John Busst
John Busst
- Author/Seller
- Iain McCalman
- SKU:
- 9781761170096
$37.00
A rich biography of artist-turned-environmental campaigner John Busst.
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
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
