Amazon Acres

Amazon Acres was a separatist feminist commune that operated in northern New South Wales, Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. Amazon Acres was ruled by consensus which participants admitted was challenging.

The commune was governed by the Three Ms:

• No men
• No meat
• No machines.

Like most other separatist feminist communes Amazon Acres ultimately failed, partly because the vast majority of young women who were brought up in the commune chose to leave during their teenage years and return to normal society.

Amber Jackson is an Australian woman who reportedly lived on Amazon Acres from the ages of 5-14. Jackson was one of many young women who left separatist feminist communes in their teenage years.

Jackson describes the freedom and independence of growing up in the commune. The lack of self-sufficiency ultimately resulted in its closure, suggesting that the freedom and independence were an illusion.

External Links

• ABC Article
• Sydney Morning Herald