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Dec 2005 Meeting
A walk through the Tarkine
Guest Speaker John Merory,
Member WCS, Member's night.
The Tarkine Wilderness Area is located
in the north-west of Tasmania. At
447,000 hectares, the Tarkine is the
largest tract of unprotected wilderness
in Tasmania, containing the largest
rainforest and one of the greatest
concentrations of aboriginal sites found
in Australia.
The Tarkine is bounded roughly by the
West Coast, the Arthur River to the
north, the Pieman River to the south,
and the Murchison Highway to the
east. The area takes its name from the
Tarkiner people who inhabited the
region between 175 and about 30,000
years ago.
A relic from the ancient continent,
Gondwanaland, the Tarkine rainforest
is one of the most significant temperate
rainforests on earth. It is home to 56
threatened and endangered species,
such as the Giant Freshwater Crayfish -
the world's largest freshwater
invertebrate and the Tasmanian Wedge
Tailed Eagle - the largest Eagle in
Australia.
The extensive rainforests, beautiful
river gorges, buttongrass mountain
tops, flowering heathlands and long
wild beaches combine to make it one
of the world's great treasures.
The last two Februarys have seen John
visiting the Tarkine wilderness with his
trip in 2004 being the most memorable.
He wanted to see the Myrtle forests so
he could describe them to his
grandchildren.
For six days he walked with four
others, from the Waratah River
overland to the Huskinson River.
Carrying 20-22kg packs, they averaged
40kms a day.
The beginning of the walk started
amongst logging coups. The forestry
companies have surrounded the
Tarkine with a monoculture of Sydney
Blue gums, and will be able to
continue logging in some parts for
some years to come.
After this depressing start, things
improved with a breathtaking range of
vegetation communities, from button
grass plains, with plants reaching chest
height, to the soft, silent moss-covered
lower stories of the massive myrtle
forests he had come to see.
They travelled along walking tracks
usually kept clear by the tour guides.
However, at the time of John's walk,
there had been a lot of extra clearing -
with trees cut down and the tracks
widened. This is done by the forestry
workers, who get a bit of recreational
fun from belting along the tracks on
quad bikes. This causes a lot of
damage, can pose a threat to walkers
and is of course illegal in a protected
area such as the Tarkine.
The Tarkine is generally cold and wet
with very high rainfalls. Although they
didn’t have too much rain, they
crossed many tannin stained creeks,
and walked through long boggy parts
of the track.
John’s friend, Garth, went as far to don
bathers and a snorkel to discover if
there was any life hiding in the creeks.
A brave move considering the chill of
the water.
After the slides ran out, John gave us a
bit of background to the Gunns 20 case
that we had been hearing about.
Gunns are using their financial muscle
to drag (apparently) randomly chosen
people through the courts. The ‘20’ are
made up of a handful of prominent
people such as Bob Brown, a few
environment groups such as the
Wilderness Society and the remainder
are a mixture of people who may or
may not have had anything to do with
anti-logging protests against the
company. This takes a long time, takes
a lot of money and of course is a great
way to silence any opposition to your
actions. This is particularly good if the
company in question is also trying to
get a controversial pulp mill built.
There were questions from the group
and people wondered why the company
and the Tasmanian government got
away with so much - such as ministers
being on the board of Gunns etc. John
explained that Tasmania has always
been in the thrall of big companies
starting with IXL when Tasmania was
the ‘Apple Isle’, through the Hydro
companies, which flooded Lake Pedder
to present day, with Gunns
woodchipping approximately 5.2
million tones forests a year.
An excellent talk by John - who
obviously loves the area and who now
has some wonderful slides to show his
grandchildren.
More about the Tarkine from the
website listed below:
The Rainforests of the Tarkine, some
177,000 hectares, include the largest
unbroken stand of rainforest in Australia.
These rainforests are recognised as being
one of the most significant tracts of
temperate rainforest on earth, and are
under imminent threat. While logging of
pure stands of rainforest is occurring in
and around the periphery of the Tarkine,
the logging industry is pushing the
Tasmanian Government to allow logging
through the heart of the Tarkine Rainforests.
This would divide the rainforest and
seriously fragment the Tarkine's
wilderness qualities.
The basalt soils of North-West Tasmania
provide prime conditions for luxuriant
rainforest growth. In tall rainforest,
Myrtle trees can grow up to 40m tall and
4m in diameter. The tall (callidendrous)
rainforests of the Tarkine, with their
dense canopy and understorey; being
carpeted by a vast array of mosses,
lichens and ferns, resemble well tended
botanical gardens.
The wilderness rainforests have been
protected by a logging moratorium for
more than 20 years. This area was
assessed as 'high-quality wilderness' as
part of the Regional Forest Agreement
and has been recommended for protection
and World Heritage nomination on a
number of occasions. It is currently listed
on the register of the National Estate.
Myrtle, the dominant rainforest species
in Tasmania often has an attractive deep
red colour to its timber and has been
used in furniture, paneling and veneers,
though these days most of the timber
from rainforest logging is woodchipped.
If you would like to know more about
this fantastic area and the campaign to
save it go to www.tarkine.org.au.
If you would like to know more about
the Gunns 20 case go to:
www.treedomfighters.org.au
Dec 2005 Meeting
A walk through the Tarkine
Guest Speaker John Merory,
Member WCS, Member's night.
John Merory will speak about his experiences in the Tarkine Wilderness. He has walked through
the Tarkine on a couple of occasions and will speak to us about this wonderful national heritage
place and why we should be preserving it.
photograhpy by Rob Blakers
Afterwards members are invited to stay and enjoy a light supper and conversation to celebrate
another full year for the Society.
All members, friends and family welcome to join us.
Please bring a plate.to share.
8 pm, Thursday 1st December, 2005.
Old Shire Offices, 60 Beverly Drive.
Enter from Buckingham Drive, near the Banyule Theatre and Greening Australia.
Melways map 32:D3
All Friends, family and visitors welcome.
