New South Wales

The McGowan logic – sustainable native forest logging is not acceptable for the environment, but the widespread clearing of jarrah for bauxite is

25 June 2022 / 12 Comments

Introduction In September 2021, the Premier of Western Australia, Mark McGowan, made a shock announcement that all native forest logging would cease in 2024, at the end of the current 10-year Forest Management Plan. The decision was made without consultation with the timber industry, public, or government agencies. The reasons for the decision were to save …

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Who was Jack Rate?

25 June 2022 / 7 Comments

While I stayed at Walpole, I read about a local forester named John “Jack” Henry Rate. Jack was the first forester in the area and has a tree, lookout, road and a forest block named after him. I had never heard of him before, and I thought he should be more widely known with that …

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Cattle kings – the rise and fall of pastoralism in the East Kimberley region

25 June 2022 / 3 Comments

“The East Kimberley is the land of blacks, Sacks [another prolific local clan thought to be Irish] and bloody Duracks“. Anon “If one were to paint this country in its true colours, I doubt it would be believed. It would be said at least that the artist exaggerated greatly, for never have I seen such …

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Grass rings of the outback and trees of the artificial wilderness

25 June 2022 / 3 Comments

“Fire has helped the flammable spinifex invade this vast land, and that spinifex has helped fire to dominate the landscape”. Peter Latz So I’ll see you out on the mulga and spinifex plain; Anytime, Tjilpi, I’ll be coming back this way; See you out on the mulga and spinifex plain; Just light me a fire …

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Swallowed up by the sea – solving Australia’s most enduring maritime tragedy

25 June 2022 / Leave a Comment

On 19 November 1941, on the Indian Ocean off the Western Australian coast, the Royal Australian Navy’s greatest warship, the HMAS Sydney II, was sunk by a disguised German raider. It was and still is the worst naval disaster in Australia’s history. All 645 officers and men on board HMAS Sydney II were lost at sea, representing 35 …

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Fabricated myths and politics are causing the mismanagement of water in the Murray-Darling Basin

25 June 2022 / 4 Comments

“It doesn’t matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true.“[1] Before I started our travels, I recall hearing and reading stories about the parlous state of the Murray River and its basin. These calls are always louder when there is a drought.[2]  On our trip, I have spent a lot of time …

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Lines in the sand

25 June 2022 / 5 Comments

I recall reading an article by demographer Bernard Salt a few years ago about Australia being a continent divided by borders, lines, fences and boundaries. As I travel el around Australia I am reminded of his reference to ‘lines and boundaries’. Being a demographer, Salt referred to imaginary concepts based on social or physical elements, …

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A Charred landscape

25 June 2022 / 10 Comments

“The dead ash forests reach starkly towards the sky like sentinels bearing witness to the holocaust just past, and those who love the bush are heavy hearted because this may be only the beginning of what is yet to come.” David Treasure, 2007[1] Since 1939, the high-country forests in Victoria were relatively free of devastating …

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