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Image courtesy of publisher's website.
Issue Details: First known date: 2024... 2024 John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'A rich biography of artist-turned-environmental- campaigner John Büsst.

'Award-winning historian Iain McCalman reveals the little-known story of influential Australian conservationist, John Büsst. Known to his enemies as ‘The Bingal Bay Bastard’, Büsst, a Bendigo-born Melbourne bohemian artist, transformed into a brilliant conservationist who, in the 1960s and early 70s, led campaigns to protect two of Australia’s most important and endangered environments. The first saved Australia’s endangered lowland rainforests and led to the subsequent UNESCO World Heritage Listing of our Wet Tropics Rainforest Area. The second stopped Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s attempt to mine 80 per cent of the Great Barrier Reef for oil, gas and limestone fertiliser. A plan Büsst likened to ‘bulldozing the Taj Mahal to make road gravel’. Instead, the victory led to the UNESCO World Heritage Listing of the Great Barrier Reef as ‘the most important marine system in the world’. Sadly, both face renewed threat today.'  (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Sydney, New South Wales,: NewSouth Publishing , 2024 .
      image of person or book cover 244593381526164531.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 272p.
      Note/s:
      • Published June 2024
      ISBN: 9781761170096

Works about this Work

The Power of One : Champion of the Reef Remembered Ken Haley , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: InReview , July 2024;

— Review of John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest Iain McCalman , 2024 single work biography
Bohemian, Artist, Conservationist: Breathing Humanity into the Man Who Fought to Protect Queensland’s Rainforest and Reef Rohan James Lloyd , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 19 June 2024;

— Review of John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest Iain McCalman , 2024 single work biography

'John Büsst earned the moniker “The Bingil Bay Bastard”. From his self-built homestead in Bingil Bay, he campaigned from the early 1960s against grazing and agricultural industries seeking to fell the tropical forests of north Queensland.' 

Iain McCalman John Büsst Miriam Cosic , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 15-21 June 2024;

— Review of John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest Iain McCalman , 2024 single work biography
Bingil Bay Bastard Morag Fraser , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Inside Story , May 2024;

— Review of John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest Iain McCalman , 2024 single work biography

'Iain McCalman begins John Büsst: Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest, his account of another man’s heroic environmental activism, by inserting himself artfully into his introductory narrative. Here, he is the historian who missed something when he was writing The Reef, his acclaimed “passionate history” of the Great Barrier Reef, a decade ago.'  (Introduction)

‘Good on You, Mate!’ : A Fearless and Charismatic Environmentalist Anna Krien , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 465 2024; (p. 57-58)

— Review of John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest Iain McCalman , 2024 single work biography

'The ‘Bastard of Bingil Bay’ features on no banknote or coin, nor is he listed in any roll-call of ‘important Australians’, and yet, if it were not for John Büsst, it is likely that twenty-odd national parks and rainforest reserves on the far north-east coast of Queensland would not be so designated and might in fact have been obliterated. It is also probable that, without Büsst, today’s fight for the Great Barrier Reef would have already been lost, the vast ecosystem fragmented into a slew of cement quarries and cheap limestone pits. Considering the extent to which this vast coral labyrinth has shaped the identity of modern Australia, the relative absence of Büsst’s influence from the historical record is doubtless representative of the many such travesties historians seek to rectify.'  (Introduction)

‘Good on You, Mate!’ : A Fearless and Charismatic Environmentalist Anna Krien , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , June no. 465 2024; (p. 57-58)

— Review of John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest Iain McCalman , 2024 single work biography

'The ‘Bastard of Bingil Bay’ features on no banknote or coin, nor is he listed in any roll-call of ‘important Australians’, and yet, if it were not for John Büsst, it is likely that twenty-odd national parks and rainforest reserves on the far north-east coast of Queensland would not be so designated and might in fact have been obliterated. It is also probable that, without Büsst, today’s fight for the Great Barrier Reef would have already been lost, the vast ecosystem fragmented into a slew of cement quarries and cheap limestone pits. Considering the extent to which this vast coral labyrinth has shaped the identity of modern Australia, the relative absence of Büsst’s influence from the historical record is doubtless representative of the many such travesties historians seek to rectify.'  (Introduction)

Bingil Bay Bastard Morag Fraser , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: Inside Story , May 2024;

— Review of John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest Iain McCalman , 2024 single work biography

'Iain McCalman begins John Büsst: Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest, his account of another man’s heroic environmental activism, by inserting himself artfully into his introductory narrative. Here, he is the historian who missed something when he was writing The Reef, his acclaimed “passionate history” of the Great Barrier Reef, a decade ago.'  (Introduction)

Iain McCalman John Büsst Miriam Cosic , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Paper , 15-21 June 2024;

— Review of John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest Iain McCalman , 2024 single work biography
Bohemian, Artist, Conservationist: Breathing Humanity into the Man Who Fought to Protect Queensland’s Rainforest and Reef Rohan James Lloyd , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 19 June 2024;

— Review of John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest Iain McCalman , 2024 single work biography

'John Büsst earned the moniker “The Bingil Bay Bastard”. From his self-built homestead in Bingil Bay, he campaigned from the early 1960s against grazing and agricultural industries seeking to fell the tropical forests of north Queensland.' 

The Power of One : Champion of the Reef Remembered Ken Haley , 2024 single work review
— Appears in: InReview , July 2024;

— Review of John Büsst : Bohemian Artist and Saviour of Reef and Rainforest Iain McCalman , 2024 single work biography
Last amended 10 Apr 2024 07:58:56
Subjects:
  • Far North Queensland, Queensland,
  • Great Barrier Reef, Australian seas,
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