SSR2: Secondary Source Report on Warwick Frost’s Australia Unlimited? by Sebastian Mauger-Hollmann

Complete citation:

Frost, Warwick. “Australia Unlimited? Environmental Debate in the Age of Catastrophe, 1910-1939.” Environment and History 10 (2004): 285-303. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/whp/eh/2004/00000010/00000003/art00002

Key Words: Australia; Australia Unlimited; National Parks; environmental policy; forestry; tourism

Brief Overview: Warwick Frost’s article argues that there was an environmental debate, with a wide range of interests pushing for conservation, the development of National Parks and limits on these development schemes.

Summary of key points:

·         One key point of Frost’s article is the addressal of forest clearing to create more land for dairy farms; it was estimated that between seven and ten million acres of forest was destroyed.

·         The article goes on to address how many Australians began developing a great interest in nature beginning a decade after the end of WWI.

·         The creation of National Parks began to arise as they were locations seen with no value for timber.

·         This time is regarded as having little to no environmental concerns, but this article goes to show that there were in fact several debates focussed solely on environmental concerns.

Important Quotations:

“Brady anticipated that there would be opposition to his plans for forest clearance from conservationists and timber interests. However, he dismissed these, arguing, ʻRegrets for the destruction of timber need not trouble us. Fields are worth more than trees [sic]; a fact, which self-constituted forestry authorities are loath to admit’” (p.288).

“By the 1920s, it was a well-established part of the curriculum, serviced by many passionately interested teachers. Interest amongst schools was reinforced by celebrations such as Arbor Day, Wattle Day [,] and Bird Day. The last was the invention of the Gould League of Bird Lovers, which by 1935 had 100,000 members in Victoria alone” (p.293).

“Support for National Parks, forest conservation, nature studies and bushwalking all grew strongly. This was a period of debate. Most importantly it was a period when environmental concerns became widespread throughout Australia” (p.297).

Usefulness to our group topic or individual project:

The journal article is helpful to our group or individual project as it raises interesting points regarding the outlook toward nature by Australians and how that outlook had changed/was addressed over the decades after the wars.