Green Nomads – Wild Places
by Bob Brown and Paul Thomas
Bob Brown was elected to the Australian Senate in 1996, the same year he got together with his partner Paul Thomas and became the first openly gay member of federal parliament. Bob established the Wilderness Society, Bush Heritage Australia and the Bob Brown Foundation to promote action for protecting the Earth’s environment. After resigning as leader of the Australian Greens in 2012, Bob and his partner have been around Australia’s wilder places and continue to campaign for conservation.
This stunning and inspiring book is a photographic and written record of their 2017 journey, sailing up the west coast of Tasmania and then trekking across the mainland of Australia and up the West coast before returning cross-country to Tasmania. Their three month adventure takes them to incredible places where they set up camp, swim, take sunset walks and remind us of the damage that people are causing to Australia’s unique landscape, birdlife and animals.
Bob is still very politically active and during the trip he meets with Bush Heritage Australia volunteers; attends a ‘Hands Across the Sea’ demonstration in Adelaide to protest deep sea drilling in the Great Australian Bight and calls into Canberra’s High Court to challenge Tasmania’s draconian anti-protest laws.
The photographs of their journey are stunning and the accompanying narrations mixes journal entries with tidbits of information about the extraordinary locations that few people even know about. At one stage, the entry says “maybe the South Australian government is too busy organizing for a global nuclear-waste dump to be telling the world about what an environmental showplace the Bunda Cliffs are.”
Bob has said that his years of being stuck in the Senate have stopped him from knowing about these magnificent places and I wonder how many people actually do know about the wild places these green nomads have been to. This is a compulsory gift for anyone you know with even a skerrick of wander lust … it such an inspiration to explore our country and become more involved in its preservation.
Bob Brown and Paul Thomas are coming to the University of Western Australia to talk about their book on Tuesday 4 December. The talk will be at UWA’s University Club from 6 to 7.30pm and the cost is $15. Bookings can be made on trybooking.com/431929 for this unique opportunity.
Lezly Herbert
After some new books? Head to the Book Depository
