2015 is a significant year for conservation anniversaries in Australia.
They include the 100th anniversary of the passage of the Tasmanian Scenery Preservation Act, the 60th anniversary of establishment of The Lake Pedder National Park, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the 30th anniversary of the ‘hand back’ of Uluru.
All of these events were important in their different ways. For instance, the passage of the Scenery Preservation Act in November 1915 established the Scenery Preservation Board, the first specialised protected area agency in Australia, and provided for the establishment of state-wide systems of scenic and historic reserves. One year later, Freycinet and National Park (Mount Field) were reserved and the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair Scenic Reserve followed in 1922.
It was under this same Act that Lake Pedder National Park was established in March 1955, but the failure of the Act and the Board to prevent this unique lake from inundation for the Middle Gordon Power Scheme was the undoing of both. They were replaced by the passage in December 1970 of the National Parks and Wildlife Act that established a National Parks and Wildlife Service.
The first meeting of the ACF Provisional Council took place in September 1965. ACF was the first Australian non-government body concerned with all aspects of conservation and is well known for the pivotal role it played in the expansion of Australia’s national park, wilderness area and world heritage systems, the banning of commercial whaling (applicable from the 1985/86 season) and the banning of mineral activity in Antarctica. The Foundation’s quest continues with its current efforts to have Australian coal exports phased out because of their major contribution to atmospheric and marine pollution and to unsustainable economic growth.
Last but not least, the hand back ceremony of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park took place in October 1985. The original National Park at Ayers Rock/Uluru was set aside in 1950 and extended in 1958 and provided the template for Kakadu National Park (originally proposed as the ‘Top End National Park’). The Governor General Sir Ninian Stephen handed the National Park back to its traditional owners who then leased it back to the National Parks and Wildlife Service for 99 years.
Geoff Mosley has been involved with the ACF in various roles from February 1966 to the present day.