May 2024

Timber’s role in the rise of Australian butter

31 May 2024 / 3 Comments

While researching for my three-part series on the truth behind the rainforest wars in New South Wales (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3), there was a constant theme in the historical account of utilising one species of rainforest timber. While the cutting of hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghamii) was undoubtedly very extensive in New South Wales, the scale of utilisation in Queensland was even more significant, and one of its primary uses was for butter boxes.

Going Home

24 May 2024 / 18 Comments

In this penultimate Surrey Hills blog, I have the privilege of providing a deeply personal story from Brian Rollins about his association with Surrey Hills.

While I provided a shorter, more sanitised version of Brian’s Surrey Hills involvement in Chapter 13 of “Fires, Farms and Forests” under the heading Soothing the Soul and Raising Awareness of Early VDL Co.

Going Home Read More »

The rise and fall and rise again of a valley’s Rattler

10 May 2024 / 2 Comments

As settlers moved into the rich, fertile areas of the Mary Valley in the 1860s, they wanted a railway to connect them more readily to the outside world and markets for their produce.

The government ignored their early calls, but all that changed when prospectors discovered gold at nearby Gympie in 1867.

The 6th Mass Extinction Crisis – speculation without substance?

3 May 2024 / 2 Comments

Unfortunately, conjecture based on limited facts has produced “research” trumpeting catastrophic fears of extinction. Jim Steele

Introduction

Our planet now faces a global extinction crisis never witnessed by humankind. Scientists predict that more than 1 million species are on track for extinction in the coming decades.

As the world commemorates another Endangered Species Day, you will undoubtedly read or hear claims like the above.