✓ Application of heritage
✓ Strength and sustainability
✓ Basalt Farm Wall repair techniques and tips
Format:
✓ 2 day course, fully catered morning/afternoon teas plus farmers lunch
✓ Internationally qualified instructor
✓ In partnership with Whittlesea City Council
What you will achieve:
✓ Within a group you will be able to understand techniques and complete a renovation/repair on a Basalt Heritage Farm wall in Victoria
✓ You will understand the princciples of Dry Stone Walling
Pricing:
✓ Price is set for $650 inclusive of
GST for the two days and includes all catering, tools, qualified instructors, pre- reading, handouts and
information takeaways and full
access to Rockbank
✓ 10% discount for earlybird payment 14 days in advance of course commencement
(use Promotional Code XB24Z when booking)
Dry Stone Wall Repair Course New Date
23/24 November 2024
Quarry Course-Advanced
What You Will Learn:
✓ How to select stone - what are the advantages and disadvantages of different types of stone
✓ Selecting Tools - what tools are available and what is their purpose
✓ Shaping Stone - a lesson in how to shape different types of stone.
✓ Practical Shaping - using tools and having a go yourself.
Format:
✓ Short Day course
✓ Expert and qualified instructor/s
✓ Maximum of 12 participants
✓ Course is held 8:30am to 1:30pm in Castlemaine, VIC
✓ Lunch will follow the course at a local pub where students can engage with the instructors and ask questions etc.
Pricing:
✓ This course is priced at $150 and does not include lunch.
Note:
Completion of a Basic Course or equivalent is a prerequisite before attempting any of these Advanced courses.
7 December 2024
14 June 2025
6 Dec 2025
Certification
The Dry Stone Wall Association of Australia - http://dswaa.org.au/ - has developed a strategy towards certification of Dry Stone Wallers in Australia. They have endorsed the UK Certification Program as the Australian Standard for wallers to reach for professional accreditation. KDSWC only uses instructors certified under this system of accredition and also runs certification training and testing for people who wish to advance to this standard.
You can find out more on the UK program by using this link; http://www.dswa.org.uk/craftsman-certification-scheme.asp
The Kyneton Dry Stone Walling Centre has developed and is offering testing for people who aspire to Level 1(Initial) and Level 2 (Intermediate) certification. Tests are held with authority of DSWA (GB) and conducted by Geoff Duggan who is Australia's only Master Waller. Practice walls will be available on request the week before the test weekend. Bookings close 6 weeks prior to the testing weekend commencing due to registration requirements from DSWA (GB). This means that all wallers wishing to be tested need to have all paperwork into Jim Kilsby for compiling and sending to the UK
If you are interested in becoming certified, please contact Jim to register your interest.
Certification Testing
Next test yet to be scheduled
CALL JIM: 0490090279