Many of the people who now enjoy the
magnificent rainforests of North Queensland
don’t realise just how close they came to
being severely decimated if not entirely
destroyed by opening up pristine areas
for development.
Although the conservationists who manned
the barricades in the struggle to stop the
road were defeated, the larger battle to
save the rainforests was won. The publicity
generated by those on the blockade
eventually forced the Hawke
Labor Government to have
the Daintree rainforest
placed under World
Heritage protection.
Bill Wilkie’s history
of the Daintree
blockade is much
more than the
story
of
that
ultimately
futile
stand against the
construction of a
road, it is the story
of a significant change
in the way we regard our
environment. Where we once saw
the environment as something we could
exploit and abuse without thought for its
survival, we now see it as an integral part of
our own survival.
The
recently
refurbished
Cairns
Museum has a dedicated display of the
Daintree Blockade.
Issue 19 |
11