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The Wilderness Society (Australia)
Encyclopedia
The Wilderness Society is an Australian, community-based, not-for-profit non-governmental environmental advocacy organisation. Its purpose is to protect, promote and restore wilderness
and natural processes across Australia for the survival and ongoing evolution of life on Earth.
It is a community-based organisation with a philosophy of non-violence and consensus decision-making
. While the Wilderness Society is a politically unaligned group, it actively engages the community to lobby politicians and parties.
The Wilderness Society comprises a number of separately incorporated organisations and has Campaign Centres located in all Australian capital cities (except Darwin) and a number of regional centres.
The Wilderness Society's campaigns have included:
(HEC)'s plans to build dams in many locations around Tasmania. The HEC had appeared to exert an influence over politicians and the community, justifying this stance as being in the best interest of Tasmania, specially regarding the fate of Lake Pedder
.
The motivation for the TWS formation was the planning and construction of the Franklin Dam
on the Gordon River
, in South West Tasmania
by the HEC. To the TWS and many Australians, the Gordon and Franklin Rivers were seen as part of the South West Wilderness, and not as an extension of the on-going HEC expansion.
The group was originally established in 1976 from the members of the Southwest Action Committee. Along with the United Tasmania Group
, they had protested against the earlier flooding of Lake Pedder. The group had established interstate branches within a short time, and was nation-wide by 1980.
Following the success of the campaign against the Franklin Dam, and the national approach being more important due to other issues interstate, it became known as The Wilderness Society.
In 2005, Tasmanian forestry business Gunns
brought a litigation case against the Society in the Melbourne Supreme Court, in a case dubbed the "Gunns 20", claiming that the activities of environmental activists had damaged Gunns' profits. Gunns claimed $3.5 million from the Wilderness Society, but in March 2009, Gunns was ordered to pay the Wilderness Society $350,000 in damages and to cease the action.
, who was later elected to the seat of Denison in the Tasmanian Parliament in 1980 for the political party known as the Australian Democrats - Australia's first parliamentarian to be elected on an environmental platform. By far the most prominent person amongst those who helped the Society evolve was Dr. Bob Brown
, who became the director of the Wilderness Society in 1978, and with him the group greatly increased their presence in Tasmanian politics. Brown was elected to the Tasmanian parliament
in 1983 to fill the vacancy left when Norm Sanders resigned his seat, and with the group of fellow conservationists elected subsequently, he went on to become part of the political party known as the Tasmanian Greens
. Bob Brown was later elected to represent Tasmania and the Greens
in the Senate
in the Federal parliament
, a position he still retains.
While The Wilderness Society has worked with them on certain campaigns, it is not affiliated with the Greens, or any other political party, and has a policy of not allowing its paid campaigners to be part of any political party either.
. This involves both protecting the best of what is left of Australia's natural environment
and restoring important areas. The Wilderness Society's conservation framework is WildCountry, a continent-wide, long-term conservation initiative to maintain and restore connections, flows or processes that exist between Australia's ecological environments (or "landscapes
"), as well as bringing understanding to the changing connections that exist between species, habitat, climate and people.. The WildCountry framework was developed in collaboration with ecological scientists, and outlines a concept for a for Australia. The inspiration for WildCountry came from the Wildlands Project
in the United States
.
such as Peter Dombrovskis
and Olegas Truchanas
. But following the rise of the Internet, online shopping is now as important as well as fund raising from membership.
At a meeting convened by 'Save The Wilderness Society' on Sunday 2 May 2010 and attended by roughly 270 people a motion to sack the existing committee was carried and a new management committee appointed. Members at the meeting expected that this meeting was likely to be challenged by the pre-existing management committee, though the status of that committee itself was in doubt given the Supreme Court ruling.
On 30 June 2010, the 2009 AGM was finally re-held in Adelaide. Members attending in person and by phone voted overwhelmingly to remove the previous Management Committee and appoint a new one.
Wilderness
Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...
and natural processes across Australia for the survival and ongoing evolution of life on Earth.
It is a community-based organisation with a philosophy of non-violence and consensus decision-making
Consensus decision-making
Consensus decision-making is a group decision making process that seeks the consent, not necessarily the agreement, of participants and the resolution of objections. Consensus is defined by Merriam-Webster as, first, general agreement, and second, group solidarity of belief or sentiment. It has its...
. While the Wilderness Society is a politically unaligned group, it actively engages the community to lobby politicians and parties.
