Several years ago, I partnered up with science writer Karen McGee to produce a feature on Gould’s Petrel for the UK magazine, Geographical. Most stories of endangered species I find confronting, but this one turned out to have a happy ending. Gould’s Petrel nests almost exclusively on a tiny bunch of rocks off the coast of New South Wales. One of them is … Read More
A Powerful Story (or The One That Got Away)
As a nature and wildlife photographer I’m outdoors a lot and I often get into scrapes. They make entertaining stories to share on blogs and elsewhere. One time, however, it was my photographic subject that got into one – or almost. I was walking home one cool August night, in the quiet seaside village of Pearl Beach where I used … Read More
Hunting in National Parks? Er, I don’t think so.
Last week about 100 people protested against a bill that would allow hunters to shoot feral animals in national parks. Much of the protest is spearheaded by rangers from the National Parks and Wildlife Service of NSW. They claim that hunters won’t discriminate – that they are just as likely to shoot native wildlife as pest species. I’ve had personal … Read More
The Secret’s out at Secret Creek
Once upon a time, in a deep gully, protected by rocky wooded slops, lived a quiet community of coal miners. Today, apart from a few stones marking the ruins of their homes, lives an equally quiet community of local residents. But these aren’t human. They are secretive mammals, little known and little seen by most Australians, and most of them … Read More
Is this the Most Important Forest in the World?
A recent media release announced that scientists had measured the most carbon dense forest in the world. No, it’s not in the Amazon – it’s right here in Australia and I know it intimately. I worked hand in hand, for over a year, with well-known ecologist David Lindenmayer, one of the team of scientists who made the discovery. (He’s the … Read More
Marysville, Healesville, Kinglake: Names Burned into Our Minds Forever
In 1999, as I sat at this cafe in the centre of Marysville, I had no idea of the consequences of my upcoming assignment. David Lindenmayer and I were outlining the chapters of a new book, Life in the Tall Eucalypt Forests, and planning my shooting schedule for the next 12 months. Over the following year, I toured the ranges … Read More
To Kill or Not to Kill Our Whale?
The question is moot. The deed has been done. Last week, as a community, we decided to euthanase baby Colin, the whale who had come adrift from her mother, and who had been sucking the hulls of boats moored in Pittwater, one of Sydney’s harbours just a couple sea miles from my house. What a difficult decision – yet I … Read More
Photographers, Politics and the Environment
One of the most significant environmental events in Australia occurred in 1983. And I was there. It was January, I was on my honeymoon with my French photographer husband, Jean-Paul Ferrero and I was on a mission to try my hand at my first ever photojournalism piece. We cruised down Tasmania’s Gordon River and camped in old fishermen’s huts. I … Read More
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