New South Wales

Australia’s Amphibian Apocalypse

13 June 2025 / 5 Comments

Ninety years ago this month, Australia embarked on an ambitious but ultimately ill-fated experiment in biological control.

In 1935, Queensland sugar cane farmers faced a relentless enemy—the cane beetle. These voracious insects burrowed into sugarcane roots, devastating crops and threatening an industry vital to the nation’s economy. Desperate for a solution, scientists at the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations (BSES) looked to overseas biological control methods for inspiration.

A valley forged in timber

6 June 2025 / 6 Comments

The prosperity of the Hastings Valley was shaped by the hard work of timber workers and the power of sawmills. It is a valley of vast forests, where towering blackbutts (Eucalyptus pilularis), tallowwoods (E.microcorys), Sydney blue gums (E.saligna), brushboxes (Lophostomen confertus) and flooded gums (E.

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The man who walked the Bass Strait

9 May 2025 / 10 Comments

The Bass Strait submarine cables

In 1859, the first underwater telegraph cable in the Southern Hemisphere and the longest in the world was laid across Bass Strait.

Planning began in 1853 when discussions were held to build an overland line from Hobart in the south to Launceston in the north of Tasmania, extending across Bass Strait to Victoria.

Hello darkness, my old friend – Australia’s reckless closure of coal-fired power plants

2 May 2025 / 7 Comments

Australia has been actively closing its major coal power plants despite their clear advantages in terms of low operating costs and the ability to provide continuous baseload power, regardless of weather conditions. This reckless policy experiment has led to soaring energy prices and jeopardised reliability.

Despite clear warnings, governments and regulators have doubled down on forcing coal out of the market, despite its ability to provide dependable, dispatchable power in favour of intermittent renewables that cannot.

A case study in folly #4: The price of ignoring fire risks

7 March 2025 / 7 Comments

The day started rather innocuously on 18 March 2018 at Tathra, a serene coastal town nestled amidst the forested hills of southern New South Wales, renowned for its natural beauty near the sea. Yet, by 5 pm, this picturesque setting became the backdrop for a disaster that laid bare systemic failures in firefighting coordination, urban planning and bushfire preparedness.

A rain bomb hits Gympie and surrounding districts

21 February 2025 / 2 Comments

At 9.00 pm that night, it came bucketing down nonstop. It was so loud that it was hard to hear anything. By 11.00 pm, I thought it was pointless to go to bed and looked outside to check this downpour, with thunder rumbling and lightning flashing around us.

A resident describing conditions in Gympie on Friday night, 25 February 2022.

The great carbon credit con: A shonky system exposed

7 February 2025 / 5 Comments

Carbon offsetting is an honesty system coupled with a financial incentive for dishonesty.

– Ketan Joshi

Carbon credits, once hailed as a cornerstone of Australia’s climate change strategy, have been unmasked as a financial sleight of hand. They are marketed as a tool to curb emissions, yet in practice, they have become a glorified accounting trick, enriching a select few while diverting funds from genuine climate action.

Australia’s Engineering Marvel

17 January 2025 / 4 Comments

After the Snowy, she was a nation.

Nelson Lemmon

Thank God we had visionary leaders and the world’s best engineers in Australia 75 years ago. Without their efforts, the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric scheme – one of the seven engineering wonders of the world – might never have come to fruition.

This monumental project blended innovative thinking, engineering brilliance, and the dedication of a diverse workforce.

Another flood, another poor response

1 November 2024 / 10 Comments

Eugowra station was established in 1834, and the town took its name from the station when a village popped up in the 1860s on the station about 35 kilometres east of Forbes.

The town is most famous for a gold robbery in 1862 when Frank Gardiner and his gang of bushrangers pulled off the biggest gold robbery at Escort Rock just outside of town.

The joy of being a tour guide

30 August 2024 / 9 Comments

I have spent decades in our wonderful forests, witnessing their cycles of destruction and regeneration, and in all that time, I’ve seen one constant: public perception remains stubbornly fixed on a false image of forestry. Headlines scream of devastation. Activists show photos of freshly logged areas, convincing the public that this is a permanent state.