The Wilderness Society comprises a number of separately incorporated organisations and has Campaign Centres located in all Australian capital cities (except Darwin) and a number of regional centres.
Campaigns
It spent considerable energy in its first decades of existence arguing that wilderness was a specific quality in parts of Australia's environment that was vital to preserve for future generations. The political response in most states of Australia, is that there are now wilderness inventories, and acknowledgement of areas of wilderness.The Wilderness Society's campaigns have included:
- stopping logging in old growth forestOld growth forestAn old-growth forest is a forest that has attained great age , and thereby exhibits unique ecological features. An old growth forest has also usually reached a climax community...
s - preventing destruction of endangered species habitats;
- protecting Queensland's Wild Rivers and Cape York PeninsulaCape York PeninsulaCape York Peninsula is a large remote peninsula located in Far North Queensland at the tip of the state of Queensland, Australia, the largest unspoilt wilderness in northern Australia and one of the last remaining wilderness areas on Earth...
. - Anti-nuclear campaignAnti-nuclear movement in AustraliaNuclear testing, uranium mining and export, and nuclear energy have often been the subject of public debate in Australia, and the anti-nuclear movement in Australia has a long history...
History
The Wilderness Society was formed initially as a protest group called The Tasmanian Wilderness Society to campaign against the Tasmanian Hydro-Electric CommissionHydro Tasmania
Hydro Tasmania, known for most of its history as The HEC, is the government owned enterprise which is the predominant electricity generator in the state of Tasmania, Australia...
(HEC)'s plans to build dams in many locations around Tasmania. The HEC had appeared to exert an influence over politicians and the community, justifying this stance as being in the best interest of Tasmania, specially regarding the fate of Lake Pedder
Lake Pedder
Lake Pedder was once a natural lake, located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia but the name is now used in an official sense to refer to the much larger artificial impoundment and diversion lake formed when the original lake was expanded by damming in 1972 by the Hydro Electric Commission of...
.
The motivation for the TWS formation was the planning and construction of the Franklin Dam
Franklin Dam
The Franklin Dam or Gordon-below-Franklin Dam project was a proposed dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia, that was never constructed. The movement that eventually led to the project's cancellation became one of most significant environmental campaigns in Australian history.The dam was...
on the Gordon River
Gordon River
The Gordon River is one of the major rivers of Tasmania, Australia. It rises in the centre of the island at Lake Richmond and flows westward for about 193km where it empties into Macquarie Harbour on the West Coast of Tasmania. Major tributaries include the Serpentine River and the Franklin...
, in South West Tasmania
South West Tasmania
South West Tasmania is a region in Tasmania that has evolved over the fifty years between its consideration as a potential resource for development to its consideration as World Heritage wilderness...
by the HEC. To the TWS and many Australians, the Gordon and Franklin Rivers were seen as part of the South West Wilderness, and not as an extension of the on-going HEC expansion.
The group was originally established in 1976 from the members of the Southwest Action Committee. Along with the United Tasmania Group
United Tasmania Group
The United Tasmania Group is generally acknowledged as the world's first Green party. The party was formed on 23 March 1972, during a meeting of the Lake Pedder Action Group at the Hobart town hall in order to field political candidates in the April 1972 state election. They received 3.9% of the...
, they had protested against the earlier flooding of Lake Pedder. The group had established interstate branches within a short time, and was nation-wide by 1980.
Following the success of the campaign against the Franklin Dam, and the national approach being more important due to other issues interstate, it became known as The Wilderness Society.
In 2005, Tasmanian forestry business Gunns
Gunns
Gunns Limited is a major forestry enterprise located in Tasmania, Australia. Founded in 1875 by brothers John and Thomas Gunn, it is one of Australia's oldest companies. It has over 900 square kilometres of plantations, mainly eucalyptus trees. It is Tasmania’s largest private land-owner...
brought a litigation case against the Society in the Melbourne Supreme Court, in a case dubbed the "Gunns 20", claiming that the activities of environmental activists had damaged Gunns' profits. Gunns claimed $3.5 million from the Wilderness Society, but in March 2009, Gunns was ordered to pay the Wilderness Society $350,000 in damages and to cease the action.
Involvement
The Inaugural director of the Wilderness Society was Norm SandersNorm Sanders
Norman Karl Sanders is an Australian former politician, representing the Australian Democrats in the Tasmanian House of Assembly from 1980 to 1982 and the Australian Senate from 1985 to 1990.-Early life:...
