18/06/2026
NEW ARTICLE:
Read full article with photos featuring Sayah Drummond.
Porongurup born and bred, Sayah Drummond loves the range’s unique ecology, natural beauty, and its close-knit community, all which has helped form her values and guided her choices. She is emerging and growing into the role as a next-generation leader, carrying the love of the environment and the community nestled around the ancient range.
I’ve known Sayah for a long time, and she has always stood out for her maturity, warmth, and bubbly personality. When asked about her art, she says she has always done it and was recognised in primary school for her talent and was offered a scholarship for Applecross Art Collage starting in year 8. Though she seriously considered it, the thought of leaving home as a 13-year-old and move to Perth was too hard and Sayah opted to continue her schooling locally.
Her mum stipulated that Sayah needed to study Art, whether in Perth or not, thus the Porongurup Tearooms Art classes commenced in 2008, initially under the helm of Di Sheehan. Many of the Porongurup creatives completed TAFE certificates in Visual Art at the Tearooms, including Sayah and both her parents.
Around this time, Sayah discovered another passion, the incredible local flora and fauna and this interest took her to UWA, where she completed a double degree in Environmental Science and Conservation. Returning home, she took up a position with the Oyster Harbour Catchment Group and later organised her first community event combining art and science with the Sixteen Legs spider expo, mixing arachnid education with rallying the art community to create an incredible range of spiders.
When Sayah’s mother lost her long battle with cancer, the family was brought to a crossroad and decisions needed to be made. For Sayah, this meant choosing family, her home and the family business. With this, art has become a more prominent aspect of her life, in 2024 Sayah was asked to take on the role of heading the committee who organises the Art in the Porongurup event and 2025 was her first year in charge. This year was even bigger, with the centennial of the range being protected as a National Park.
This year also saw the completion of the extension at the shop and tearooms, which now houses The Porongurup Art Studio and gallery space and the tradition of weekly creative gatherings are being carried on in this bespoke space under Sayah’s lead.
Sayah recently completed her largest artworks to date, a landscape inspired mural on a water tank at Karribank, which took a whopping 90 hours to complete. Sayah was also recently invited to join the Mountain Country Art, which Sayah accepted, saying that it is a very professional group and that she is keen to increase her art network and MCA ethos aligns with her own love of the mountains which hold such rich biodiversity and stunning beauty.
It’s said that it takes a village to raise a child, so the Porongurup community can be very proud of this very dynamic young lady.
Åsa
