Florentine Protection Society Inc.

27 January 2011, Hobart
In January this year Jo Quail generously donated the proceeds of one of her concerts to the Florentine Protection Society.
Jo visited the Upper Florentine in 2010 and was very moved by what she saw. The beauty of the forests and the threat that logging is posing impressed her so much she  created her piece “Tu Florentine” which she performed for us on the night.
The concert was well attended and everyone was in awe about Jo’s creativity and stunning performance.
For more information about Jo, visit her website http://www.joquail.co.uk

Dinner, Dance and Auction

Saturday 29th May 2010, Forestville, Sydney,
organised by Conny Harris and Ian Hehir

When Australia’s favourite gardener, Peter Cundall addressed a packed audience on Sunday night you would have heard a pin drop even though nearly 300 people were present. Peter had come after his 9 am broadcasting program in Launceston, Tasmania solely to speak at the fifth function held by the Save the Styx group in Forestville. Peter spoke about the criminal destruction of Australia’s old growth forest and several eyes filled with tears, as northern beaches residents share his feelings and passion.
Peter, still on trial for his personal protests against the clear felling of the ancient forests of the upper Florentine in Tasmania, spoke eloquently without notes about his love of these forests and his own personal story.
“A lot of people don’t know what it is about a rainforest, what it feels like. Go into a rainforest of giant trees…. you feel as though nobody’s ever been there before. It is the most unbelievably magical experience.”
“90% of the forests that are felled in Tasmania, they are felled for woodchips, not for sawlogs, not for building homes and now they’ve got these massive plantations. And some of the richest land, some of the richest land in Australia is covered with plantations of utterly useless trees, useful only for woodchips…”
“Now when you go to an area that has been felled and has been treated by the forestry people it is a total nightmare as far as you can see …. the modern techniques, they don’t use chainsaws very much (is) They just push the trees over with bulldozers because they don’t want to leave stumps. And looking at a tree that is a 400 year old eucalyptus tree …. we all know it will be quite hollow and maybe rotten inside. The wood is intact in the trunk and the branches. But when they drop a tree that is 4 or 5 hundred years old, that was a little tiny seedling when Shakespeare was a little boy, all they get and all they use is 10% of that tree and the rest is trashed. And how they trash it. Of the understory, of the rare woods of those great and giant ferns is also trashed.
“And when they fell the trees, they don’t just stop there. The understorey is pushed into rows. They napalm it and burn it until there is total desolation. Their total contempt for nature is such that they use blue carrots or 10-80 to kill any animals that have escaped all this destruction and dare to venture back. If they drift back they are hit with these 10-80 baits. And I have seen creeks that are full of dead wallabies, possums and even snakes after poisoning. They go there to drink after poisoning and the water spreads the poison more.”
“And that is what greed looks like…That is greed in action. It is the most destructive force on earth.”
Peter told the audience of his own first experiences as a young soldier of walking the streets of Sydney and how he used to rendezvous with his four mates at the foot of a giant Moreton Bay Fig in Sydney’s Botanical gardens. Peter has only just been able to return to the tree because of his own painful memories of the death of those friends in the Korean War where they all fought.
Peter also spoke of his admiration of the young forest activists who are camping out deep in the forests to try to prevent roads being pushed through the forests and further logging, calling them the “true heroes”.The event also hosted local researcher Sean Barker, who presented his innovative program “Spot a Shark” to track and monitor the critically endangered Grey Nurse shark.
Wendy Harmer and Brendon Donohoe spruiked the live auction which included an offer by Sean to meet and photograph sharks.
The evening raised over $27,000 which will be used in the work to stop the destruction of old growth forests and to support the “Spot-a-Shark” group in their research into the Grey Nurse sharks.