Forthcoming Environmental History Courses at WEA Sydney

The Murray-Darling: A Web of Rivers, Wetlands & Flood Plains

Thursday 13 September, 2018. 6-8.30 pm $28

The Murray-Darling Basin is a vast, complex and sensitive ecosystem that stretches from NSW to Queensland to South Australia. Its floodplains and wetlands provide some of the most important habitat for Australia’s waterbirds. These internationally significant wetlands are protected under the Ramsar Convention, a global treaty for the protection of migratory birds. However since the 1980s many of these important wetlands have seriously declined as a result of water over-extraction and altered flood regimes. Waterbird numbers have plummeted. Yet hope came with the flooding rains of 2010 and 2011 and gave a welcome reprieve for waterbird numbers. How can the Murray–Darling Basin be restored to health again?

This Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) course is held in association with National Parks Association of NSW, WEA House, 72 Bathurst Street, Sydney, NSW, a short walk from Town Hall railway station. Tutor: Janine Kitson. Bookings essential. Contact WEA, Sydney Ph: (02) 9264 2781 E:info@weasydney.nsw.edu.au www.weasydney.com.au

Murray-Darling in Crisis

Monday 17 September, 2018. 12.15pm-1.15 pm $18

How can the rivers, wetlands and flood plains of the Murray-Darling Basin be restored to health? How can water be retained to ensure the river continues to flow through the driest continent on Earth? What must be done to end the illegal extraction of water? How can this life blood of the nation be saved into the future? Examine the controversy surrounding the illegal extraction of water from the Murray Darling basin.

Henry Gold’s Photography: protecting Australia’s wild and beautiful landscapes

Thursday 20 September, 2018. 6-7.30 pm FREE and includes Refreshments

Henry Gold is one of Australia’s foremost landscape photographers. His work has covered the Greater Blue Mountains, Kakadu, the NSW rainforests, the Snowy Mountains and Central Australia. Some even say it was his photographic masterpieces that were the final ‘clinch’ for World Heritage listing the Greater Blue Mountains in NSW in 2000. His role as the Honorary Photographer of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness began soon after Milo Dunphy convened a meeting of fifty conservation groups to prevent limestone mining near Mount Colong in the southern Blue Mountains in 1968. It was a desperate fight against the largest cement company in the world. New creative campaign tools were needed. Henry shot the image for the classic campaign brochure “Quarrying Valuable Scenery” that helped save the Colong Caves. This year the Colong Foundation for Wilderness celebrates its 50^thAnniversary and the role that Henry Gold’s breathtakingly beautiful photographs have played in protecting Australia’s wild and beautiful places. Henry Gold continues to inspire many to love and protect Australia’s wilderness such as the superb pagoda wonderland known as the Gardens of Stone near Lithgow, still under threat from unrestrained longwall mining.

Why Wilderness Matters

Thursday 25 October, 2018. 6-8.30 pm

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness that emerged out of Myles Dunphy’s 1930s National Parks and Primitive Areas Council. Today it is Australia’s longest-serving community advocate for wilderness. Learn about its legendary bushwalking conservationists, photographers and campaigners who dedicated their lives to protecting Australia’s wilderness. Some of these legends include Myles Dunphy, Milo Dunphy, Alex Colley and Henry Gold.

Butterfly Lovers, Artists, Naturalists and Advocates

Thursday 8 November, 2018 6-7.30 pm

19th Century naturalists were fascinated with the richness and beauty of Australian butterflies. Joseph Banks’ collection of Australian butterflies remain an important record of Lepidoptera. By the early 19th century, butterfly collecting was regarded as an educated hobby, with many women artists given the task to scientifically illustrate these beautiful insects. Butterflies are a powerful reminder of the beauty and fragility of the natural world, particularly with threats from chemicals, land clearing and climate change.

Sydney’s World Heritage Matters

Friday 23 November, 2018 6-8.30 pm. Refreshments included. Cost tbc.

Sydney is one of the few cities in the world that is surrounded by a world heritage area – the Greater Blue Mountains National Park. Learn about the history of this global achievement, its unfinished business and what current challenges it faces. Learn how the Blue Mountains was world heritage listed has inspired others to call for world heritage listing of their national park, including Royal National Park and Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Learn why World Heritage listing matters, its rewards and challenges.

Tree Lovers, Garden Lovers and Greenies

Thursday 6 December, 2018 6-7.30 pm

Learn about emergence of tree lover societies and garden promoters in Sydney during the early 20th Century. Learn why people became so passionate about promoting trees, gardens, parks and protecting forests that laid the foundation of the urban conservation movement. These include the Director of the Botanical Gardens, Joseph Maiden, camellia advocate Professor E.B. Waterhouse, the founder of the Ku-ring-gai Tree Lovers Civic League and National Trust (NSW) Annie Forsyth Wyatt; President of the Parks and Playground Movement Charles Bean; architects of the national capital Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony; Australian wildflower educator Thistle Y. Harris Stead.

Image: Mundoo. ‘Sunrise on the waters of the Coorong National Park’.CC-BY-SA 4.0.

Environmental history at the NSW Premier’s History Awards 2018

Crafting the Long Tomorrow

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