The Giants

One of the most recognised figures in Australian politics, Dr Bob Brown has had a profound influence on the Australian cultural and political landscape. Like Greta Thunberg his activism began with a few simple, lone acts of protest that helped create a movement. He went direct from a Risdon prison cell to the Tasmanian Parliament. He has fought to save the Franklin River, Tasmania’s wilderness, and to stop the Adani coal mine. He’s campaigned for indigenous rights, LGBT rights, refugee rights, gun control, political accountability and against the Murdoch empire. Along the way he’s been imprisoned, assaulted, threatened, and shot at.

This iconic tree is largely restricted to growing in the tarkine’s cool temperate Gondwanan rainforest. Covered in moss, laden with lichen they look like an ancient tree from a fairly tale. They are part of a rich eco-system that includes mychorrizal relationships with the extraordinary, blue Cortinarius metallicus fungi. They are at risk of logging and mining activities in the Tarkine.

Eucalyptus regnans are the tallest flowering plants on earth, the equivalent of Australia’s Redwoods. These magnificent trees play a vital role in water catchments, as habitat and carbon storage but are being logged, mostly for low-value wood pulp and turned into short-life span paper products. The trees are also referred to as known as ‘Giant Ash’, Tasmanian Oak’ or, in Victoria as ‘Mountain Ash’ or ‘Vic Ash’.

Huon Pines are among the oldest growing trees on earth – this slow growing species can live for thousands of years. Fossil records show that Huon Pines have been growing in Tasmanian soil since Gondwanan-times – for around 40 million years. After extensive logging the Huon Pine is now a Tasmanian rarity – surviving trees are at risk of climate change and destruction of their surrounding environment through logging, road building and mining activities.