Of politics and fallen trees
Feb. 6th, 2005 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenith(Odd, I went to write this in Word but every time I tried I found myself thinking of other things to do instead.)
When we were last here, we about head down the Gordon River. But first, we need to stop for a some more of the back history stuff, albeit a bit more recent -- just over 20 years.
Back in the late 1970s, the HEC decided they needed a new dam to produce more electricity and there were all those rivers down the south west not doing anything worthwhile, so why not dam one? In particular, the Gordon River, just above it's intersection with the Franklin, which would flood the Franklin. The Wilderness Society, recently formed after a failed campaign to stop Lake Peddar being flooded, had other ideas. The Franklin was not to be flooded, they said. The State Government offered an alternative -- damming the Gordon just above the Olga River. No, said the conservationists, no dams in the south west wilderness areas.
In an attempt to the resolve the problem, in 1981 the State Government had a referendum. Which was the preferred option - the Gordon below Franklin Scheme or the Gordon above Olga. The alert reader will notice the absence of the third option but the voters didn't. Almost half of the votes were informal (not valid) and 1/3 of the ballot papers had 'No Dams' on them. But the government wasn't convinced a dam was a bad idea. Then things happened and the state government changed the pro-dam Liberal party came to power (note for non-Aussies, Liberal is definitely not the same as liberal) and the bulldozers rolled in. Floated in actually, on barges down the Gordon.
The Wilderness Society moved their campaign to the mainland, where they found more support (which probably comes as a surprise to no one familiar with mainland/island politics) but not from the Federal Government. Unfortunately for them, they called a snap election in 1983, got outed and the Labor Party (ALP) got in. They said the dam wouldn't proceed. The State Liberal Party didn't listen and the dam work continued. The ALP brought in legislation to stop it. The Libs challenged it in the High Court. The High Court ruled that the Federal Government had the right to stop the dam. The state Libs conceded, the dam was stopped and the Franklin was allowed to run free.
The South West was included on the on the World Heritage List in 1982. The Federal Government power to interfere with the states on environmental issues was established. The (soon to be national) Wilderness Society was formed, and foundation for the Tasmanian/Australian Greens parties was laid. A watershed in Australian politics.
And now we're back in Macquarie Harbour, approaching the wild river. Although it's not that wild at this stage. It's broad and quiet.
And the overcast sky does not make for good photos. However, it's the river banks that are wild, if you can call lots of trees wild. Down near the river at this point, there are lots of Huon pines (furry looking lemony, green trees, right near the water).
Small, young trees. Not the huge giants that drew the timber cutters (piners) looking for the lovely golden pine that is so wonderful for ship building.
It's also a very slow growing tree, averaging 1 mm (helpfully converted to 0 inches by the bots) a year, very long lived (one of the oldest living things - Gondwanaland leftover) and found in a very few places. Logging was banned in 1960. Although it's still available in small quantities including logs that fall naturally and float down the river & logs in areas that have been flooded. It's popular in souvenir shops, giving them a rather distinctive smell.
The main tree along the river banks though, is the myrtle, another popular timber for woodworkers. As are the other species found along these banks: sassafras, celery top pine, leatherwood and blackwood.
The gap is caused when a tree falls, and takes everything below with it.
The destination point on the river is Heritage Landing
where there's a walkway that takes us into the forest.
Remember what I said about impenetrable forest? There are plants in there called horizontals that fall over under their own weight and grow sideways. (I'm not sure which way up this photos is supposed to be)
Other trees fall and new trees grow out of them.
This is temperate rain forest. The light in here is odd -- it's green. (I had to use the flash, which worried me because I wasn't sure how much charge was left in the batteries. I also find these photos hard to look at because my eyes won't focus on anything). The sound is also odd. Quiet, even though there are over 100 tourists walking through it. It felt wrong to talk, at least in anything louder than a whisper, like being in a sacred place and the voices that could be heard sounded muted.
This was 2300 year old Huon pine before it fell a couple years ago. There was apparently a tiger snake sitting on it, but I missed that. I did see a little skink scurrying around though.
The walk around the forest and the short talk about the pine took 40 mins and then we went back to the landing and onto the ferry.
When we went in, I had a coat on; back on the boat, I shed that in favour of my sleeveless top. It was warming up, even if the sun hadn't come out.
Now the catamaran headed back to Macquarie Harbour and we had lunch.
Back in the rough water, we headed west, past the fish farms
to Hells Gates. Named partly because they were the entrance to Macquarie Harbour (think back to Sarah Island) and partly because of the nature of place. By turning away to try the entrance later, our cruise ship was just following a long tradition of ships doing the same.
There's a little island with a lighthouse just before we pass through
and another lighthouse on the north side.
This is the south side.
Beyond the Gates, there is the remains of a breakwater, which once had a train track running along it.
The catamaran went out, giving us a good view of the, as they called it, Southern Ocean, turned around and went back in.