, who was later elected to the seat of Denison in the Tasmanian Parliament in 1980 for the political party known as the Australian Democrats - Australia's first parliamentarian to be elected on an environmental platform. By far the most prominent person amongst those who helped the Society evolve was Dr. Bob Brown
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown is an Australian senator, the inaugural Parliamentary Leader of the Australian Greens and was the first openly gay member of the Parliament of Australia...
, who became the director of the Wilderness Society in 1978, and with him the group greatly increased their presence in Tasmanian politics. Brown was elected to the Tasmanian parliament
Parliament of Tasmania
The Parliament of Tasmania consists of the Tasmanian Legislative Council, Tasmanian House of Assembly and the Monarch represented by the Governor of Tasmania....
in 1983 to fill the vacancy left when Norm Sanders resigned his seat, and with the group of fellow conservationists elected subsequently, he went on to become part of the political party known as the Tasmanian Greens
Tasmanian Greens
The Tasmanian Greens are a political party in Australia which developed from numerous environmental campaigns in Tasmania, including the flooding of Lake Pedder and the Franklin Dam campaign...
. Bob Brown was later elected to represent Tasmania and the Greens
Australian Greens
The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...
in the Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
in the Federal parliament
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
, a position he still retains.
While The Wilderness Society has worked with them on certain campaigns, it is not affiliated with the Greens, or any other political party, and has a policy of not allowing its paid campaigners to be part of any political party either.
WildCountry initiative
The Wilderness Society's long-term vision and strategy is to revolutionise conservation planning in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. This involves both protecting the best of what is left of Australia's natural environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
and restoring important areas. The Wilderness Society's conservation framework is WildCountry, a continent-wide, long-term conservation initiative to maintain and restore connections, flows or processes that exist between Australia's ecological environments (or "landscapes
Landscape ecology
Landscape ecology is the science of studying and improving relationships between urban development and ecological processes in the environment and particular ecosystems...
"), as well as bringing understanding to the changing connections that exist between species, habitat, climate and people.. The WildCountry framework was developed in collaboration with ecological scientists, and outlines a concept for a for Australia. The inspiration for WildCountry came from the Wildlands Project
Wildlands Project
The Wildlands Network was created in 1991 to stem the tide of species extinctions that was being recorded across North America...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Funding
Traditionally fundraising was performed through their Wilderness Society Shops, which were popular for many of their calendars and posters by photographersPhotography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
such as Peter Dombrovskis
Peter Dombrovskis
Peter Dombrovskis was an Australian photographer, most notably of Tasmanian scenes. In 2003 he was the only Australian photographer inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame....
and Olegas Truchanas
Olegas Truchanas
Olegas Truchanas was a Lithuanian-Australian conservationist and nature photographer.He was a key figure in the attempt to stop the damming of the ecologically sensitive Lake Pedder in South West Tasmania by the Hydro Electricity Commission...
. But following the rise of the Internet, online shopping is now as important as well as fund raising from membership.
Management controversy 2009-2010
In November 2009 a group of members of the organising committee of the society held an AGM which has proved controversial. Advance notice of the AGM was given in a low circulation newspaper and only 14 members attended. The Tasmanian Supreme Court disallowed the election at the AGM in a ruling on 22 April 2010. A group calling themselves 'Save The Wilderness Society' engaged in a legal battle with the organising committee, with both sides taking out injunctions and giving court undertakings against motions proposed for a meeting advertised for 2 May 2010.At a meeting convened by 'Save The Wilderness Society' on Sunday 2 May 2010 and attended by roughly 270 people a motion to sack the existing committee was carried and a new management committee appointed. Members at the meeting expected that this meeting was likely to be challenged by the pre-existing management committee, though the status of that committee itself was in doubt given the Supreme Court ruling.
On 30 June 2010, the 2009 AGM was finally re-held in Adelaide. Members attending in person and by phone voted overwhelmingly to remove the previous Management Committee and appoint a new one.
Further reading
- Gee, H and Fenton, J. (Eds) (1978) The South West BookThe South West BookThe South West Book - A Tasmanian Wilderness is a book published by the Australian Conservation Foundation in 1978 during concern following the damming of Lake Pedder in Tasmania....
- A Tasmanian Wilderness Melbourne, Australian Conservation Foundation. ISBN 0-85802-054-8 - Lines, William J. (2006) Patriots : defending Australia's natural heritage St. Lucia, Qld. : University of Queensland Press, 2006. ISBN 0-7022-3554-7
- Neilson, D. (1975) South West Tasmania - A land of the Wild. Adelaide. Rigby. ISBN 0-85179-874-8