Dr John Wamsley (born 1938) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

environmentalist An environmentalist is a person who is concerned with and/or advocates for the protection of the environment. An environmentalist can be considered a supporter of the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that se ...

. He was the Prime Minister's Environmentalist of the Year for 2003. Wamsley is known for his attempt to set up a network of

wildlife sanctuaries A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

across Australia. Wamsley was born in

Ourimbah, New South Wales Ourimbah () is a small township in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located about north of the Sydney CBD. Ourimbah is located approximately halfway between Sydney and Newcastle. The township today consists of small sc ...

in 1938. His passion for Australian wildlife was born when the seven-year-old Wamsley's family moved to a 67 hectare bushland block at

Niagara Park Niagara Park is a suburb of the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia north of Gosford's central business district. It is part of the local government area. It consists of residential housing as well as acreage blocks and smal ...

. At age sixteen Wamsley became a trainee

metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

with

BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

. Dissatisfied with the job he became a labourer in BHP's

open-hearth furnace An open-hearth furnace or open hearth furnace is any of several kinds of industrial Industrial furnace, furnace in which excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of pig iron to Steelmaking, produce steel. Because steel is difficult to ma ...

s and worked a second job renovating run down houses. By age 23 Wamsley was a millionaire. Approximately two years later Wamsley entered the

University of Newcastle, Australia The University of Newcastle (UON), informally known as Newcastle University, is a public university in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1965, it has a primary campus in the Newcastle suburb of Callaghan. The university al ...

. The thirty-year-old Wamsley graduated with a PhD in

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and moved to Flinders University to lecture. His doctoral thesis from the University of Queensland, at only 70 pages, is among the shortest theses in the library. June 1969 saw the purchase of a

dairy farm Dairy farming is a class of agriculture for long-term production of milk, which is processed (either on the farm or at a dairy plant, either of which may be called a dairy) for eventual sale of a dairy product. Dairy farming has a history th ...

at Mylor, South Australia, that was to become Wamsley's first sanctuary,

Warrawong Warrawong is a suburb of Wollongong in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on the northeast corner of Lake Illawarra. Warrawong is 74 kilometers from Sydney CBD. Warrawong is home to Warrawong Plaza, one of thre ...

. Wamsley eradicated all feral plants and animals from the sanctuary and erected a surrounding fence to preserve the sanctuary's feral free state. Wamsley entered the public eye when he attended a tourism awards ceremony wearing a hat made from the

pelt Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

of a dead

feral cat A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

. The ensuing controversy led to a change in the law, allowing feral cats to be legally killed. With the view to duplicating the success of the Warrawong wildlife sanctuary in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, Earth Sanctuaries Limited (ESL) was floated on the

Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

(ASX) in 2000.Paull, John (2021
"Ecosystem Restoration: The Bold Experiment for Rewilding Australia"
International Sustainable Development Research Society (ISDRS) Newsletter, Q4(1):5.1-5.4. At its peak, ESL had 11 prospective sanctuaries in 3 states accounting for 100,000 hectares. ESL was successful in some

rewilding Rewilding may refer to: *Rewilding (conservation biology), the return of habitats to a natural state **Rewilding Europe Rewilding Europe is a non-profit organisation based in Nijmegen, Netherlands, working to create rewilded landscapes through ...

and

ecosystem restoration Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...

projects. By pioneering feral-proof fencing, native Australian animals were successfully re-introduced where they were locally

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

. However commercial success was elusive, and ESL was wound up and delisted in 2005. ESL was the world's first publicly listed company whose business was

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

References

External links

Cat hat man runs out of lives?
Interview on ABC radio. Archive copy saved on 2016-03-03. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wamsley, John 1938 births Living people Australian environmentalists Academic staff of Flinders University 20th-century Australian mathematicians 21st-century Australian mathematicians 20th-century Australian businesspeople 21st-century Australian businesspeople