And then we were heading back to Strahan, and for us, the trip home, but that really has to wait for tomorrow.
When we were last here, we about head down the Gordon River. But first, we need to stop for a some more of the back history stuff, albeit a bit more recent -- just over 20 years.
Back in the late 1970s, the HEC decided they needed a new dam to produce more electricity and there were all those rivers down the south west not doing anything worthwhile, so why not dam one? In particular, the Gordon River, just above it's intersection with the Franklin, which would flood the Franklin. The Wilderness Society, recently formed after a failed campaign to stop Lake Peddar being flooded, had other ideas. The Franklin was not to be flooded, they said. The State Government offered an alternative -- damming the Gordon just above the Olga River. No, said the conservationists, no dams in the south west wilderness areas.
In an attempt to the resolve the problem, in 1981 the State Government had a referendum. Which was the preferred option - the Gordon below Franklin Scheme or the Gordon above Olga. The alert reader will notice the absence of the third option but the voters didn't. Almost half of the votes were informal (not valid) and 1/3 of the ballot papers had 'No Dams' on them. But the government wasn't convinced a dam was a bad idea. Then things happened and the state government changed the pro-dam Liberal party came to power (note for non-Aussies, Liberal is definitely not the same as liberal) and the bulldozers rolled in. Floated in actually, on barges down the Gordon.
The Wilderness Society moved their campaign to the mainland, where they found more support (which probably comes as a surprise to no one familiar with mainland/island politics) but not from the Federal Government. Unfortunately for them, they called a snap election in 1983, got outed and the Labor Party (ALP) got in. They said the dam wouldn't proceed. The State Liberal Party didn't listen and the dam work continued. The ALP brought in legislation to stop it. The Libs challenged it in the High Court. The High Court ruled that the Federal Government had the right to stop the dam. The state Libs conceded, the dam was stopped and the Franklin was allowed to run free.
The South West was included on the on the World Heritage List in 1982. The Federal Government power to interfere with the states on environmental issues was established. The (soon to be national) Wilderness Society was formed, and foundation for the Tasmanian/Australian Greens parties was laid. A watershed in Australian politics.
And now we're back in Macquarie Harbour, approaching the wild river. Although it's not that wild at this stage. It's broad and quiet.
And the overcast sky does not make for good photos. However, it's the river banks that are wild, if you can call lots of trees wild. Down near the river at this point, there are lots of Huon pines (furry looking lemony, green trees, right near the water).
Small, young trees. Not the huge giants that drew the timber cutters (piners) looking for the lovely golden pine that is so wonderful for ship building.
It's also a very slow growing tree, averaging 1 mm (helpfully converted to 0 inches by the bots) a year, very long lived (one of the oldest living things - Gondwanaland leftover) and found in a very few places. Logging was banned in 1960. Although it's still available in small quantities including logs that fall naturally and float down the river & logs in areas that have been flooded. It's popular in souvenir shops, giving them a rather distinctive smell.
The main tree along the river banks though, is the myrtle, another popular timber for woodworkers. As are the other species found along these banks: sassafras, celery top pine, leatherwood and blackwood.
The gap is caused when a tree falls, and takes everything below with it.
The destination point on the river is Heritage Landing
where there's a walkway that takes us into the forest.
Remember what I said about impenetrable forest? There are plants in there called horizontals that fall over under their own weight and grow sideways. (I'm not sure which way up this photos is supposed to be)
Other trees fall and new trees grow out of them.
This is temperate rain forest. The light in here is odd -- it's green. (I had to use the flash, which worried me because I wasn't sure how much charge was left in the batteries. I also find these photos hard to look at because my eyes won't focus on anything). The sound is also odd. Quiet, even though there are over 100 tourists walking through it. It felt wrong to talk, at least in anything louder than a whisper, like being in a sacred place and the voices that could be heard sounded muted.
This was 2300 year old Huon pine before it fell a couple years ago. There was apparently a tiger snake sitting on it, but I missed that. I did see a little skink scurrying around though.
The walk around the forest and the short talk about the pine took 40 mins and then we went back to the landing and onto the ferry.
When we went in, I had a coat on; back on the boat, I shed that in favour of my sleeveless top. It was warming up, even if the sun hadn't come out.
Now the catamaran headed back to Macquarie Harbour and we had lunch.
Back in the rough water, we headed west, past the fish farms
to Hells Gates. Named partly because they were the entrance to Macquarie Harbour (think back to Sarah Island) and partly because of the nature of place. By turning away to try the entrance later, our cruise ship was just following a long tradition of ships doing the same.
There's a little island with a lighthouse just before we pass through
and another lighthouse on the north side.
This is the south side.
Beyond the Gates, there is the remains of a breakwater, which once had a train track running along it.
The catamaran went out, giving us a good view of the, as they called it, Southern Ocean, turned around and went back in.
And then we were heading back to Strahan, and for us, the trip home, but that really has to wait for tomorrow.
